New Era

New Era, or in full the New Era Cap Co. is a clothing manufacturer based in Buffalo, NY that specializes in making baseball caps. Since the 1990s, the company has an exclusive licensing deal to manufacture caps for all teams in Major League Baseball and to produce all of the official models sold to fans as well. They also produce all of the special logos and decals that are applied to caps to mark special occasions such as the All-Star Game of postseason series.

The company was founded by German immigrant Ehrhardt Koch in 1920 and at first made all sorts of headgear, including fedora hats. It won a contract to produce caps for the Cleveland Indians in the 1930s and added contracts with other teams in subsequent years. Its iconic model, the 59FIFTY was produced in 1954. Its products distinguished themselves by their quality, particularly that of the materials, stitching and embroidery, and the fact that they were individually fitted at a time when cheap knock-offs dominated the market - which was largely limited to kids. The company remains owned by the Koch family, now in its fourth generation, to this day.

The company produces caps for all sorts of other sports teams, but baseball caps remains the key to the business, as they are actually part of the on-field uniform.

Further Reading

• Erik Brady: "New Era keeps players' heads, company's hearts in game", USA Today Sports, October 4, 2016. [1]