Being different is okay

Apr 2

If people have different personalities, desires and ways of expression, P-CAP should accommodate.

Baseball caps were initially invented to protect our eyes from the sun in the 1800s, but it has evolved to serve other purposes since — Wearing a cap with a logo or a message on the front can suggest where you’re coming from, what sports team you support or an idea that you believe in…… Or maybe you’re just trying to hide the messy hair! At Parapack, we think caps are totally underrated. I mean, did anyone know that a hat was going to be such a polarizing totem in a presidential election? Ultimately, we learned that wearing a cap can be a way of expressing who we are and what we believe in (or at least who we think we are/ believe in). Our story started with the simple desire to be different.

Test fitting on a small cantaloupe measured 36 cm/ 14 inches in circumference, similar to a new born baby’s average head size!

What would being different look like?

Looking back on the early stages of our headwear development we were mainly just looking for fun side projects we could do on weekends. The more we looked at our current hats the more our dissatisfaction grew; We just wanted to create something more special for ourselves and one day just started sewing things together.

We prototyped a lot during the early stages and just tried to keep it fun and light hearted. Occasionally laughing at our creations and figuring out what worked and what didn’t. After the first few prototypes we started gravitating toward this idea of making a cap that was more versatile - both with its fit and function.

“Will it still look like a normal cap?”

“Is it going to be comfortable?”

“Are people going to freak out when they see it?”

“Are we getting out of control here!?”

Going down the rabbit hole.

After finishing a few funky prototypes, we compared them to our existing caps and felt that the type of adjustment system and material choice could most be improved.

Traditional snapback straps typically consist of 2 pieces of stiff, bulky, and cheap plastic pieces that offer limited adjustability, comfort, and well, nothing about them got us excited. Ian had some colorful paracord laying around the studio from a different project and it naturally found its way onto the rest of the prototypes he made. The cord was fun and different, and also added a “pop” color.

The process of exploring inside this rabbit hole went on for months. It consisted of a rotation of sketching, sewing sprints, looking for new materials online, and maybe a little whiskey here and there. Balanced out by burned out breaks where he needed to forget about the project entirely and focus on other projects that had his attention. Thankfully, Jai-Yu would keep finding inspirations, bouncing off ideas and feedback with him to encourage him to go back to the hat project,

After many months of this back and forth, Ian had made at least 30 different sewn iterations. He had found the balance between which part of the cord to sew down and where it needed to be more dynamic. We finally had a cap which sat comfortably on the head and had a unique method for adjustment - it also folded up nicely which was a cool bonus!

"We don't make mistakes -- we just have happy accidents." - Bob Ross

What the risks brought us.

The big part of the early journey was like playing a mind game. There were a couple times where we’d be up until 3 AM because we got really excited brainstorming and prototyping an idea. Then a week later we just want to curl into a ball on the floor, overwhelmed by a feeling of self consciousness and frustration.

The risk of failure was often in the back of our mind but we decided we’re not going to let it deter us from following this dream (partially thanks to COVID perhaps). Instead we tried our best to tell ourselves that the more we fail, the more likely we will find our way out of this rabbit hole.

The most important thing we’ve learned up until now is don’t give up and just keep trying.