Jason Maggio from Official Crown of Laurel out of San Francisco, CA, has taken the fitted baseball hat and turned it into a must-have fashion keepsake with his fresh ranges of styles, textiles, and patterns. It was clear that at United Fashion Trade Show last week, August 27-29, buyers sought out the Official booth (one of the best of the show) to check out the latest trends in caps.

“I used to design hats for another brand,” says Jason, who is also the former publisher of Vapors Magazine, in our Label Networks TV interview, “but realized there was a market out there not being tapped into. Or at least it didn’t seem like it was to me.” So in January of ‘07, he started Official, named after the hip-hop expression, personal jargon, and the fact that baseball hats do have a sports connotation and therefore an “official.”

Notable designs and programs are Official’s one-time drop program whereby 2-3 new cap styles are dropped every 2-3 weeks, similar to the demand of LTD sneakers and sneaker culture. The latest includes the Houndstooth Wars which is a twisted version of houndstooth patterns with upside down-looking Space Invader characters. Other popular styles, which we particularly noticed when Official showcased at Bread & Butter in Barcelona in July was the Shemagh caps in various early ‘90’s rave colors.

“The Shemagh caps are custom-dyed,” explains Jason about the process. “Of course it’s taken from the Middle eastern scarf but we’ve added the under visor hues and put them on the hat.” In respect to the symbolism and religious beliefs behind the Shemagh, Official gives $1 to UNICEF for each of the Shemagh caps that are sold. “It would be easy to jack a culture, and that’s not what we’re about with this. We have taken the steps to respect it, but also recognized that this pattern is fashion, a daily piece of everyday clothing. And we added new colorways to recognize it as fashion.”

The Official collection has taken what’s been a traditional baseball cap and turned it into a stylish accessory. Next up for the brand includes bike hats and collaborations with M1 military flight jackets and hats.