W E A R A B L E

I N

D E S I G N

A M E R I C A

F O R
T E R R E N C E

CHAPTERS

SPOTLIGHTS

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A G R I C U LT U R E

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CORN

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NATURE SCENES

TR ANSPOR TATION

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AUTOMOTIVE

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INDUSTRIAL

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CHARACTERS

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RACING TEAMS

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DIAMOND LOGOS

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CONSUMER GOODS

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MISCELLANEOUS

DEKALB

PLACES TO GO

t all began at a large barn sale in rural Nebraska. I was thirteen and
sweaty, in the middle of a long distance bike ride across the United
States of America. The 54 day trip was a ride undertaken to raise money

for Diabetes with my mother and two of my cousins, but it also provided
the unexpected but welcome opportunity to attend yard sales all across the
country for a summer. My younger self was an aspiring hoarder (I actually
prefer accumulator, it applies more eclectic junk and less dead cats under
piles of newspapers), so getting to pick through rural Americas unwanted odds
and ends was almost a literal dream come true. By the time we hit Nebraska,
stopping at yard sales had become an accepted part of our routine, so when I
pulled off the road at a sign for a barn sale it was just another day on the road.
After a few minutes of poking around in dusty boxes and card tables, I came to
a large pegboard at one end of the barn. On this pegboard hung approximately
50 hats, mostly representing local feed and seed companies, all arranged in
small stacks. I was immediately drawn to them, unaware of how this tiny event
would profoundly affect my future. I approached the woman running the sale and
inquired about the hats, fifty cents each or five for a dollar was her response.
After somehow ignoring my impulse to buy every one she had, I finally settled on
5 that I found particularly interesting and handed the woman four shiny quarters
The distinctive clink of coin on coin from her money apron signaled that our
transaction was complete, and with that my fate was sealed; I was a hat guy. A few
towns later I mailed my new hats home along with the other treasures I had found
on this particular leg, and for the rest of the trip I forgot all about them.
Years later, back in my home state of Vermont, (during the spring of 2009 to be
specific), I rediscovered the hats from the coast-to-coast trip in a box of similarly
forgotten objects in my bedroom. I wore one to school for a laugh, and received
a surprisingly positive response from my peers. Intrigued by the response to this
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bold new fashion statement, I began the hunt for more. Five was nowhere near
enough for an accumulator like myself! I was soon rewarded at the local thrift
store, open once a month in a local churchs basement, with bag of ten or fifteen
hats for the princely sum of one dollar. My level of excitement instantly grew
from vague interest to mild obsession, and from that moment my relationship to
trucker hats was cemented.
Trucker hats soon became my thing. I was never to be seen without one,
unless the weather proved too cold or windy for a hat to be practical. Worn almost
exclusively with the brim flipped up in a manner reserved for confident high
school students who have no idea how silly they actually look, I began to hunt
for these treasures whenever I possibly could. I found one or two in just about
every thrift store I visited, and after a few years they began to pile up. I found
some during a study abroad program in Latin America, and on family vacations. I
began to hang them in my room in a style reminiscent of the way I found my first
few hung in a dusty Nebraska barn. By the time I left for college, hats had become
firmly embedded into my personal character. I was now a level two hat guy.
In college, things took an interesting turn. My collection began to grow
exponentially. I had the good fortune of living extremely close to a massive thrift
store that had a large turnover rate and very low prices. This turned out to be a
deadly combination for an obsessive like myself. I soon approached the stage of
hat collecting where I could no longer regularly wear all of my hats. Did I stop
there? Of course not, that would have been the reasonable thing to do. I was vying
hard for hat guy level 3: completely obsessed, and by god, I was going to get there
and get there quick!

