NYC Twill Cap: Metro Card

Swipe. Enter. The city is yours.

Every New Yorker has a MetroCard story. The one that would not swipe no matter how many times you tried it while the line behind you grew and the turnstile beeped and the MTA employee watched from the booth with the particular expression of someone who has seen this exact thing happen four hundred thousand times and has made peace with all of it. The one you found at the bottom of a bag with just enough fare left for one more ride at exactly the moment you needed it most. The one you bent in half getting on the A train at two in the morning and spent the next three days trying to flatten against a countertop so it would read again.

Every single one of those stories is a New York City story. And every single one of them started with a swipe.

The MetroCard became its own icon. That yellow and blue color scheme became as recognizable as a yellow cab. The swipe became a muscle memory so deeply embedded in every New Yorker's body that people who moved away from the city years ago still feel the phantom gesture on subway platforms in other cities — the wrist flick, the slight lean forward, the half second pause before the turnstile decides whether you are getting through or not.

It lasted thirty years. Thirty years of rush hour commutes and late-night rides and first days in the city and last nights before someone left and everything in between. Thirty years of eight million people swiping their way through the greatest transit system in the world.

The MetroCard was retired when the OMNY contactless payment system took over completely. The yellow and blue rectangle that carried an entire city for three decades was phased out the way all great New York institutions eventually get phased out — with a lot of people saying they would miss it and a city that kept moving anyway.

This hat is for everyone who ever stood at a turnstile in New York City with a MetroCard in their hand and felt — for just a moment — like they owned the whole city.

Made for the locals. Inspired by the legends.

• 100% cotton twill
• 6 panel embroidered; Adjustable Hook & Loop closure
• One size fits most
• 6 Patch Options: Small Circle (2.2 inch), Circle (3 inch), Small Rectangle (2.625x 1.625 inch), Rectangle (3.46 x 2.44 inch), Small Oval ( 2.625x 1.625 inch) (Oval (3.46 x 2.44 inch)
• Decoration type: Sublimated Vegan Leather Patch