Cap Comforter

Classic Commando hat

The Cap Comforter, also known as the Commando Hat, has a dual purpose doubling up as a scarf. The Cap Comforter is a ‘tube’ of knitted wool, sewn at both ends and formed into a hat by pushing one end through the tube to the other end a long cap is made. Rolling up the open end produces a ‘cap’.

The first Cap Comforters appears to have been issued in 1900, although the Cap Comforter may go much further back. Initially the Cap Comforter was to provide some warmth under the cold steel helmets of 1916 or earlier or tropical helmets worn in the Himalayas.

The Cap Comforter is famously associated with British Commandos who used it in place of noisy Tommy helmets.

The Cap Comforter has been replaced by the warmer – a copy of the Wehrmacht torques. The warmer is a woollen knitted tube which is not sewn at the ends and pulled over the head to the neck and used like a balaclava or scarf.

Other names for the Cap Comforter

• Commando Hat

Famous Cap Comforter wearers

• British Commandos