My brother recently suggested I could upgrade my hat game. He was right: the crusty, adjustable-strap White Sox hat I’d worn for years was due for replacement. I liked the fit and look of the New Era 59Fifty wool ballcap he lent me. But I didn’t care to advertise for a team (a.k.a. company) I don’t care about, nor did I wish to invite small talk about sports.
My mission: replace the logo on an official New Era baseball cap with one of my own design. It was a fun mixed-media project, part art, part craft, and part hack.
I ordered a gently-used cap from eBay. If you don’t care about team logo, the choices are vast! I purchased a 1990s vintage black hat with a black Yankees logo for $13.
![A black vintage Yankees hat, untouched](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/hat_original.jpg?resize=580%2C773&ssl=1)
First I removed the existing logo. I used a seam ripper to slice threads and pliers to yank on loose ones. When removing logos from other garments, I rip stitches from the back, but that wasn’t possible here due to the white backing liner on the inside.
![Many of the threads have been picked off](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/hat_delogo_1.jpg?resize=580%2C435&ssl=1)
This part was slow going. All of the yanking with my dominant hand bent the cap slightly. I probably should have done more slicing and snipping and less brute force with the pliers.
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/hat_delogo_2.jpg?resize=580%2C435&ssl=1)
The result wasn’t perfect. A few threads from the logo remained and I pulled out a little material from the hat itself. But it sufficed once I covered it up. I wonder if contrast would have helped. Would a white logo on black hat work better (because the white logo stitches would be easier to selectively remove) or worse (anything left over would stick out)?
![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/hat_delogo_done.jpg?resize=580%2C435&ssl=1)
Next I made the new logo, using the community laser cutter at All Hands Active. I downloaded the Extinction Symbol and loaded it into Lightburn, which auto-traced the outlines. I was ready for the laser.
I cut the logo out of corrugated plastic sheeting, often called Coroplast. Most plastic is unsafe to cut on a CO2 laser, but Coroplast is okay. In Ann Arbor, unscrupulous companies print advertisements on this plastic and illegally place them in the public right-of-way near highway off-ramps and busy intersections.
I considered 3D-printing the symbol. That way I could have controlled its depth – the Coroplast stock is a tiny bit thicker than a New Era-style logo – and added touches like tiny holes through which to sew the logo to the hat. But that would have taken a while to design and print. And I liked the spirit of reusing roadside litter.
The laser burned nearly through and I finished it with an X-ACTO knife.
![extinction symbol burned into a plastic sheet](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/lasered_logo.jpg?resize=300%2C295&ssl=1)
![shape cut out of plastic sheet](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/xacto_cut_logo.jpg?resize=580%2C286&ssl=1)
Next, I wrapped the logo. I used a small bundle of embroidery floss, I believe a 8.7 yard bundle of 6-stranded DMC 25. That was exactly enough for this project.
![beginning to wrap the plastic with embroidery floss](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/wrapping_logo1.jpg?resize=580%2C773&ssl=1)
A crafty friend at Workantile suggested I wrap the logo before attaching it to the hat. Brilliant!
![logo almost entirely wrapped](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/wrapping_logo2.jpg?resize=580%2C773&ssl=1)
![fully wrapped logo sitting on the brim of the hat](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/hat_and_loose_logo.jpg?resize=580%2C773&ssl=1)
I got it almost entirely wrapped, then tacked it onto the hat in a few places with the same thread. Finally, I completed a few tricky wrapping stitches that were easier once the logo was anchored to the hat.
The wrapping is imperfect and in one spot I pulled too hard and compressed the plastic. But from across the room it passes for a commercially-made hat!
![The completed hat with logo finished](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i0.wp.com/samfirke.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/finished_hat.jpg?resize=580%2C773&ssl=1)
I’m pleased with how it turned out. I have a comfortable, well-made hat and instead of promoting a sports franchise, I’m starting conversations about living during the Sixth Mass Extinction. Seeing the logo reminds me to think timefully.
If I hack another hat, I’ll consider 3D-printing the symbol to try to precisely match the depth of the hat’s original logo. And I’d start with a hat that isn’t black-on-black so the New Era logo on the side pops: I enjoy the tension and confusion that comes from this being a mass-produced object with a hand-made logo.