New Era in association with Major League Baseball has pulled a line up of new caps it created after they found that they might have gang connotations based on the colors and symbols.
“It has been brought to our attention that some combinations of icons and colors on a select number of our caps could be too closely perceived to be in association with gangs,” said Christopher H. Koch, CEO of New Era Cap. “In response, we, along with Major League Baseball, have pulled those caps.”
Major League Baseball claims it didn’t realize that the hats could be gang related. The Yankees, whose logo appears on the hats hadn’t seen the caps prior to production.
The styles that were in question were a white cap with a red bandana, a white cap with a blue bandana and a black cap that contained a gold crown. These hats could be tailor-made for members of the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings respectively. After this came to the attention of baseball officials they asked New Era, who has manufactured caps for MLB since 1930, to pull the product. New Era had already acted prior to the notification by MLB.
Richard Garcia, who works with Peace on the Street to provide youngsters with alternatives to gangs, said he immediately recognized the hats’ colors from his work with former gang members.
“My fear was that the wrong kid was going to wear the wrong hat in the wrong neighborhood and get hurt,” he said.
New Era says it will ensure they have a better working knowledge of gang color combinations and symbols in the future.
Now if you believe everyone involved, you’re telling me that no one at New Era and no one in the MLB office involved in licensing had a clue those hats could be gang related? I took one look at those hats and I a suburban, middle aged white male knew they had gang connections.
Also if the Yankees hadn’t seen the caps prior to production that means that MLB lets their suppliers and not the teams or the league dictate the products that are sold. I don’t know about you but I think that’s a very bad business practice as this incident has shown us.
UPDATE: I found the hats with Red Sox and Dodgers logos. I didn’t look for any other teams.