A second development both altered and accelerated my hat accumulation midway

through school. I had found a hat at the thrift store that I loved, but had a phrase
on the front I did not care for. In a moment of creative genius, I cut a different
patterned piece of fabric from a shirt an sewed it to the front panel. Problem
solved! After wearing the modified hat in public a few times, It became clear that
it was gaining me quite a bit of attention. I had a shocking realization: suddenly,
my hats were cool. After walking down the street and having strangers offer to
buy the hat off of my head, the gears started to turn. What if I could sell some of
the hats I didnt wear very much? It would be a perfect way for me to clear some
space, and create an excellent excuse to buy more hats. The perfect plan!
From this idea an online vintage store was born, and continues to live healthily
on today. Featuring primarily hats, my store highlights a collection that has
expanded to several thousand hats. At this point I have to be at least a level 10
hat guy. Buying over 100 hats at a time has happened more times than Id care
to admit. The story could end here, and this book could just be documentation
of a completely pointless collection amassed by a person far too young to own
thousands of any one object. However, there is a second and equally-important
part of this tale.
I have always liked stuff, particularly old stuff and lots of it. I began collecting
bottle caps when I was just seven years old, I probably have at least 50,000 now.
I collect license plates that I find on the side of the road. My bedroom at my
parents house is wallpapered with them. I currently collect or collected at some
point old matchbox cars, hubcaps, old bottles, wooden crates, old fans, old tools,
signs, beer stuff, train stuff, vintage patches, and countless other things. Its not
quite a problem, but Ive teetered on the edge a few times.
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Whether I knew it or not, from a very early age I have been drawn to classic
things. I studied design at an art college and am the son of two artists, so
seemingly by default, all of my collections have a strong design sensibility. Almost
all of my collections follow a simple formula: Old Stuff + Nice Design = well
designed old stuff. This remains a common theme throughout my collecting, and
hats are no exception. Interestingly, the canon of classic American collectibles
is almost completely devoid of hats. Collectors of oil, train, trucking, racing,
beer, etc. memorabilia might have a hat or two in their collections, but for
the most part no place has been set aside for hats on their own. Many classic
collectibles such as beer cans, signs, matchbooks, and others are collected for
their interesting designs. Hats are also beautiful design objects, so why are they
not also?
This book aims to address the unacknowledged beauty of the trucker hat. These
hats are an amazing slice of Americana that represent our countrys hard working
backbone. Many of the hats in this book were worn by people who rarely saw an
easy day, and to most a hat was no more than a utilitarian object. While these hats
retain their utilitarian purpose, they also deserve to be elevated to the status of
classic design object. The small town grain elevators, defunct farm equipment
companies, and long forgotten seed companies have a beautiful, timeless
aesthetic that is rarely seen elsewhere. In this genre of no-frills, utilitarian
aesthetics, design serves a simple purpose. It is a forgotten art that deserves to be
remembered.
Sadly, many of the companies represented in this book have been lost to the
sands of time. Countless trucking companies, dairies, farms, factories, and other
businesses have gone under since they left their mark on one of these hats. Even
a beautifully designed, simple logo or wordmark couldnt save them. Due to
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their relatively valueless status in the world of collectibles, once a hat becomes
anything shy of perfect it can be quickly doomed to the trash can or the dumpster,
taking a small but important chunk of American history with it. Unfortunately,
many of the oldest and best designs were reinforced with a type of foam that
disintegrates after excessive exposure to light and elements. Unfortunately
attempting to clean this foam is time consuming and messy, which results in some
of the best hat examples going to the dump. Im glad I cant possibly know how
many of these hats are thrown away each day, because the answer would surely
make me very sad.
This book can be anything its reader wants it to be: a design reference, a look
into the history of American headwear, or a pretty thing to put cups on when the
coffee table is out of coasters. It can be for people who like design, like hats, like
well designed hats, or just really like buying things for no reason. Maybe whoever
bought this book just thought I could use some money (yes, I do, thank you, youre
great). Whoever the reader is, my one hope is that they see this collection and
think not only of the weird guy who spent a crazy amount of time caring for a
bunch of hats, but pause for a moment and consider the person who spent hours
penciling out a design for a company that makes cow medication and still made it
look beautiful, or the person who wore one of these hats for years, who sweated
day in and day out working to keep their farm afloat, or the person who hung it
above their workbench to remind them of the things they love. This book is really
for them, and I hope that some of those under appreciated souls see this book and
know that a little bit of their history has been saved.
Enjoy this book, spend time with it, and dont throw away your dads old hat
collection. Its special.
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hile trucker hats are most commonly associated with truckers,

