TFHS Closer Look: 2017 Padres Stars And Stripes Hat

The Stars and Stripes cap is the oldest of the Special Event/Holiday caps. Starting in 2008 with a standard navy cap and American flag logo motif, the Stars and Stripes has seen many different iterations throughout the years. This year’s model is no different from years prior as far as changes; each cap has seen wholesale changes in design since 2012. The biggest change in 2017 is right up front:

Navy crown
Red brim and squatcho
Metallic silver New Era flag logo
LiquidChrome interlocking SD

This year’s S&S cap follows the same material list as most of the other entries in this year’s Special Event/Holiday caps: “Shadowtech” makes up the crown and brim. The cap feels nice and fits well, though I have heard murmurs of this particular series running smaller than normal. It may be worth trying on a couple if you’re looking to add this to your repertoire. The National League teams (as per tradition since 2010) have navy crowns and red brims. The American League teams roll with a red crown and navy brim.

There’s also this:

That’s right, the interlocking SD is not embroidered. It’s made of “LiquidChrome”, or what New Era calls their plastic/vinyl patch technology. Honestly, the look has grown on me despite my disdain for plastic/vinyl over true embroidery. If I had the choice, I would have preferred an embroidered logo rather than a glued patch.

The coolest piece of embroidery on the cap is the MLB Batterman logo, done up with Old Glory inside metallic silver.

The underbrim is a matching red; the sweatband was a surprise to me this season. Check this out:

Custom sweatbands are so hot this year. The Stars & Stripes find themselves literally featured on the sweatband in bunting style. It’s certainly interesting but won’t be the last time you see a sweatband design this year.

This cap should still be widely available if you need it before the 4th. The Padres work an odd split for the holiday weekend; they’ll be wrapping up the last 2 games of a series at home against the Dodgers and take Monday off for a Tuesday away game in Cleveland on 4th of July proper. It’s unfortunate they won’t be sporting a version of last year’s look (which was awesome).