Since the late nineteenth century when baseball players first started experimenting with brimmed headwear, sport caps have maintained a ubiquitous presence in people’s closets and popular culture. Despite the long history, hat design has overwhelmingly adhered to tradition, with aesthetic innovations being few and far between. Recently, however, the commitment to conformity has ended. New designers are pushing the boundaries for baseball caps by embellishing and adorning them in ways we’ve never seen before. One particular brand at the forefront of this inventive operation is Lost Cause.
Lost Cause converges sports iconography with high fashion motifs and ingenious original designs. Ironically, the unique hats that Lost Cause is known for started with something quite common: working in retail. Nick White, the 24-year old artist behind the brand, first started customizing caps when he got a job at Lids in 2018. After familiarizing himself with the store’s embroidery machine, he was quick to combine his lifelong creativity with this newfound skill. Nick soon sold his own custom hats to friends and followers, and created the label Lost Cause in 2019.
As a young creative, Nick resonated with the term “lost cause” because he felt it accurately described the way the world perceived him. “When you tell people that you’re an artist they don’t really take you seriously, and they don’t think you’re actually going to make a career out of it.” But after earning endorsements from a few influential figures– perhaps most notably Virgil Abloh– and quitting his job to commit to his craft full time, Nick has proved to be anything but a lost cause. In about a year, he’s earned enough notoriety to be highly sought after and swiftly sold out.
The increasing demand for Lost Cause has created tension between consumer expectations and Nick’s artistic values. While customers feel entitled to fast production and regularly scheduled drops, Nick doesn’t have the manufactures to make that possible. Lost Cause is a one man operation and he wants to keep it that way. “I dont send out my samples, anything that I have ever made has come from my own hands. I don’t think that even when I get bigger I would allow other people to make things for my brand and put them out as me because at that point you’re not really buying from me. You’re buying the brand name, but you are not buying my art.”
When creativity becomes a commodity conflict is bound to arise with consumers, but also within yourself. Nick expressed this struggle in a recent Instagram post: “I have exerted energy into something I feel is draining and I can no longer sustain. I just simply don’t love what I’m giving/providing for people.” This statement references certain hats Nick sold that did not genuinely reflect him or his brand; rather, he claimed, these products were an appeal to obvious consumer interests for the sake of sales. “I know money is important but just as an artist it didn’t sit with me well.” Off-put by his own actions, Nick discontinued those designs, refocused the direction of Lost Cause, and renewed his commitment to only creating out of sincere passion. lost cause hats
Nick considers the most rewarding part of his art-based entrepreneurial career to be freedom. He takes pride in being able to provide for himself and those he loves without having to answer to anyone else. “I work hard to be happy and make the people around me happy.” The Bay Area native most often finds himself around friends and family from his hometown. While he ships to customers everywhere and has hats on shelves in Los Angeles, Nick enjoys living and working where he grew up. He credits his childhood friends with expanding his interest in the fields he loves most (fashion, music, skating, culture) and wants to use his success to give back to the community. Undoubtedly, Nick has only scratched the surface of the success that is in store for him, with lifelong friends and new fans all eagerly awaiting what’s next.
Support Lost Cause by shopping at lostcause.store and staying up to date on Instagram @causing.thelost
