HEAD COVERINGS 101/ Baseball caps comfortable, lightweight, easy to

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 8, 2003 | by RACHEL SAUER

TYPE 5 - The Dude:

could be any baseball cap. Frequently seen at: anywhere people are. Worn: always, by those who feel naked without one. Example: Doug Alaniva, 50-ish, a Colorado Springs native who now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Last week he was visiting the area for spring break and his favorite hat, a beat-up old thing honoring the Denver Broncos, got mashed in his suitcase. Thankfully, he had a backup, a black one embroidered with the CU Buffalos logo. He favors hats that remind him of Colorado. "I've just always liked hats, ever since junior high and high school," he said. Now, as a high school teacher and coach, he wears one every day. He said he would feel weird without one.

Conclusion:

Baseball caps are not only practical for keeping the sun out of one's eyes, they've become a means of self-expression, Gilligan said. They're also a means of bringing people together. "I can see that someone's wearing, say, a New Jersey hat and automatically we have something to talk about - stats and players," he said. Of the hundreds of models of baseball caps in Lids, there is no one most popular model, he said. Caps for college teams and professional Colorado teams sell well, as do caps identical to the ones major league baseball teams wear on the field. Also popular are metal frames on which to wash caps, and a toothed apparatus used for bending the bill. "People just like baseball caps," Gilligan said. "What else is there to say? "

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0374 or rsauer@gazette.com

CAP ETIQUETTE

What, you may ask, is the word on baseball cap etiquette?

Good question, and one with varying answers. Even etiquette experts can't agree. Some say it's good that people no longer are prisoner to stringent social customs and can wear their hats when and where they wish. Others say some customs, such as never wearing a hat indoors, are a matter of manners and consideration of others.

Marjabelle Young Stewart, author of more than 20 etiquette books, sees it both ways. "People right now are looking for the happy, comfortable way of life," she said.

"Baseball caps can be part of that. They're familiar. But it's basic knowledge that when you come in, you take your hat off. It's completely rude and crude not to."

But Ellen Goldstein, chairwoman of the accessories department at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, said that other than in the bathtub, it has become acceptable to wear baseball caps everywhere.

KEEPING YOUR CAP CLEAN

When is the last time you cleaned your baseball cap? Yes, it can be done. Here's how:

1. THE PREFERRED METHOD

is to wash by hand. Use a mild dish-washing detergent and rinse thoroughly.

2. IF YOU MUST MACHINE WASH,

use a gentle cycle. But be advised: This method may cause the brim of the cap to bend, distort, or even tear. Plastic adjusters may melt at higher drying temperatures.

3. ANOTHER ATERNATIVE

to hand-washing is to place the cap in a plastic cap form, available at most hat and department stores, and wash on the top rack of the dishwasher. This method helps retain the cap's original form and shape. Use a detergent that does not contain bleach.