Inspiration – Cedar Buff

For this installment of Inspiration, we’re talking about the Cedar Buff, our extremely versatile, moisture wicking, sun blocking headgear that we wear everyday. This buff has a lot of references, one most notably from the Tuareg people. Known as “The blue men of the desert” the Tuareg are most widely known for their indigo-dyed robes, which help them survive in the harsh desert environment. The extremely limited water in the region forces the Tuareg to pound indigo dye into their robes rather than the more common method of washing. This difference causes the dye to sit on top of the fabric which can rub off onto the wearer, creating the tribe’s distinctive look.

The use of robes and “tagelmust”, the 10 meter long piece of fabric wrapped around the faces of Tuareg people, serve as both a turban and veil. The tagelmust is utilized to protect tribe members from the sun and sand while in their travels. Covering the face with a Tagelmust is also thought to protect the wearer from evil spirits of the desert, and we believe it to be a perfect encapsulation of our ideals of protecting oneself from the environment while respecting our place in nature.

In modern sun-exposure practice, we know that limiting sun exposure to our skin keeps us cooler. Many companies accomplish this while using lightweight wicking fabrics on lightweight, long sleeve items. The benefits are twofold, prevent sun exposure, and wick away sweat to aid in evaporative cooling. In our application, we simplify the tagelmust into a stretchy, moisture-wicking buff with UPF 50 protection. This reflects our mission to modernize and simplify traditional techniques to stay cool in extreme situations. The use of the color blue in our buff mirrors the Tuareg’s blue robes, while our brown buff is designed to blend in and remain an understated accessory to any outfit.

Enjoy the video below to see how we envision merging traditional and new headwear for the desert.