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Article: NEW ERA: THE CAP WITH THE CRED; How did a decades-old Buffalo, N.Y.-based hat maker gain so much urban appeal? It avoided celebrity spokespeople and let young, influential consumers shape the brand.(News)(Company overview)
- Article from:
- Advertising Age
- Article date:
- June 4, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: MATTHEW CREAMER
mcreamer@adage.com
little more than a decade ago, New Era Cap was a closely held, Buffalo, N.Y.-based company known to the public, if at all, for supplying Major League Baseball players with their headgear. Today, though it's still controlled by the descendants of Ehrhardt Koch, the German immigrant who founded it in 1920, New Era is one of the fastest growing urban fashion brands, its 59Fifty caps omnipresent among hip-hop stars and the kids trying to emulate them.
Or, as Lil' Flip explains it:
Man, I keep my fitted cocked just to show my head line But keep it down low when I'm out on the grind It's gotta be ...