Walking blog: The philosophy of walking

Tilleys are not just for xmas. They're for life

Posted in blog

  on Monday, 18 June 2012 12:59

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Anthropomorphising is dangerous for professional naturalists but I swear this hat is smiling. And so it should be, it is new, it is on Dartmoor and usually on my head! My new Tilley is hanging around on a hawthorn tree on Dartmoor. Alas my old Tilley has served me well but has gone to the great hat stand in the sky to serve Telly Savalas, Yul Brynner and that little bloke whom Benny Hill used to pat very hard.

A Tilley is not just for xmas it is for life and the great people of Tilley are true to their word. Maddie and the Tilley girls have their European base close by in Helston, Cornwall and when I went to them with my old hat they were very prompt and happy to replace my old for new under the Tilley guarantee. They do clothes and luggage too.

Now the Tilley hat or Le chapeau Tilley is guaranteed for life and it must be told whilst the brass hardware is British it is "handcrafted with Canadian persnicketiness" which I am assured by a Canadian walker means thorough and fastidious care. It is also atop interesting people (shucks) whom it is said in the "brag tag" one should hug (double shucks). They have been used by luminaries like Sir Edmund Hillary and an elephant that decided to eat it three times in a row - I'll leave your imagination to the rest- however it was washed before being re-placed on the owners head.

Their socks are great too and mine remained dry in my recent Dartmoor foray. Check that blog out too. Check the Tilley website out and there is a separate UK website as well as the US and Canadian site.

Why am I telling you this? Because I am thoroughly impressed with their lifetime guarantee and humbled by the service team Tilley have provided to live up to their promise. In an age of built in product obsolescence this is a breath of fresh (Dartmoor) air.