Exclusive: Where New Era will be "assembling" MLB Team-Issued Caps

According to multiple news outlets, upon the closure of New Era's manufacturing plant in Derby, NY, production of New Era's on-field caps for MLB team-issue only would be transferred to a facility in Hialeah, Florida. The facility has already been in use for several years by 5th & Ocean, a clothing company purchased by New Era in 2009. At his facility, 5th & Ocean "decorates" (i.e. screen-printing) already made clothing such as shirts.

With a bit of sleuthing, I was able to find exactly where the facility is in Hialeah, as well as some photos of the interior of the facility during a mayoral visit in 2011. Keep in mind that the facility may be completely different on the inside now. While it wasn't hard to get photos and footage of New Era's Derby, NY plant, it seems highly unlikely that we'll likely ever get to see any footage or images of workers "assembling" the caps that MLB players wear from this point on.

5th & Ocean seen from above on Google Maps. Don't be fooled by the size; the building is shared with other businesses and 5th & Ocean only uses a small portion of the building.

The 5th & Ocean side of the building. Notice no signs anywhere. I assume the employees enter through the opening seen to the left of the truck.

Then-Hialeah mayor Julio Robaina (left) with other elected officials. The manager of 5th & Ocean is the older gentleman. I wonder if he is still around. Notice the sign behind the mayor.

 Elected officials meeting employees in the 5th & Ocean office area.





Elected officials during a tour of the facility. Some Cincinnati Reds t-shirts are being worked on.

Elected officials posing with 5th & Ocean employees. As you can see, several employees are wearing MLB shirts.

There you have it; an exclusive look into where MLB's team-issue only caps will be assembled. New Era's current contract with providing on-field caps for MLB runs though 2030.

Comments

  1. Alkemy XJanuary 5, 2020 at 6:10 PM

    Hey guys im new here and would just like to say hi to all my fellow hat enthusiasts. I hope this blog is still active. I noticed a blog on here that has pics of all the old Cooperstown Ball Cap Company caps. I have several Ideal Cap Co. caps and i love them but Id love to get a hold of any of the old Boston Red Sox Cooperstown Ball Cap Co. caps. The 1931 road hat in particular but any of them would be great. Does anyone have any of the CBCC caps for sale or know of anyone that does? Anyway im glad to be part of the blog and look forward to checking out the rest of the blogs in the community.

    ReplyDelete
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  3. UnknownOctober 25, 2021 at 11:30 PM

    Thanks to this article, I learned a lot about the value of headwear.

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