Fitted Hats

     For the last 3 years, I've started a hobby of collecting hats. I've been wearing hats since I was in middle school. In middle school, I wore snapback hats from new era. I was born in San Diego, so I had to make sure I was representing. When 8th grade came around, I was into strapped hats as they refer it to as "dad hats". During the years 2016-2018, dad hats were popular amongst the youth which happened to be my high school years. By the time I graduated high school, Tik Tok became popular and fashion idea videos flooded my For You page. New Era 59Fifty customized hats was and still is a big fashion trend all over Tik Tok which also influenced my love for fitted hats. One of the first hats I bought was a black and white Los Angeles Dodgers hats with a gray underbrim. Now, I am SD hat guy and a big fan of the Padres. But this was the only one that was available that had neutral colors and was decent. It was the first hat that would make me switch from wearing dad hats to fitted hats. This would begin my new hobby of collecting hats. 

    Collecting fitted hats is almost similar to collecting shoes. They're nice, different, and fresh. But it's always good to rotate through your collection which means to buying more lol. However, the difference between hats and shoes is that hats costs less than 100 dollars. When I started my collection, I went through a deep hole of researching for places where I can buy hats. There is only one major hat store in Guam that strictly sells fitted hats. So, I began researching and looking through a variety of websites. 

    With the help of Tik Tok and hat fashion pages, I was able to find a couple of websites that sold different customized hats. The most popular hat amongst many people is the side patch fitted hats. The side patch hats have an embroidered patch on the right side most of the time. The side patch was first invented in the world series in the 90s as they were putting them on the left side. As seen in the bottom photo, the hat on top is seen to have a side patch on the left side. The hat is a replica of the Padres world series hat of the 1998 World Series between the Padres and the Yankees. Side patch hats are also very rare in most cases and limited to different hat stores and websites. As seen in the bottom picture, I have a Padre hat with a Philippine flag side patch with a yellow underbrim. Only one store sells this hat which makes it rare and unique to the collection. Customized hats are also exclusive by drops. Meaning at a certain time of the day, a company will drop their collection of hats. Once it's gone, it's gone. Every hat store/company is different depending on the generosity of the company. Most of the time, hats are not made again. Which also makes collecting and hats fun to me. If you're interested into buying hats, here are my favorite websites to search through:

New Era: New Era | New Era Hats & Apparel – New Era Cap

Hat Club: New Era 59Fifty Fitted Team Hats & Caps | Hat Club

SportsWorld165: New Arrivals – Sports World 165