The Trucker Hat - Putting the Cap in Capitalism

  We take a look at the history and social context of Trucker Hats, the mesh-backed cap that often makes the wearer a walking billboard. 

David Shuck |  April 6, 2023

 Dean Stockwell in Paris, Texas.In the history of humans wearing clothing, there have been thousands, if not millions, of unique garment styles created for a variety of purposes:  to protect from the elements to comfort and soothe, to aid in self-expression, to name but a few.Yet I can think of none more shrewd and more alienated from any of those than the Trucker Hat.Yes, I’m talking about the “good ol’ boy”, Larry the Cable Guy, Ashton Kutcher in Von Dutch cap that you can smell the stale Budweiser and Marlboro smoke on from across a Goodwill. In my opinion, it is not a garment. It is a parasite masquerading as a hat to turn its wearer into a walking billboard at the smallest possible expense to its maker.And I think that's why they deserve our respect and admiration.

  Dawn of the Deere

In the 1960s, developments in plastics and polymers meant manufacturers could develop a hat made entirely of petroleum byproducts—a thick foam in the front, a plastic mesh in the back for breathability, and an adjustable plastic snap in the back for sizing.These hats were significantly cheaper to produce than their wool or cotton counterparts, but the real genius was that, unlike the natural fiber twills in the other hats, the foam was uniform enough to screenprint on—something that was much, much cheaper than embroidery and much more widely available.Suddenly, anyone with a screen and some emulsion could put their logo, company name, or anything else across a wearer’s forehead. The crown of a trucker hat was even taller than a normal hat to fit more advertising real estate. 

A 1970s vintage John Deere promotional hat with a local farm equipment shop included. Image via HatsForward.

It was the perfect promotional item: cheap to produce, cheap to print, and one size fits all. Companies made them and just gave them away as a marketing expense. Trucker hats were first known as “gimme hats” because they were originally given away for free.The style caught on in rural communities because the earliest adopters were agricultural supply companies, most notably John Deere, who has produced an order of magnitude more hats than they ever have of tractors. 

Dad got a tractor and junior got a hat. Image via Pinterest.

Soon every “Fred’s Feed Supply” and “United Silo Construction” would have their own branded cap to hand out to every farmer in their territory.But what was even better than a walking billboard? A driving one! Trucker’s became the ideal target for trucker caps because your ad could criss-cross the country and be seen by your target audience wherever its wearer went. 

Jerry Reed as Cledus aka "Snowman" wearing a CAT promotional hat in the 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit". Image via Universal Pictures.

Popularity amongst truckers and farmers gave the hat a distinctly blue collar edge, a "working man" image that celebrities and rockstars began to take on for themselves. 

Later era Steve McQueen in a CAT hat. Image via People Magazine.

Tom Selleck in the 1980s TV show Magnum P.I. Image via eBay.

Sam Shepard in John Deere. Image via The New Yorker.

But the most shrewdly capitalist hat in history had yet to make its final play:  making people pay to wear the ad! 

Going Von Dutch

In the early 2000s, the cultural forces of hip-hop, pop punk, and skaters combined in an ironic appreciation for the trucker hat's older, blue-collar image.Everyone from Pharrell Williams to Ashton Kutcher to Lindsay Lohan was wearing a new era of trucker hat that transcended the local feed and tractor supply store. They instead said things like "Teenage Billionaire" or "Material Junky" or "Drama Queen" and were often worn slightly angled off the head for some reason. 

Ashton Kutcher wears a trucker hat at a New York Knicks game in 2003. Image via Getty Images.

If there's one name though, that's more associated with truckers than Jonathan Deere, it's Von Dutch. Von Dutch is a fashion brand founded in the early 1990s named after the posthumous artist Kenny Howard. French designer Christian Audigier managed to popularize the brand in the early 2000s by putting trucker hats on any celebrity he could.Paris Hilton, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, and Britney Spears were all often spotted in Von Dutch caps. But these weren't gimmes, VD truckers could retail for up to $125. 

Britney Spears in a Von Dutch cap in the early 2000s. Image via Von Dutch.

A current manufacturer of trucker caps estimates the front of a trucker hat will be “seen 3,400 times over its useful life.” I have no idea how they calculated this number, but this is an incredible return, even in today’s advertising market.The average cost of a Google-served web ad is a little over $3 per one thousand views. If you took the hat at the same metric, it would earn over $10. And a trucker can currently be bought for $2.50 on Shein, a 4x return, and who knows how cheap they get wholesale.The fact that it’s a hat is secondary. It’s a lure just useful enough for people to put the ad on their heads. If an advertiser could get away with shaving away the brim or any other feature that serves the wearer, they definitely would.If you would also like to get an ad on your dome, there are a plethora of vintage options available on Etsy and eBay. If you'd prefer to shell out to rep some brands from our corner of the fashion niche, here are a few options: 

South2 West8

South2 West8 Tenkara hat available for $112 ($95.20 Heddels+ members) at Blue in Green.

RRL Mesh Trucker Hat

Available for $145 at Stag Provisions.

Kapital Laundry Shrink Trucker Cap

Available for $114 also at Stag Provisions.

Viberg Boot Trucker Hat in Gold

Available for $45 at Viberg.

Gallery

 Donald Glover truckin' for donuts. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump in Bubba Gump hat. Daniel Kaluuya in Nope. Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon in Tremors.

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