We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
New York and California hipsters may be struggling to decide whether trucker caps are hip or obsolescent. But in the District, they’re patriotic. Ikeso Alston, a Southwest native, has been selling oversize mesh caps featuring the D.C. flag on a white patch for $15 a pop to Pabst Blue Ribbon–swilling hipsters on U Street. Alston, a party promoter (and Washington City Paper delivery driver), says his side business “started out as kind of a joke” when he made a prototype to wear to a party. “I wanted to stand out,” he says. When he arrived at the club, though, he says “people went crazy” for his hat. So Alston began hawking them at stores. He says he’s sold about 50. The accessories, he says, are educational: “A lot of people who live here don’t know that this is the D.C. flag.” —Annys Shin