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Bulletproof baseball hat shields your noggin with casual style

More socially acceptable than a helmet, the BulletSafe bulletproof baseball cap provides ballistic protection for your head without drawing attention.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
2 min read

BulletSafe baseball cap
The BulletSafe baseball hat looks pretty normal. BulletSafe

Some jobs are more dangerous than others. Police officers and security professionals often wear bulletproof vests to help mitigate the danger, but wearing a bulletproof helmet isn't always appropriate. We now live in an age when ballistic materials have slimmed down and been tailored into unexpected clothing items, like snazzy suits. The BulletSafe Kickstarter project is going for a more casual look with a bulletproof baseball cap.

BulletSafe is a manufacturer of affordable bulletproof vests. The concept for the hat came about when the company repeatedly fielded requests for ballistic helmets. "I thought, 'Yuck! I don't want to make those.' They look ridiculous in a civilian environment," writes the hat's creator, Tom Nardone. The solution was to build a baseball cap instead.

The cap isn't the same as a full-on helmet. It offers protection across the forehead only, thanks to a hidden ballistic panel that doesn't detract from the normal look of the cap. BulletSafe created a prototype and conducted some successful tests with a dummy wearing the hat.

The basic black BulletSafe hat is going for a $99 pledge. The project's modest $3,500 funding goal has been exceeded to the tune of more than $8,300 with 20 days left to run. While the obvious market for the hat is with police and security professionals, some backers appear to be regular people who are concerned about safety in an increasingly unpredictable world. Another backer plans to wear the hat on the shooting range as an extra measure of protection.

While the prototype of the hat sports a noticeable "BulletSafe" logo, the production model will have no obvious external markings, making it even more discreet.

BulletSafe hat shooting test
A BulletSafe cap prototype after a shooting test. BulletSafe