"Forage cap" is one of the most confusing terms in British military clothing, because it has been used for two quite different hats and both usages are still in circulation. If you are buying from a description alone, this is a term worth pinning down before you commit.
Where the name comes from
Foraging was the unglamorous work of collecting food and fodder — not parade duty, not fighting, just the daily business of keeping an army supplied. A forage cap was the undress headwear worn for that sort of work, as opposed to the elaborate and expensive headdress worn on parade.
That is the whole origin: it is the working hat, defined by what it is not. Which is exactly why the name ended up attached to more than one design.
The two things people mean
- The peaked cap — the structured cap with a stiff crown and a peak, worn with service and dress uniform. In modern British usage this is what "forage cap" most often refers to in an official context.
- The side cap or field service cap — the soft, folding cap that sits on one side of the head, with no peak. Widely called a forage cap in the trade and in a great many listings.
Both usages are defensible and neither is wrong. But they are completely different objects at completely different prices, so the term alone is not enough to buy on.
How to tell what a listing actually means
Three quick tests:
- Look for a peak. Obvious once you look at the photograph, and it settles the question immediately.
- Look at the price. Side caps are generally much cheaper than peaked caps, which are structured, lined and far more complex to make.
- Look at the badge position. On a peaked cap the badge sits on the front of the band. On a side cap it sits on the side of the flap, which looks quite different.
Buying a side cap
Side caps are among the best value in military headwear: cheap, hard-wearing, easy to store, and immediately recognisable. Things to check:
- The fold. They are made to fold flat and the crease should be crisp. A cap that has been stored open loses the shape.
- Piping and lining. Many side caps have coloured piping, which is regimentally significant and the first thing to fray.
- Size marking. Usually inside, often in centimetres. These sit on the head rather than over it and a wrong size is very obvious.
Buying a peaked cap
More expensive, more to go wrong:
- The crown stiffener. If it has collapsed, the cap will never sit right and cannot be effectively repaired.
- The sweatband. Leather, and it perishes. It also often carries the only size marking on the cap.
- The peak finish. Patent finishes craze with age and cannot be restored.
- The badge hole. A stretched or torn hole in the band from a removed badge is a real defect.
One general point that applies to both: caps are sized to the head in real measurements, not S/M/L, and they are meant to be a firm fit. Measure round the head just above the ears and buy to that number rather than guessing.
Other caps that get muddled in with these
Once you start looking at military headwear, several more soft caps turn up and they get described loosely:
- The Glengarry — a Scottish folding cap, often with a diced band and ribbons at the back. It is a side cap in construction but it is never called a forage cap.
- The Tam o' Shanter — the larger, flatter Scottish bonnet, quite different again.
- The beret — which replaced the side cap for most purposes in the second half of the twentieth century, and which is why so many side caps ended up in stores and eventually in surplus.
- The bush hat and jungle hat — brimmed working headwear, occasionally described as forage caps by sellers who mean "the informal one".
The safe approach with any of these is to buy from the photograph rather than the noun.
Why side caps went out of use
The side cap has one clear advantage: it folds flat and lives in a pocket, which matters enormously for a soldier who needs headwear that can be put away. It has one clear disadvantage: it does almost nothing. No shade, no rain protection, no warmth over the ears.
The beret does the same folding-away job while covering the whole head, and once it became general issue the side cap's purpose largely evaporated. It survives in ceremonial and regimental use, which is why the ones that come up now are often in better condition than their age suggests — they were worn occasionally rather than daily.
Displaying caps
Both types need supporting. A peaked cap stored resting on its peak deforms the peak and crushes the crown; store it upright on a stand or lightly stuffed. A side cap left open loses its crease, and left crushed under something heavier takes a permanent one in the wrong place. Neither should be stored in direct light, since cap cloth fades faster than almost anything else in a collection.
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