I think most people have heard about New Era at some point or seen it somewhere, and it’s almost impossible not to, because New Era is currently a global brand that has become an indispensable part of the streetwear scene. Caps, bucket hats, hoodies and much more. But how did they get so big, and how did the whole brand come about? Read all about it in this article.
The Beginning
We go all the way back to 1920, the birth of New Era, which was first called the E. Koch Cap Company. The company started production in Buffalo, New York, and still has its headquarters there today. In 1920, Ehrhardt Koch (the founder of New Era) borrowed $5,000 from his aunt to start his own business with it. The company started with 14 employees, more than 7 of whom were friends or family.
In 1934, New Era signed its first contract with the Cleveland Indians, a Major League Baseball team (MLB), to produce their caps. Within 30 years, New Era had already signed contracts with more than half of the MLB baseball teams to produce the New Era caps with their team logos on them.
Glow Up
In 2001, Chris Koch was appointed as the new CEO of New Era, who had a bigger vision than just MLB and wanted to take New Era into more sports. No sooner said than done: in 2012, New Era signed its first production rights contract with the National Football League (NFL). In 2015, they also closed a deal with Manchester United, and in 2017 they signed one of their biggest deals with the NBA. This also made New Era the first company ever to hold exclusive production rights for the NBA, MLB and NFL.
Fun Fact
In the summer of 2007, New Era voluntarily pulled 3 styles of its New York Yankees caps from the shelves. Why? The styles of the caps were seen as gang-related. 2 of the 3 caps had a bandana pattern and the other a gold crown. Several complaints were made about this at the time, even by the NYPD (New York Police Department), because they felt New Era was making it easier for gangs to buy caps that represented their gang. Because the colors of the caps exactly matched the colors of the Bloods, Crips and the Latin Kings.
Everyone remembers the snapback days, but did you know that some rappers had a deal with New Era? Wiz Khalifa, Chance The Rapper and even 2pac had their own line of New Era caps.