their true home is on the farm. Hats became a popular way of
promoting various agricultural brands, and became a widely
collected and distributed item for decades. Almost every farmer over the age of forty
has at least a few, and many have hundreds. Agricultural hat giveaways became such
a phenomenon that companies would compete with each other to have the most
hats in circulation. Some companies would even have drives to exchange hats from
competitors brands for one of their own. Dairies, hatcheries, stockyards, feed, seed,
fertilizer, chemical and tractor companies all played a part, and by constantly promoting
themselves and making more and more hats, the farmers hat became permanently
affixed in American history.

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C O R N

Agricultural companies were one of the

largest producers of trucker hats, with
seed corn companies being the most
prevalent by a large margin. Seed hats
came in many varieties, anywhere from
sugar beets to soybeans, but for the past
several decades American agriculture
has been dominated by corn. This
excessive corn farming resulted in a high
percentage of corn related hats. Thirty
years ago corn was a large player, but at
the time the industry was represented
by hundreds of small, local companies
peddling their seeds as opposed to the
massive agricultural corporations we have
today. Plump ears of corn were common
devices in seed hat design, ranging from
representational to abstract.

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N A T U R E
S C E N E S

Embroidered nature scenes are a

unique motif frequently found on
trucker hats, usually to advertise for
agricultural companies. These hats were
likely marketed at sportsmen (hunters,
fisherman) due to the high percentage
of pheasants and deer represented.
Occasionally other wild animals can be
found, such as bears, wolves, and foxes.
Although they are all very similar, each
seed companys special edition hats
show a slightly different arrangement of
flora and fauna.

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heres a reason theyre called Trucker Hats. Through the past several
decades, the mesh back baseball cap has become a quintessential symbol
of the culture of the highway. CB radios, denim jackets, mustaches, and
truck stops are entwined with the trucker hat, creating what could be considered one
of the quintessential American looks. Worn soft from years of use, many of the hats in
this section have probably seen more miles of asphalt than the average human will see
in their lifetime. If wearing such a hat allows us to imagine the cool desert wind flowing
through mesh, taking a breath of crisp night air, tinged with dust and diesel, youll feel
right at home among these caps. While they may be the most remembered, hats from
trucking companies certainly werent the only mode of transportation to be represented
on the heads of America. Plenty of airlines and railroad companies produced their fair
share of hats. Pilots and engineers need hats for the weekends too! Sit back relax, and
enjoy the ride.

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C H A R A C T E R S

Branding and advertising campaigns of

the past were full of quirky, illustrated
characters, and many of them made
their way onto hats. These characters
were designed in a simple, flat style,
and had the same unusual proportions
of animated cartoon characters.
Initially this style formed due to the
restrictiveness of printed media, but it
had the unintended benefit of translating
into hat embroidery quite well.

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he smell of gas and rubber on a hot summer day; the screech of tires or the
clicking of turning socket wrenches; these are the sounds that harmonize
with the hats found within this section. Whether protecting eyes from the
suns rays by the side of a race track, mopping a sweaty brow hard at work in an engine
bay, or worn as a uniform while pumping gas, each of these hats conjures speed and
motion. They have seen speed records broken, endless backyard projects, and basket
cases restored to their former glory. They remind us of the scent of sweat and motor
oil, the feel of the battered, glossy linoleum counter top at the auto parts store, and the
sound of an engine passing its red line. Buckle your seat belt, and hold onto your hat!

