15/10/2026
It all started with two friends in Stockholm, Sweden… 🇸🇪
Hanna and Erika share a love of winter swimming and crafting things together – and a habit of taking silly hats very seriously.
In 2019 and 2020, they took part in Stockholm Winter Swim Open, a winter swimming competition held in the icy waters of Hellasgården, just outside Stockholm, in the depths of the Swedish winter. Alongside the swimming races, a wonderfully eccentric hat competition added a playful twist to the event.
Hanna won the hat competition in 2019, and Erika followed in 2020. Somewhere along the way, an idea took shape: Why not invite the whole world to swim in hats?
And so World Swim Hat Day was born! Now, six years later, it returns for its seventh celebration on October 25, 2026 – and everyone is invited!
Where in the world will you be joining us from?
Tag World Swim Hat Day and share your swim with so we can share your joy around the world.
Photos from Stockholm Winter Swim Open, Hellasgården, Sweden:
1. Hanna Prage & Erika Sjöberg, 2020 – The Handmaid’s Tale and The Fish Hat.
2. Hanna with her Floating Semla (a Swedish cream bun), winner of the 2019 hat competition.
3. Erika emerging from the 2.7°C water wearing The Fish Hat, winner of the 2020 hat competition.
4. Erika’s The Tanto Bastu Sauna Hat, a miniature sauna complete with a chimney, 2019.
stockholmwinterswimopen
Kalle Engardt Hellasgården Svenska Vintersimsförbundet WOLFFWEAR LILLEBRORS BAGERI
