Jabba the Hutt Fitted Cap by New Era (Hatland.com Exclusive)

I first posted about New Era’s Jabba the Hutt fitted cap almost exactly 6 years ago, in February of 2010. It was part of a collection of Star Wars caps that were exclusive to Japan, so that made them hard to get to start with. But the Jabba hat in particular was much rarer because they discontinued it almost instantly due to some unspecified manufacturing issues. At that point, they had only made a small number of them (and only in size 7 1/2). I was lucky enough to have been in Japan on business right when they came out, so I was able to get one. Since then, it’s been one of my favorite pieces, since very few people have one and it has a sort of story attached to it. I’ve been offered a fair amount of money for it on multiple occasions (not crazy money, but still many times what it originally cost).

So I was very surprised when I saw this hat appear on eBay. I did a little research and found that it was actually being sold by Hatland.com as their exclusive, so I that’s where I got mine. They also have a variety of other characters, including some from The Force Awakens. This hat is clearly pretty different from the original design, but it’s also clearly inspired by the original. I’d say the new version is probably the better one in most ways. The embroidery on face of the old version is too close in color to the fake “snakeskin” they used, so you can’t really see the detail. The pleather used for the other parts of the new hat is also quite nice compared to the plain cloth of the old one. The eyes on the new hat are covered in a plastic covering that makes them look a bit more realistic.

The old hat did have a nice picture of Jabba on his throne on the underside of the visor, while the new one has a plain visor, but two pictures of Jabba inside of the hat’s dome. One is here:

And the other is here:

It also has a “STAR WARS” logo in some nice raised embroidery on the back.

I really don’t have any complaints about this hat, except that it’s a little too tight, despite the fact that I measured my head in an attempt to get the right size. I don’t actually plan to wear the hat, though, so it’s not a big deal. It retails for $59.99 although it seems to be on permanent sale at Hatland for $53.99.