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R A C I N G
T E A M S

Hats are a classic part of car

racing culture in America. Nascar
or otherwise, fans of racing were
known to collect hundreds of hats
from drivers, teams, and sponsors.
At every event there were employees
on the sidelines toting bags of hats
representing their team, ready to
disperse them amongst the driver and
crew members for photographs in
case of a win. Driver autographs were
another integral part of racing fandom,
and hats were a common object on
which to collect them.

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merica may not be the industrial superpower it once was, but the hats in
this section are hardworking and serious. Worn on the heads of men and
women from coast to coast, these hats represent the sweat and toil of a
wide variety of industries. Steel mills, oil fields, plumbing and electrical components,
manufacturing plants, and equipment companies are just a few of the many industries
that can be found within. These hats have seen the whir of progress, the engineering
prowess, and the raw materials that create the building blocks of our civilization. While
many of the companies that these hats represent have disappeared, their legacy as a part
of the average workmans day-to-day lives continues on.

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D I A M O N D
L O G O S
Many of the logos used in this book are
successful due to their use of simple
geometric shapes. These logos were
initially drafted on paper, which meant
creating designs that used geometric
structure was the most simple and
efficient way to make a useful mark.
My personal favorite logo shape is the
diamond, or horizontal rhombus. While
squares and circles were even more
common, the diamond was also a popular
choice. Many designers chose to solve
their design problems using diamonds,
and in many cases their solutions worked
well. These logos show how much can
be done with a small amount of visual
information, and they continue to inspire
my own design work.

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t would be easy to assume that the realm of the trucker hat is limited to the
highway, or the field, or even the factory or the racetrack. At the very least,
it would seem that these industries would have the most use for promotional
headwear. However, with the rise of promotional material in this period of time, more
and more companies began to see the value of the advertising that promotional hats
offered. Soon every company imaginable was having hats made to meet a new demand:
If a consumer wanted to declare their affinity for Sun Maid raisins or Bic pens, it could
be done! Many of the companies represented in this section exude an air of classic
Americana that pairs nicely with the cultures of racing or trucking shown previously.
These brands are seen by millions every day, and worn with pride by a few.

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D E K A L B

Dekalb is a large hybrid seed company

based and founded in Dekalb, Illinois in
1912. It was the top seed corn producer
in the United States for over forty
years, and remains a competitive
player in the seed industry today.
Agricultural hats are a very common
type of trucker hat, and Dekalb is a
widely recognized company frequently
found on hats. Due to their large size
and reach, Deklab created a wide
variety of hat designs, mostly based
around their iconic winged corn logo.

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ith any large collection, there are bound to be outliers, and hats
are no different. While most fall comfortably into one of this books
categories, many do not. The scope of companies and industries
represented on hats is enormous, and it would be foolish to think that five broad
categories could possibly encompass them all. One common hat motif that can be found
in this section is places: Hats from tourist attractions, ski mountains, parks, states, and
cities are very common, but few of them can be considered interesting design objects.
Several genres have been excluded from this book simply for lack of space; sports hats,
for example, are a huge and fascinating realm that this book does not explore. Hats
bearing off color humor have been excluded as well. Hats with mysterious initials that
stood for something, but whose meaning has long since disappeared are common as
well, but not found within these pages. For the most part, the hats in my collection either
fell perfectly into a category or were excluded. However, on occasion a hat will not fit
into a category and still be an excellent example, and for those gems this section exists.

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P L A C E S
T O G O

Travel destinations are a common

example of early promotional headwear.
These hats were very popular as
souvenirs for tourists, and can be
found displaying the names of places all
around the world. The majority of these
hats are uninteresting, but occasionally
a talented, unknown designer or
illustrator would create a beautiful and
well designed mark for a place. Early
souvenir hats were frequently intricate,
but as time moved on they became
simpler, cheaper, and shifted from
embroidered patches to screen printed
or iron on graphics.

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