Daniel+Le3

   “Rock it to the front, Rock it to the back, I’m so cool wit it in my baseball hat I keep my fitted real low, low New Era I keep my fitted real low, low New Era
 * NEW ERA 59FIFTY FITTED HATS ** New Era

Rock it to the front, Rock it to the back, I’m so cool wit it in my baseball hat I keep my fitted real low, low New Era Plus on every brim I own, gotta keep my sticker on”

- Lil' Flip

Fitted hats are a fashion. Each hat is made in many different colors, sizes and designs. This is a Koolaid had made in red and white to match the outfit.

This is Elmo from Sesame Street. Even though Elmo has nothing to do with baseball, New Era has turned Sesame Street characters into fashionable headwear.



Boston colors are red and white, but to New Era, hats can be made in all different colors to match the outfits.

Fallen is a skateboarding company. New Era, once strictly a baseball hat company has diversed itself in all different directions.

This is Papoose, rapping about fitted hats in his song "Fitted Hat Low".

Over the past decade, New Era caps have grown into a world-wide phenomenon. The caps can be seen on the heads of everyone from celebrities to athletes to heads of state. New Era has become an overnight success, emerging into the fashion world with a proverbial bang. With this cultural trend New Era has seen rejuvenated profits, and a need to keep up with the ever-changing world of style. As described on its website, “The New Era 59FIFTY is the original New Era that all of the pros wear - it lasts ages, is great for form and function, and is made with great care and craftsmanship. It takes 22 steps to make one of these fitted hats. Buckram reinforces the front panel allowing for a great structured fit. Taping adorns the inside of the cap and gives it a great finished-off look.” Over the last 88 years, New Era fitted hats has lived its name as the leader in sports-licensed headwear company of the world, but that’s not all, New Era also produces hats for skateboarding companies and even Sesame Street! Producing over 35 millions hats per year, one can actually start to get a feeling of how popular these hats have become. New Era can thank the emerging influence of hip-hop and urban culture on everyday fashion for the increase in popularity. The caps, once strictly for baseball, do not even seem to have anything to do with the sport anymore. Urban style has become the standard for what much of American youths wear, whether they live in the cities, the suburbs, or even out in rural areas. Many people, of all colors and creeds, take what they see their favorite rappers wearing and emulate that in their own style. Taking advantage of this, New Era has come out with much more than the traditional team caps that they were previously known for. When speaking about New Era caps, it is important to mention that I am focusing on their 59Fifty line. These are the hats that come in different sizes fitted to the wearer’s head and are the taller and most expensive of the hats New Era makes. New Era has managed to fully integrate its product into hip-hop culture, not just in style but in substance as well. Rapper Lloyd Banks, member of popular artist 50 Cent’s G-Unit trio, raps that he wears his “blue Yankee fitted…G-Unit sneakers”. In addition, Lil’ Flip even wrote a song simply titled New Era, enforcing the fact that the hats are here to stay. The chorus of the song reads: With lyrics like this, it is easy to see how fans of rap also are fans of New Era caps. While Lloyd Banks is from Queens, Lil’ Flip is a Houston-based rapper. It is impossible to argue the fact that New Era caps, through hip-hop, are reaching all corners of our nation. With so many people adorning New Era caps, people have sought other ways to made theirs original and stand out. A recent trend has seen wearers leave the golden sticker indicating size on the cap. While the sticker serves no purpose other than to tell prospective buyers the size of the cap, people have recently stopped removing the label as a fashion statement. With Lil’ Flip endorsing sticker-wearing in his songs, and other artists being seen in hats with stickers, one can hardly look at someone’s cap without being able to find out the size of their head anymore. This craze has been picked up by so many people that New Era’s flagship store in New York City keeps extra stickers in stock and in every size for cap wearers who feel that theirs is faded or has worn off. To cater to those who might not be sports fans, New Era has made caps of all colors and kinds for wearers preferring not to represent a sports logo. Caps with city landscapes, bombs, band-aids, animals, and other items have been made. Unfortunately, New Era came out with a line of bandana print caps in blue, red, and yellow that protesters claimed encouraged gang violence. New Era did quickly recall these hats. For those looking for something special, New Era has even made a limited-edition snakeskin hat that will run buyers $1,200. However, in terms of hip-hop, New Era has made hats with the label RocaWear, the clothing line of rapper Jay-Z. Hats have been made with DC Shoes and Stussy as well, an effort to get more consumers in the traditional skateboard and snowboard culture. Finally, as with many things hip-hop, an item has not “made it” until it is made into a necklace. As with the face of Jesus Christ himself, New Era caps have recently been made into a necklace by designer Urist. These necklaces can be found at the Manhattan New Era store and cost anywhere from $395-$525. New Era caps have officially become a true part of our culture. They can be seen everywhere and are being made into all aspects of fashion. New Era has become a part of hip-hop culture, but has branched out as well to appeal to everyone. Due to this, New Era has quickly become the leading cap maker in the world, and does not seem to be giving up that title anytime soon.