New Era Plans To Work With Hiphop Celebs To Make 59FIFTYat50 Le Caps

Article written by: Rodrick Rainey
Posted on: May 20, 2004

SoJones released researched information on the limited edition “59FIFTYat50″ fitted caps by New Era back in April. Since then, the demand for information on specific hats has increased. On top of that, New Era representative Crystal Howard contacted SoJones to give corrections and more detailed information after seeing the thirst for knowledge on the caps, SoJones visitors had.

Already released New Era fitteds came from film director Spike Lee, baseball pitcher Roger Clemens, and hiphop purist Bobbito Garcia. New Era is striving to show diversity amongst those who wear the New Era fitted products but at the same time show humanitarianism as they donate profits from each celebrity’s design to a charity of the celeb’s choice.

Crystal also told SoJones that Spike’s hat, which was made of cashmere, really meant a lot to New Era as Spike is somewhat the “father of fitteds.” Influenced by the hiphop culture he grew up to in Crooklyn, New York, Spike asked New Era for a New York Yankees fitted cap in unofficial colors. And up to the point of Spike asking, this was a ‘ridiculous’ idea because who would want to wear a hat that’s not just like the professionals’ hats? However, after New Era gave Spike what he requested, it set off the world’s attention and demand for hats just like it. This made Spike Lee the true father of fitteds as well as making hiphop culture a trend setter way before today’s hiphop fashion explosion.

Upcoming 59FIFTYat50, New Era fitted hiphop designers include Fabolous, Cam’ron, MTV’s LaLa, hiphop fashion designer Mark Ecko, U.K. rap artist Dizzee Rascal, and mixtape legend DJ Green Lantern.

Other designers include famed African American Philidelphia-native, skateboarder Stevie Williams, retired NBA legend George “Ice Man” Gervin, St. Louis Ram’s player Kyle Turley, and snow boarders Trevor Andrew followed by Mark Frank Montoya.

The next of the fitteds to be released is from the throwback king himself, Fabolous. Seemingly taken away by the ‘grown man’ trend, Fab has decided his hat will be a pin-stripe, New York Yankees fitted, made from a pin-stripped suitting matearial. The details on Fab’s hat are quite fancy. The MLB logo which was moved to the front, left wear-side of the hat, instead of it’s normal rear placement, has a quarter carat, white diamond inside it’s design for the baseball. No, the diamond will not fall off, as it is placed in a white gold setting and sauttered on. Fab also put his hiphop organization’s name, “Street Family,” on the rear of the cap. Releasing on Thursday, May 27th, only 144 hats are expected for retail.

Crystal also went further to tell SoJones that female visitors should be on the lookout for LaLa’s (from MTV) hat as it’s so different, every female will want it. The big catch is that every female can’t have it because only up to 288 hats have a possiblity of being released!

All 59FIFTYat50, New Era fitteds are limited. Up to 288 hats will be released of each design with some of the hats having even less produced. The stores they will be available at are also limited. Cities where the hats will be available include New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto. These fitteds will also be available for sale online at 59FiftyAt50.com.