Meet The Off The Dome Pod, Members of Lids’ Fitted Class

What are you known for in the fitted hat community?
Lani: I give my opinion ’cause we’re pretty much unbiased when it comes to certain stuff. We’re very honest talking about what we like, what we don’t like. What we’ve seen before. I’m always posting food, talking about food. I’m just more open-minded to certain things. Plus, we’re outside, too, so before even just popping out with the podcast, a lot of people seeing us just outside, and then we’re peers.

Yesus: I was just buying hats and watching at first. There are hat battles, so I got my bones with hat battling initially and just kind of showing hats on [Instagram] live. I was the hat battle champion, I guess you could say. When nobody really wants to say what’s really going on, we’re there to keep it real. We’re like the general hat buyer. The people relate to us.

How did you get into fitted hats?
Lani: Previously, I was buying hats, but I would say around like 2020, when the pink bottoms and frosty bottoms came out, we had a group chat going on. I remember sending the picture to the chat, and I’m like, “Yo, is this like the new wave?” At first, I wasn’t really on board with it because I was just like, Oh no. I’m a solid gray bottom guy. And then I grew to appreciate it. We started going down to the city to get hats and then ordering online, and then it just blew up from there.

Yesus: I think hat culture is really important for New York City in general. So, just whether it’s buying a hat when you were younger. I mean, everybody had a Yankee fitted, or just every time we went to the World Series buying the new Yankee fitted at Mods. But more recently, as a community, we came together as a bunch of people that realized that we were fashion-forward and we liked hats when the Pink Bottom happened.

And that’s how we kind of found each other. Covid happened and we were all home and we all realized like, Yo, we bought a hundred hats this year, and we kind of just found each other through Instagram and built out a community. Now we’re here.

What makes a great fitted hat?
Lani: It’s just a feeling when you see it. It is literally an uplifting feeling. And then when it comes to the specifics of the hat, I feel like we’ve seen it transform so crazy. When we first started buying hats, everything was just more flat, well, like, basic knit, and it was just more about the patches. The whole thing was like discovering patches that haven’t been used before. And then like, color combinations. Like, OK, I could wear that.

Yesus: Specifications. The customization of it all now that we can break it down. There’s small pieces to it, whether it be like the under visor, the side patch. It kind of just all comes together as one. It’s just like a great design. You want something that’s eye-catching, but also wearable. A lot of people really rely on limited quantities. So, anything that’s exclusive really kind of drives the market these days.

What’s the most valuable hat you have?
Lani: My most would probably be my Diplomats hat. It’s a pretty basic Diplomats logo. And I know nobody else to have something like that. I love music. I’ve been a Dipset fan since I was a young kid, 6, 7 years old.

Yesus: My most valuable fitted hat would probably be the first one I ever designed. It’s special to me. It’s my first opportunity to express my creativity through a fitted, which is something that we’ve been wearing since forever. So, to make a Yankee hat was something to me that is just mind-blowing.

Value-wise, I’d probably say I have a 1994 World Series Yankee hat, and the World Series never happened in 1994, because there was a strike. So, it was just kind of like a patch that was in the system just by chance. And now you could never make that hat again. It’s unable to be replicated. That’s kind of a special thing for me.

Why are fitted hats important to fashion and personal style?
Lani: When it comes to the hat itself, it can be a part of you. With my red Yankee, that’s something that I try to integrate into all my fits. So, that’s something that I’m gonna go for. There’s certain people that they’re known for only wearing pink bottoms. Some people only collect certain teams or something. So, it’s almost part of their personality.

Yesus: It feels like every time I’m getting dressed before I leave the house and I put the fit together, I’m looking around, and sometimes I can start with the hat. Sometimes I can end with the hat, but it’s like the icing on the cake. Once you throw the fitted on, it’s just like, I’m ready to go. It’s like Superman's cape. We out. It says a lot about how you feel.

How have fitteds played a role in hip-hop culture?
Lani: A lot of people wear hats for like sentimental reasons to represent where they’re from. And that also shows in the music that they make. When I was younger, I love the Atlanta hats, ’cause I’m big on Down South rap, even though I’m from New York. I was a kid that used to watch music videos all day. I’d be like, Yo, where are they getting these hats from? And because it is simply basic uniform. To me, it’s all connected.

Yesus: They are synonymous with one another. Since the beginning of time, it’s been hip-hop, and it’s been fitteds. The fitted culture wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for Spike Lee. But I feel like Jay-Z definitely had a hand in making the Yankee hat famous. Just like how proudly New Yorkers wore the Yankee hat and kind of stamped that. Even L.A., the way that they wore the L.A. hat, or the way N.W.A wore the [White] Sox fitted, you’re representing where you come from. Style in general and hip-hop is super important. So, without it, where would we be?