Inside the world of New Era caps
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Around New York City — and the world, really — Yankee hats are forever popular. While I’m a big supporter for the on-field 59Fifty New Era cap in midnight blue with the white interlocking NY, some fans look for caps of every stripe and color. While we would rather forget it, Spike Lee originated the red Yankee cap made infamous by Fred Durst in the late 1990s, and that marketing stunt has led to atrocities such as this one.
Earlier this week, Ken Belson profiled New Era’s efforts at staying profitable in a bad economy. I found the article to be a fascinating glimpse inside one of baseball’s most ubiquitous and successful brands:
The hundreds of embroiderers and stitchers hunched over clattering sewing machines at the New Era Cap factory could be forgiven for thinking these are good times. After all, they churn out 72,000 baseball hats a week, about seven a minute. But modesty has been a byword this recession, and baseball caps are no exception. Consumers are opting for Corollas over Cadillacs, Formica kitchen counters over granite and, it turns out, hats with traditional designs over garish ones.
“We’re seeing a very jittery landscape,” said Peter Augustine, the president of New Era, which has its headquarters in Buffalo, 20 miles north of the factory here. “People are trying to stick to their most conservative plans. Even Yankee hats are down despite the year they are having.”
Sales have slipped 10 percent so far this year at New Era, a privately held company that is the country’s largest sports hat maker and the official provider of on-field caps to Major League Baseball. In the past week, the company has laid off 27 workers at its warehouse in Mobile, Ala., and 40 percent of its workers at its factories in the state because of low demand. Some of them could be rehired when production recovers.
Still, industry experts say that this is only a pause in the hat market, which has more than doubled in the past decade, when $35 fitted baseball caps became must-haves. Baseball caps remain the standard-bearer of the sports apparel market, and New Era, like its competitors, is trying to adapt to changing tastes and tightening strings.
The article goes on to detail New Era’s history in the game. The company first broke into the baseball world in 1934 when the Indians placed an order. The 59Fifties arrived in 1954, but it was not until 1993 that New Era became the exclusive provider of MLB caps. The piece gets into the ways in which various teams order hats and looks at how New Era can offer any color combination for hats.
Of note for Yankee fans though are the sales and stitch numbers. Yankee caps are the game’s top sellers. According to Belson, “Yankees caps..outsell all others by a 3-to-1 margin, not only because of the team’s success on the field but also because the logo has such broad appeal.” Meanwhile, the Yankees have a rather simple logo. According to New Era, one white interlocking NY features just 2,688 stitches, fourth least in baseball behind the Phillies, Pirates and Cubs. The Marlins’ crazy logo features a league-leading 10,966 stitches.
I’m a veteran hat collector. I haven’t missed a new Yankee patch hat since New Era introduced them in 1996. I’m eagerly awaiting the next addition to my collection, and I’m hoping it will be the 59Fifty that comes out with the 2009 World Series patch. I’ll hand over my $35 for those 2,688 stitches.
Im a HUGE fan fitty hat fan no matter the team or design,(except any team from Bos)
Personally I love the different type of colors of the yankee fitty caps. I just do. Even the one u didn’t like with the Marlin colors, to me thats dope. Caps like that is about fashion and design and what can match with other clothes and etc.
I,ve always say this and it’s true, that yankee fitty caps are the best caps period. Heck yankee have the best baseball uni’s too. The yankee Fitty cap has that “it” factor that no other team cap has.
Mo willing they make the World Series i will also pay $35 for a new hat, i’m sure it will be a cool patch
Yea, I’ll definitely buy that too.
Love my 59Fifty…it’s crisp…it’s clean…it’s classy.
Not much else to say.
Personally, I hate the “leave the sticker on” and “never bend the rim” look. To me it just screams fashion over fandom. You bought the hat. Rough it up. Get that nice curve to block the sun, and unless you’re planning on bringing it back, remove the tags. Joba, I’m looking at you!
you can have it both ways, you know?
Get that nice curve to block the sun
Meh, as long as you don’t do this: http://failblog.files.wordpres.....&h=667
I’m speechless, well whatever, i dont think it was a yankee hat so were ok
It’s a Cubs hat, just look at the brim.
That’s hilarious.
Made my day
This reminds of when I had an argument with this guy about the Yankees hat. He was wearing one and I asked him if he is a Yankees fan. He said no and said why the hell would I think he is Yankees fan. I told him its because he was wearing the hat. Then he replied that wearing this hat doesn’t mean he’s a Yankees fan because its not the Yankees logo, instead its a just a New York (as in for the state of NY) logo. I tried to explain it to him but he didnt listen and I just ignored him.
