ChicSunTimes

Accept no imitations in your Sept. 11 wear

October 29, 2001

BY RICHARD ROEPER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

We're about 15 years into the era of the baseball-cap-as-a-fashion-statement, with everyone from supermodels to jocks to movie stars to presidential candidates donning caps to promote products, companies, causes, movies, you name it.

Odds are that you've got a dozen baseball caps in your casual wear rotation--or you know someone who does.

Baseball cap chic is so prevalent that there's even a device you can buy to bend the bill into a clean semicircle. (Only farmers and 70-year-old football coaches wear baseball caps with "straight" bills.) But until 9/11/01, not even Nostradamus or Miss Cleo--well, especially not Nostradamus or Miss Cleo--could have foreseen the latest craze to sweep the nation: hats bearing the logo of the Fire Department of New York, and, to a lesser degree, the New York City Police Department, the New York Harbor Patrol and even the FBI.

As a Reuters headline put it: Move over DKNY, here comes FDNY.

Suddenly it's hip to be square--if you think supporting rescue workers and law enforcement workers is square, that is. It used to be that a Madonna or a Vince Carter or a J. Lo would have to wear a hat to catapult a certain logo or design to popularity, but this time the trendsetter was Rudy Giuliani, who donned an FDNY hat for press conferences and other public appearances in the aftermath of the attacks.

Coaches and players for New York City's professional sports franchises picked up on the gesture. We've seen members of the New York Jets and Giants roaming the sidelines in FDNY or NYPD caps, while players and coaches for the Mets and the Yankees wore such caps during games. In the meantime, stars such as Bruce Willis and Paul McCartney wore logo clothing and hats on talk shows.

Closer to home, I've seen ample evidence of the trend in Chicago.

Last Friday night at the Tippling House just north of Diversey on Halsted, there was a party to celebrate the release of CDs by some local artists. I spotted two FDNY hats in the house.

A few nights before that, I visited the refurbished Boss Bar on Clark and Hubbard, which is open for business again after a fire and still has the gigantic portrait of Mayor Daley the First looking down on the festivities--though the painting of the other Boss, Mr. Springsteen, is gone. The guy next to me at the bar was sporting an FDNY hat.

And about a week prior to that, I was running on the lakefront and saw a muscular jogger wearing the same style hat.

As a matter of fact, I've got one perched on the TV in my office.

So here we are with our fashionable logo hats, all telling ourselves we're wearing them as a sign of support for the firefighters and the cops--and not because we're trying to stay in step with the latest celebrity-endorsed fashion trend. (Ahem.)

But as with any designer-logo explosion, the cheap knockoffs and the unauthorized ripoffs began to surface almost immediately. As you read this, factory workers in places like Bangladesh and Malaysia are busily sewing FDNY and NYPD logos on polyester caps, which will make their way to vendors whose territories range from the streets of Manhattan to the virtual stores of the Internet.

The New York City Police Department doesn't sell merchandise directly, but they do give the stamp of approval to stores such as Paul's Police Uniforms and Equipment, which sells all manner of cop-related collectibles and clothing, including a line of September 11-related "We Remember" hats and T-shirts. (The store's Web site is at nypdgiftshop.com.) However, the NYPD has stated it has no interest in trying to stop outside vendors.

The Fire Department of New York authorizes the New York City Fire Museum and a store called Fire Zone to sell logo merchandise. There's a Fire Zone store in Manhattan, a new boutique in the midtown Bloomingdale's--and the obligatory Web site, fdnyfirezone.org. (All proceeds from Fire Zone sales go to the city's Fire Safety Education Fund.) Last week a spokesman for the Fire Zone told the New York Post it has sent cease-and-desist letters to unauthorized vendors. I wish them luck, but I don't think they should expect workers in South Asia to stop sewing any time soon.

Still, if you're in the market for an NYPD or FDNY item, why not get it from one of the authorized dealers? Delivery might take a few weeks due to high demand, but as with all things trendy, it's better to wait for the real deal.

After all, that trendsetter Rudy G. wouldn't be caught dead in a cheap knockoff.

"Ebert & Roeper" airs Saturday at 10:35 p.m. and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on WLS-Channel 7.

October 29, 2001

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001