Stunning New Pokemon Hat Channels Some Serious Ash Ketchum Vibes

Over the years, any number of hats styled in the manner of Ash Ketchum‘s iconic red-and-white cap with a little swoop in the middle. Of course, the number of unofficial versions has far outweighed the number of official ones. But there’s something to be said about a particularly good, officially licensed version, and New Era‘s just put out a new version that’s truly stunning.

Now, I don’t read or speak Japanese, but it seems like New Era, a company known for branded merchandise and more specifically branded hats, has today released a series of new Pokemon-branded hats — in Japan, anyway. You can check out the full line of merchandise here. Some of these are your typical “here’s some illustrations on a hat” sort of thing, but two — what appears to be a kid version and an adult version — are very much just high-quality versions of Ash Ketchum’s hat, swoop and all.

You can check it out below. As Twitter user Paul Ryan notes, the company really has outdone itself.

The kid hat runs about $36 right now, while the adult one clocks in at around $50. That’s convert from yen, so there may be a little fluctuation over time. The hats appear to follow New Era’s 59FIFTY line of flat-brim hats in terms of form factor, but instead of being fitted they include an adjustable strap. In the photos on the New Era website, it also looks as if the kid version is a slightly darker shade of red, but that could simply be due to lighting or how the photos were manipulated after being captured.

Again, this would appear to be a Japan-only release at this time, but who knows? The official Pokemon Center stocks New Era caps, and several listings are already available over on eBay. It should only be a matter of time before some, if not all, of the new hats make the transition. Some, like those that are only Japanese words, may not make the transition, but if they’re popular, it’s hard to imagine that the North America and elsewhere wouldn’t eventually get some kind of release.

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