For more than 100 years, hats have served as the face of a player and helped define a team. Players like Ken Griffey Jr. helped to inspire an entire generation with their sweet swing, and their penchant for wearing their caps backward. Today, fans gobble up baseball caps in their favorite teams’ colors and styles and wear them as fashion statements. And although the hats of today still share an awful lot with those worn by Brooklyn Excelsiors in the 1800s, the experimentation hasn’t stopped.
As a result, the cap’s place in the fashion conversation is strong and it continues to be an essential part of any wardrobe. So if you’re wondering, are caps for sale?
While a New Era factory worker may not have imagined the company that would later produce a million baseballs each day, they certainly wouldn’t have dreamed that it would also sell millions of caps to fans. They probably wouldn’t have even dreamed of New Era flagship stores or specialty cap shops, the intense memorabilia market for caps or that hats would become as fashionable as baseball jerseys. And while a baseball jersey might be a more comfortable article of clothing to wear in the heat, a cap is far better for keeping the sun off your head and the rain off your back.
The first caps were made of wool and had a green and gray underbill, but when New Era introduced the first cotton cap in 1957, it was a game changer. It was lighter, softer and more durable. And the color of the cap’s underbill changed to black because studies had shown that it was the best color for keeping the sun off a player’s head.
Today, there are many different materials used to make caps, from traditional cotton and polyester blends to high-performance fabrics such as wool-nylon blends. But the most important characteristic of a good cap remains the fit and quality of the crown, which should be snug on the head without being too tight or too loose. And a cap should fit on the head without any gaps or wrinkles at the front, sides and rear.
A rate cap has three primary economic terms: the loan amount protected by the cap (the notional), its duration (the term) and the level of rates above which the cap pays out (the strike rate). The longer the term, the more expensive the cap will be. The term is also a function of interest rate volatility, which increases with the risk that actual SOFR resets will be higher than the key rate used to calculate a cap’s pricing (i.e., a 3-year cap with a 3% strike rate).
When a cap is required by a lender, it’s common to require a collateral assignment document signed by the borrower and the cap seller that assigns the cap to the lender for the duration of the loan. Chatham provides this document in the form of a Transaction Summary on its letterhead, and it is delivered to the borrower and potential cap sellers prior to the cap purchase but does not create any contractual obligations until after the cap purchase is complete.