How about a Tilley hat ?
So whadya want us to wear to keep the sun out of our eyes? I wear glasses and HATE HATE HATE back glare through my lenses. You don’t wanna know what kind of sun glasses I wear when flying. It ain’t pretty even by my standards.
The solution here is not to find some hat that is free of any “baggage.” It’s even questionable whether such a hat exists. The solution is to ignore said baggage, and choose a hat (or hats) that you like.
I find that different hat styles suit different situations. If I want sun/rain protection for my eyes, ears, and neck, it needs to be a full-brimmed hat (e.g. fedora, cowboy hat*). If I want eyeshade but also want to lay my head back on a tall chair, it needs to be a front-brim hat (e.g. baseball cap, newsboy cap). Fur felt, wool, straw, and cotton all have their places depending on hat style and weather. When you wear different hats depending on your needs at the time, you become known as “the guy who wears a hat,” not “the guy who is a [whatever identity the hat supposedly protrays].”
My advice - start out with a hat you like that is useful to you. Occasionally get another hat when it seems appropriate. Enjoy your hats.
Shoot. Forgot my dang asterisk comment.
*Cowboy hats can be great hats. They look better with some face shapes than others. But what looks awful and is stupid is the “taco” variation, where the side brims are turned up vertical. This results in loss of all sun and rain protection for the ears, and a shape that doesn’t look good on anybody.
Nope, sorry, the message that hat sends is “skater-stoner”.
Pirate hat. I guarantee you nobody else will have one.
Of course they won’t. Anyone who’s anyone is wearing a Ninja Mask these days. 
Agreed, get the hat that you feel good with and meets your needs, and damned be anyone who brands you based on it.
Martini Enfield, the thing is the Stockman hat does, per the OP , identify you with a particular group – that of Australians. But since you ARE in Australia, that is actually a plus! However, wearing the old-style pith helmet to the range elevates your coolness to a trascendent dimension.
You can pry it from my cold dead hands…or, um scalp…whatever, you get the point.
Dang! This is what I get for going off for a 7 day Caribbean cruise with my Tilley hat! I missed the opportunity.
I second this, though, wholeheartedly. It seems to be independent of any “cultural” identification as far as I have experienced in the 5 years I’ve had mine. Doesn’t elicit comments, doesn’t seem to be noticeable by others, but does a great job and is practically indestructable…mashing it flat in a carryon with no ill effects is priceless to me.
One good recommendation, Rick.
Naah, if you wear it around daily in life, I think you ought to have to be buried in it.
That Tilley hat, while somewhat charming, immediately says “tourist” to me. Am I misguided about that?
::: shrug:::
You tell me
For a touch of class try a Dagg.
I wear a knit “dockworker’s cap” like Jean Reno in The Professional .
It’s all-weather, and looks tough. ;j
Baseball hats are fun and keep sun off your head and out of your eyes nicely. I like the soft-crowned kind that fold up in a pocket. I feel they’re so widely worn that they don’t carry any particular message, especially if no recognizable logo is on them.
My #2 choice is always some kind of snap-brim (fedora or panama depending on the season). These do have a message – several in fact – but you can choose the message by how you wear the hat snd what you wear it with.
As a jazz musician, I sometimes cultivate a retro-1940s look. A splashy vintage tie or bowtie, a long sleek overcoat with the felt fedora, and white bucks or seersucker with the panama, will put the hat over the way I like. I also like the brim back off my forehead and the crown a little lower over my right ear (I’m left-handed). This gives it a snappier, easier feel than worn straight on.
If you wore either hat with more boring business or casual clothes, or set it straight up and down, brim parallel to the floor, the message might change to an ethnic or religious one. Or just make you look like a man wearing a hat and not too happy about it.
You’re approaching this with the wrong attitude; instead of trying to find a “wallpaper” hat that says nothing, go the polar opposite–be completely in-their-face.
This will get you a Guiness, or kneecapped if you’re in the wrong pub.
Actually, I’d say it would make you look like a villain from Scooby Doo… but it would look nice on the coffee table or in the study!
And it’s not very strongly associated with a certain group either!
Pirates aren’t a group now?