There have been a few companies popping up in recent years making higher-end baseball caps. Both the plain, dull, luxury ones that became a trend in the wake of Succession, and ones that look exactly like a traditional cap, just higher quality.
For me, this misses the point of a baseball cap, at least the type I like. The charm of a cap is the way it moulds to your head, how you bend the peak, how it fades and eventually frays.
It’s more akin to denim than flannel. The core aesthetic appeal of jeans is the way they fade and fray. It’s what gives them personality and makes each one unique.
People do make jeans that don’t age in this way – finer cottons, silk mixes, cashmere – but they feel more like denim trousers than jeans. I don’t wear them, but there’s nothing necessarily wrong with them*; it’s just a little misleading to call them jeans.
A baseball cap in a luxury cotton doesn’t fade or fray in the same way. There’s nothing wrong with making a leather strap that doesn’t fall apart, or a buckle that won’t fall off, but that’s a different type of quality. Don’t upgrade the leather into fine calf, or start using silver for the buckle thinking they’re necessarily better. It’s a question of style as well as quality.
Caps go through stages of ageing, and I can imagine some readers not liking all of them. To begin with, the cotton softens and moulds. I like to bend the peaks of mine a lot, and it’s pleasing when this sets in.
After a while, the fabric starts to fade. This can just be from the sun, but it’s accelerated when the cap gets wet, particularly with sweat or salt water. I love this second stage, but the cap is not as smart anymore. I like wearing an old salt-stained one with a smart navy overcoat (above) but that’s for the deliberate contrast, the high/low of it.
Then there’s a third stage, when the thing starts to fall apart. The peak frays and eventually blows out, revealing the plastic underneath. Other edges begin to break too, like the point where the peak meets the crown. I love this point, in the same way I love jeans that are barely hanging together**, but at this point – many hundreds of wears in – I understand if some readers don’t.
My vintage Ralph cap below is at that stage.
Readers have brought up the question of how aged is too aged – in reference to everything from tennis shoes to boat shoes, oxford shirts to blazer elbows.
The first thing to say is that it’s dependent on category. A hairy tweed jacket can look great with elbow patches; a smart worsted suit not so much.
Second, it depends on what style you’re after, and people like different styles. I understand why someone might prefer the New Era, snapback cap for example, and would wear it a certain way. They’re aiming for something different***.
Lastly, it’s a question of how far you want to go, which is more of a personal style question. You could see it as how far along the subtle/showy scale you like to be. I love my Doek tennis shoes and their frayed holes, but I wouldn’t put duct tape around my boat shoes. I love fraying on the collar of an oxford shirt, but when the collar’s actually coming off, that’s too much for me.
The Ralph caps I’ve shown here are from a small collection I’ve built up over the years, and hopefully they demonstrate the charm that comes from how they age.
I started buying the caps about 10 years ago, partly because I realised quite how much the brand meant to me and my journey in menswear. I’ve bought new, I’ve bought second hand, and often it’s for a particular colour, fade or logo.
I wrote a separate article a couple of years ago on caps in general, and in particular why they should have logos. It’s part of their charm in the same way as the fading – part of the heritage, a traditional way to show support for something – and in that way, a different little slice of your personality.
*well, not any more (there were trousers to go with that jacket)
**without getting to the point of fetishising it
***but personally I think the cashmere caps have no style at all
