Between sports and fashion there is a connection that goes far beyond aesthetics off the playing field. Between fashion and sports there is a style code inherited from the field that allows each of us to make the values of the game our own. These are values that communicate belonging, loyalty, character and personality, but also madness and obsession. And it is exactly when style becomes the bearer of identity that sport transcends fashion, bypasses trend, and becomes culture.

Right in the culture, first in the American culture and then in the global one too, New Era has reached a unique status compared to other sports brand. This brand has become a pure epitome of the visceral sense of belonging that only sports is capable of conveying. New Era was founded in 1920 by Ehrhardt Koch and today is one of the few brands that has associated its name not only with an accessory, but also with a habit born in the stadiums and developed in the streets: it’s the habit of proving the personal identity and origin.

The concept of sports identity was first externalized in 1845 New York by the Knickerbockers, the world’s first true baseball team whose uniforms combined a woolen pant and a white flannel shirt with a “chip,” the first known example of a basecap; created not only to protect players’ eyesight from the sun, but also, and more importantly, to communicate their connection with the club. Teams such as the New York Mutuals and Brooklyn Excelsiors switched to a merino cap topped with a star motif made by the New York sporting goods company Peck & Snyder. This hat had the two main features of the modern baseball cap: a crown and a visor.

Between New Era’s founding in 1920 and 1960s, the basecap aesthetic found its consecration. From the first hats to the first deal with the then Cleveland Indians, the Koch family brand began a slow and gradual revolution that reached its peak in 1954 with the launch of the 59Fifty. This revolutionary model introduced a rigid frame for the first time. Its shape was designed to improve the players’ visibility and to keep the team logo above the visor in a frontal position at all times. Ergonomics and aesthetics.

The 59Fifty was first worn by the St. Louis Browns, and it immediately conquered American baseball along with New Era. Nearly all MLB teams soon espoused the design of the brand still owned by the Koch family. The same design that has remained virtually unchanged since 1954, except for two key details. The first coincides with the use of polyester in place of wool, a choice made in 2007 that transformed the 59Fifty into a full-fledged sports and performance garment. The second, dated 1993, was the introduction of the official MLB logo on the side of the basecap, coinciding with the agreement made by the brand with the famous American league. During the following years, New Era created a partnership with the NBA and the NFL too.

In New Era’s epic, the sports dimension represents only the beginning of a journey that, at the turn of the new millennium, led the Buffalo-born brand to conquer much more than a place in the sports imagination. Flair, quality, and authenticity soon became the hallmarks of New Era, allowing the brand to transcend the boundaries of cheer to the streets and suburbs of America: the theaters and stages of the new US subcultures. Hip hop first, and pop culture later, give new meaning to basecaps.

N.W.A and Public Enemy. Fat Joe and Change the Rapper. Break dancing. New Era’s 59Fifty becomes a key tool for rappers, musicians, artists and performers to demonstrate pride and belonging. It is a symbol that binds personalities to a city, to a scene. All these elements are shown, in particular, by the photographs of Jonathan Mannion, one of the most important photographers in the hip hop world. Mannion is able to capture the essence of the faces and symbols of hip hop culture like few others.The Cleveland-born photographer and filmmaker has captured some of the most iconic moments in the genre’s collective memory throughout his career. Dr. Dre, Jay Z, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne and Kanye West all share the 59Fifty. The basecap becomes an inescapable accessory in and out of stadiums.

Spike Lee is undoubtedly the personality who contributes more than anyone else to the image of New Era in fashion culture. Through its collaboration with the well-known director, New Era almost unintentionally discovers the power of its influence beyond 59Fifty and its hats.

From Spike’s mind came the idea, shared directly to then New Era CEO Chris Koch, to revisit the Yankees cap in a scarlet red version. This customization opened the doors of the streetwear world to New Era. Since that time, it is almost impossible to count the collaborations that have featured New Era: from Supreme to Tyler The Creator, Helmut Lang to Takashi Murakami, Fear Of God to Beams.

A connection, with fashion and culture, that leads us today to associate in a spontaneous as much as instant way New Era and the figure of hats, sporting and otherwise, to the world of baseball as to that of rap, music as to fashion. . The interweaving of worlds and imaginaries seemingly so distant has only been and continues to be possible because of the power that the 59Fifty and other New Era hats have gained. Base after base, inning after inning. From the MLB diamonds to the streets all over the world.