Anyway, Yankees hats are the best. I went to India a while back and I saw a LOT of Yankees gear.
yea, I went on vacation to Europe and ran into a guy from United Arab Emirates and he had a Yankee logo as his cellphone wallpaper and I asked whether he liked the Yankees but he didn’t know what I was talking about. He said all it meant was New York.
Apparently the Yankees embody New York around the world.
Interestingly, the Yankees logo is modeled after a medal awarded to the first NYC cop shot in the line of duty. So technically, it is a symbol of NYC before the Yankees. Obviously, it’s become a Yankee symbol first these days, but that’s why it made so much sense as part of those caps that honored the fallen of 9/11.
Where in India? I never see ANY Yankees gear whenever I go visit.
I went all over the place (Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh, one city I think in Gujarat). And I also saw it in some of the movies/music videos there.
I went to a mall in Delhi and they had a bunch of hats and a couple of jerseys.
The question is when you will buy it. The day the Yankees make it into the world series, or the day they win it?
Even though I have five of the hats pictured above, I own/prefer to wear this style: http://www.lids.com/pid/04401.
I have a quick question for Ben or anyone that can help: where can I find Yankee fitted hats with the world series decal or American flag on it? I really would like to own some hats with the decals.
If you’re talking about older patches (i.e. past World Series for example) then you’ll have a hard time finding them unless you luck out. They’re mainly collectors items now so try someplace like eBay.
I worked for Lids a few years back and they were carrying many of the old patches on “remakes” through a partnership with New Era. The whole thing didn’t last long as they were an extremely limited production and sold out quickly.
I will never wear a hat that’s not the navy and white combination…I don’t get the appeal of all the colors. That being said, I’ve never matched clothes in my life (I grab a shirt, I grab jeans and I walk out the door) so perhaps I’m just not cool/hip/fashionable enough.
i own about 13 different yanks hats, all of which show the pride that i have in my team and that’s all that matters
I’ve got 73. But who’s counting?
I wear what the Yankees wear…..or, even, what they once wear – used to have one of the old-fashioned white with pinstripes models many years ago. I cannot conceive of wearing anything else.
what about the red hats they wore on mothersday?
I live in Berlin, and since moving here mid-July, I’ve been keeping note of every MLB cap I see people wearing (not just on-field caps, but the fashion caps, too). I’ve seen 93 caps so far. This is how it breaks down:
52 – Yankees
8 – Red Sox
7 – Dodgers
4 – Pirates, Giants
3 – Braves
2 – White Sox, Astros, Royals, Twins, Padres
1 – Marlins, Mets, Cardinals, Rays, Nationals
Yes, I know: I should really find a better hobby.
Sir, this is awesome, I must commend you:
http://www.flipflopflyin.com/f.....moval.html
To both of you:
http://www.playerpress.com/upl.....MyLawn.jpg
(h/t JMK)
“Yes, I know: I should really find a better hobby.”
Um, no, you should keep collecting the data and then extrapolate it out to a full-season and make it into a new graphic, is what you should do.
No, you should not get a new hobby! What you should do is accost these people for video like Jane Heller.
This is a great theme for a post. It’s very true about the appeal of Yankee caps. I live in West Michigan, a place not exactly known for baseball fever and you’d expect Tiger fans to outrule others, but on a daily basis I see multiple people with Yankee caps. I’ll ask them whether they’re a fan and it ranges from “Yes!” to “Kinda” to “I just like my cap a lot”.
I have to admit, in addition to the traditional Yankee cap I bought the black swagger style on a whim ( http://www.lids.com/pid/20133990 ). But the one I really want is Spike Lee’s new championship cap: http://i708.photobucket.com/al.....22-003.jpg
But maybe after he can slap a 2009 on the front.
Stuck in Alabama now; a place not known for baseball fandom.I’ve found that when I wear mine I can tell by the greeting I get from another cap-wearer: HEY! or sup? let’s me know if I should ask ‘how about last night’s game?’
Well, you got your wish…have you purchased your new hat yet????
Yes I have.
This place has some nice fitted hats!
http://craniumfitteds.com
I got 15% when I bought 2 items from them using code: VIP
I just got my package recently and I wanna show them love back!!
Support these guys – they are official, ya heard me!