“Blend 35” — a New Flat-Brim Hat for Film Photography Lovers

I designed a new piece of apparel for film photography lovers.

It’s a black, pink, and silver flat-brim baseball cap with a solid-green under-visor and an adjustable snap closure.

This hat is a loud (but not ridiculous) statement of commitment to 35mm film that pops with darker garments and blends with everyday colours.

The palette I chose for this hat is straight out of Analog.Cafe’s design gamut that I’ve been refining for the past five years. In this cap*, the choices of fonts, placements, and treads spill my punk-rock and hip-hop influences with a few coded hints:

The font, which spells “35,” is a nod to the Rochester film factory, particularly its numerous, long hallways that stretch enormous lengths of thin plastic resin which is to become an emulsion base. Those rolls twist and turn sharply as they move from room to room across huge rollers that blow pressurized air, suspending the snaking resin until it’s ready to be coated, cut, and packaged.

Behind the number, you’ll see the top half of the Analog.Cafe logo — a rounded-edge rhombus with a wavy line. This piece of design changed several times since the blog went online; its final form represents my favourite shape of a rangefinder patch (found on Vitessa A cameras, Electro 35s, and a few others) and the developer fluid as it agitates and brings film to life.

Naturally, I don’t sew and assemble the hats at my tiny Vancouver apartment. They are arranged by Printful, which sources blanks from Bangladesh (designed by Yupoong) and embroiders them in North Carolina.

Over the past few years, I’ve worked with various garment suppliers. I chose the one that delivers quality materials/assembly and has a mission aimed at sustainable, fair manufacturing practices.

This hat is also my first attempt at creating embroidered goods. I think that Printful and its supplier did a wonderful job with the stitching. There are no visible loose threads; this hat should last many years. But I would be careful not to throw it into a dryer.

Because the hats are made on demand, it can take a few weeks to arrive (maybe less if you’re in the continental US). The upside to the wait is no stock to waste or house if it doesn’t sell. Expect yours to arrive soon in a small box, unfolded and ready to wear.

The hats are available at the store for $28.

(They are priced in Canadian dollars, so there may be +/- a few cents difference for American friends).

Naturally, all the promo shots were taken on film. I used Kodak Portra 800 in my Olympus PEN FV with 42mm 𝒇1.2 H.Zuiko Auto-S for the product photos. Betty took a photo of me wearing the hat on the new US-made Fujifilm Superia 400 with Fujifilm Cardia Tiara.

Once again, here’s the shop link. Thanks so much for your support!