Tarp Hats - The Real Deal: Made in Brazil

Arizona rover Adam says of his 12-day 2009 Israel trip: "We were staying in the Bedouin Tents somewhere in the desert near Eilat (and) went all over the country. Word of caution: Don't wear any pants that rub you wrong on a 5-mile hike then go jump in the Dead Sea. It burns just a little."

On the banks of his home city's majestic Columbia River, this self-described "eco-friendly artist" has sculpted his RDB into an original shape he dubs "Old Rebel." So with an Old Rebel yell, we cry more, more, more! (Our sincere apologies to '80s hitmaker Billy Idol.)

The globe-trotting Greenville, N.C., resident with an army of penguins lined up behind him, preparing no doubt to charge him in an attempt to snag his snazzy RDB hat for themselves! Gary was then on a National Geographic tour that wound up down in the far, far frozen south.

The Newport News, Va., resident, making windsurfing look impossibly easy, even as his Real Deal Brazil hat makes him look impeccably cool. Not to put too fine a point on it, but one of Glenn's legs is, below the knee, a prosthetic. As in wow. As in some of us are even more Real Deal than others, huh?

RDB fan Jon of Portland, Ore., with friend Carly Maggs of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at the 2010 Burning Man "non-festival" in the middle of Nevada's Black Rock Desert, often dubbed The Playa.

During this 2010 excursion, Josh was a medical student at East Carolina University in or own Greenville, N.C. "My hat and I have now traveled on three continents and Central America," says Josh, whose next big trip would take him back to Africa for medical-mission work. Great guy. Great hat.

Manhattan's famous underclad street-performing sensation, having swapped out his signature 10-gallon head-topper with a visiting fan's RDB. And that ain't no peace sign our Nearly Nude Dude is making, neither; it's a declaration of victory. As in that's some dang fine hat you Real Dealers got goin' there, podnah ...

"This hat is fantastic for kayaking," says Natalie, paddling here on a watery 2010 outing in a favorite central Florida state park just north of hometown Orlando. "I wear it all the time!"

Zombieland. 2009. It was a big dang hit of a now-cult film. And that's our hat. 'Nuff said.

The Motor City native, sporting his Real Deal Brazil recycled-tarp hat on one of many stages he's graced as a member of rock/country band the Chism Brothers. "I thought," says Rob, "that you might want to add music to the list of destinations the Real Deal has traveled."

João Paulo, in his original Real Deal Brazil recycled-tarp hat, and girlfriend Debora, in an RDB Pretty Ugly Hat. João Paulo, a native of Brazil's trendsetting city of sun-soaked sensual beaches, is an engineer with Petrobas, the largest oil company in Brazil. Debora, from the city of Fortaleza, is a civil servant.

Yep, THE Wimbledon. The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, Church Road, London. Oldest tennis tourney in the world. Famed grass courts. Crumpets, clotted cream and "tut-tuts!" People who genuinely say, "I say!" Michelle, from Atlanta, Ga., attended the summer 2011 championships, with killer seats, and a killer hat.

The pretty former Bahamas native on a 2011 camping trip with her two sons and husband Mike, wearing Mike's RDB. The family was then on a three-year station in Italy. A U.S. Navy officer and diver, Mike was reassigned in 2012 to San Diego, Calif. Welcome back Stateside, sailor!

This Los Angeles-based veterinarian always packs his RDB on trips to his beloved northern Cambodia, where he runs a nonprofit in support of a local orphanage and other community programs. Phil's RDB hat, he says, "has survived extreme heat, humidity and countless children asking to wear it."

That's Вячеслав Девяткин in his native tongue. Viacheslav tips his RDB hat to us all in front of St. Michael Church on Plushiha Street in the Russian capital one frigid, snowy January 2010 day.

700 Places to Volunteer Before You Die: A Traveler's Guide author Nola, formerly from South Dakota, now calls wherever in Asia she lays her RDB hat her home. "It took 4 years of plotting to pull this off, but sometimes you just have to go for it. It's almost as crazy as when someone first (explains) they are going to build a hat business out of tarps;-)"

"I fish, shoot, live on a tropical island in a jungle with a passel of dogs, date handsome men and drink strong coffee," says the intriguing MJ. And while it goes without saying, we like that MJ added: "There is no Mr. McAward." Noted!

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Earth-friendly Fashion tougher than real life.

The Real Deal is a line of tarp hats and tarp bags handmade in a remote small town in rural equatorial Brazil from recycled canvas tarps that once stretched across the beds of cross-country cargo trucks hauling open freight. We use recycled tarps in an effort to cut down on the wasting of the world's resources – and yes, also because they happen to look very, very cool.

The uncommon fabric in our products most likely has traveled from the Amazon out to São Paulo and back again, and north into intense heat, and south into often bitter cold. It has slogged through sudden deluges of blinding rain, been baked and broiled in scalding sun, coated in frost and caked in ice, whipped by harsh winds, assaulted by road debris and sometimes even stamped upon in Portuguese with thick black ink.

Which is to say there's nothing you can do to our one-of-a-kind hats and bags that hasn't already been done before. So no worries about taking care of our products; let them take care of you instead!

And that's not hype, that's real. The Real Deal.

Check out these great ways to shape your new Real Deal Tarp Hat.