In early times, chef hats were made of starched cloth and held together with whalebones to provide a unique style of hats. The whalebones disappeared shortly but the style remained with a few alterations and a lot of starch. Also, the cloth hats had to have the pleats and the starch helped hold them in place. The pleats and the styles still exist in the present world with a single variation; they are made out of paper and fiber instead of with cloth.

Thick paper is being used to construct the chef hats with fiber construction. These can be used for about 3 to 5 days or depends on the number of shifts the chef has to put in. One advantage with these would be that they need lesser maintenance compared to the cloth hats. Cloth hats need to be washed, starched and ironed to get that crisp smart look. When a hat gets old, faded and limp, it can simply be disposed of and a new hat worn. This is the reason paper hats are also popularly known as the disposable chef hats.

Paper hats come with adjustable headbands and are also available as the one size fits all variety. Hats for head chefs, apprentices, cooks are all made of paper and available in the market. Manufacturers ensure to keep in mind the heights of the hats as well as the designs that are currently selling in the market. Since they come well packed in cartons from the manufacturers, there is no chance of the pleats or the corners being crushed, or the hats becoming limp while being transported.

Another advantage of paper hats is that they can be printed with a personalized logo. This could be of the hotel they work for or would be a good marketing gimmick for private caterers. These can be great fun at barbecue parties or other gatherings where the host can wear a hat as well as give away the same with a personal logo to mark the event.

All the paper hats being manufactured these days come equipped with a sweat band to soak in the sweat formed due to the heat in the kitchens. Although they come in various sizes, most of them are adjustable to any head size. Also available are the head nets that can be worn before the hat is put on. This most definitely ensures that no stray hair can find its way into a dish while the dish is being prepared.

Many hotels and restaurants these days are insisting on the chefs wearing the paper hats, as they are smarter and definitely more time saving and hygienic as compared to the cloth variety, not to mention cost effective. It certainly must be more fun for the chefs to put on a new hat every few days and look smart in spite of working in the kitchen the whole day.