About the Black on Black Queer Embroidered Hat by Strong Athletic for the LGBTQIA2S+ Sports and Athletics Community
Strong Athletic is an LGBTQIA2s+ Company. We support people who are underrepresented in sports. Queer people are still unlikely to come out during their athletic career because of the lack of expectance of LGBTQIA2s+ people in the world. While it is getting better, it's still not good enough. This snapback hat was created so that you can tell the world that you are Queer. Sometimes it takes a ton of courage to do this. Some people might like to, but depending on their location, they can't. In some countries in the world it is still illegal to be gay, and so being out is still a "privilege" although it is a basic human right. This hat, with the bold black letters embroidered on the black fabric, is not only functional, but it is also a statement. It shows how you can be out, or want to be out, but still need to blend in and assimilate, depending on your circumstance. Recently, Strong Athletic Owner Nadia Kean, was at an event with Strong Athletic. She had Strong Athletic Queer shirts for sale and she watched people's reaction as they walked by them. She loved it when people told her that they were happy to see them, and thanked her for making them. She did have one man ask her if people actually wore them. She said yes and asked the man if he was part of the LGBTQIA2s+ Community. He said no. She told him, "yes, people wear them. There are a lot of us in sports, and were proud and we want you to see us." The man sort of shrugged and walked away. Nadia was not sure what the man's actual reaction was, if the shirt made him angry or simply ponder why people in our community need to be so vocal about being out. She did know however, that she herself would no longer stay quiet.
This Yupoong snapback hat is made at a Flexfit Facility, which is accredited by WARP Corp. These hats are crafted to last, and hat is why Youpoong hats are so popular. Strong Athletic guarantees that the stitching on your hat will not unravel and that the embroidery will last. If there is a production related issue with your hat- one that happened because the hat company made a mistake, get in touch and we’ll let you know about how replacement policy. Need to wash your snapback hat? Follow the instructions in the “about” section.
One thing we notice is that our hats are usually about $5-$10 more expensive than other snapback hats on the market. Ever wonder why there is such a price difference? There's a good chance that some of those companies are simply producing more shirts, faster, and so their overhead costs are lower. We can't speak for them and how they set their prices, but we can speak for ourselves. At Strong Athletic, we only use small-scale embroiders and the hats that we embrodier on are always made in W.A.R.P. Certified facilities. We also pay all of our contract employees a pay rate that is in line with living wage standards. We also have many of our shirts associated with a non-profit and we donate a portion of profits (sometimes 100% of profits) to causes that hold dear. In the case of this shirt, as mentioned above 50% of profits were donated. We believe that when products are cheap, someone is losing out on income. We don't want those people to be anyone involved in our supply chain or who work for Strong Athletic on a daily basis.
As mentioned above, every single Strong Athletic product is produced by a small scale screen printer or embroidery shop. Our snapback hats are embroidered by a small-scale, local embroidery shop called Vistago Print in Lago Vista Texas. The majority of our shirts are printed by Amanda in Austin, Texas who prints out of the Austin Screen Printer's Coop, a screen printing shop that is member owned and run in East Austin. When our shirts are not printed by Amanda they are printed by other small-scale screen printers such as Second Avenues Ink in Portland, Oregon or Leigh Valley Apparel Creations in Pennsylvania. As mentioned above, the art for this design was created by Cristen Perks in 2013 for Strong Athletic founder Nadia Kean. The Strong Athletic logo was created by Angel Ortega in 2015, until that point our shirts had the Get Smarty Coaching logo on them.
Every Strong Athletic shirt, hat and fanny pack comes wrapped in our signature "You are so Strong" wraps which are held together with a kraft Strong Athletic sticker. Each shirt is then packaged in a biodegradable kraft mailer that we get from a US based company called EcoEnclose. We include a postcard that shares the origin story of Strong Athletic and that is addressed by hand to the person receiving the shirt. Also included in every package is a Strong Athletic logo sticker and one of our "We Believe" stickers. Every time you open a package from Strong Athletic we want it to feel special, especially if you're sending the Strong Athletic shirt as a gift.
80% acrylic, 20% wool; 5-panel, structured, high-profile; Eight-row stitching on flat visor; 3 1/2" crown; Hard buckram backed front panels; Six sewn eyelets; Green undervisor; Plastic adjustable closure. The letters are embroidered with black thread in "3-D" which means that a layer of foam is laid on the hat and the thread is embroidered over it. The hat is made by Yupoong and is adjustable. The hat is solid black, the bill of the hat is green.
A portion of the profits from this design are donated to Pull for Pride's Share the Platform Grant. To read more about this organization, their grant or to donate, click here.
Sizing of the adjustable Strong Athletic Queer Snapback
This hat comes in two sizes. The regular size will work for 80% of people who order this, but the smaller size will work for kids and also adults with smaller heads. If you're that person who doesn't buy snapbacks cause they never fit- then you'd probably want to go with the "small".