If you have a head for hats, the Rotary Club of Invercargill would like to hear from you.

And with 13,000 caps to sell, they have  enough to put a hat on every head in Gore, Te Anau and Winton.

The cap collection was donated this year after volunteers went to pick up donated books from a collector’s estate.

Rotary Club of Invercargill book sale chairman Richard Russell said  the club was initially at a loss with what to do with so many hats. But they eventually decided to trial selling them for $2 each at the annual book sale.
“It created quite a bit of interest.”

One collector bought a bulk lot of 30 caps, while others were buying dozens at a time.

Mr Russell was surprised to learn cap collectors were a thing.

“I never thought [they] existed but they do.”

Sale proceeds were being donated to Head Injury Southland Charitable Trust.

“I thought maybe there’s a bit of synergy between the Head Injury Charitable Trust and our trust… and the Caps on Heads was another thing that sort of worked with what they do in the community.

“It’s again, by the community, for the community really.”

Despite achieving good sales at the book sale, the club still had the bulk of the collections to work through.

With thousands still left to sell, the decision was made to open a pop-up shop in Invercargill Central on Saturday and Sunday where the club will have up to further 4000 available.

The collection includes multiple themes, including sports, business, tourism, alcohol-brand, motor racing, rugby, cricket, football, basketball, yachting, children’s and international-themed caps.

Mr Russell said despite being in storage for an extended period, the caps were in excellent condition — with many never worn.

“A lot of them are new. They’ve still got the tags on them.”