why so many California hats??

[Couper]

The John Deere peaked cap seems to be universal in rural areas except ranch country. What is the best matching tartan?

Agreed. Here on DelMarVa (Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia) --> lottsa of farm country = lottsa John Deere Caps. ;)

I just got a "Celtic Nations" tartan Casual Kilt from USA Kilts. It has enough green and some white (among other colors) and would likely look good with that cap. YMMV

[Tobus]

Yes. Texas.

Yup. The Texas flag is on everything here. In my area, it is seen much more than the American flag. There is a common attitude that we are Texans first, and Americans second. And to be honest, what I've been seeing a lot of lately are Texas flag bumper stickers with the word "SECEDE" on it. Not getting political; just pointing out the trend.

I think a lot of states are seeing a resurgence in local identity, so state symbols are coming back in style.

[Zardoz]

Yes. Texas.

I just ran around the place looking for a hat with some Texas flags or stuff on it.....
I found these Texas flag or logo items;
4 t-shirts with various logos
1 pair of cowboy boots
4 belt buckles
1 necktie
1 kilt (Bluebonnet tartan)
1 kilt pin
1 10 inch wrought iron state seal
2 stained glass pieces
3 different 3x5 flags, (National/State, Gonzales Banner, and "Zavala")
3 'desk sized' state flags
6 various lapel pins
1 set cuff links
1 bandana
4 coffee cups
2 bumper stickers, (though not on my car)
2 picture frames
But no hats! I feel remiss, and will do something about that ASAP!

[California Highlander]

Makes sense. States with the most population have more heads, therefore more hats required!
ith:

1	California	37,691,912
2	Texas	25,674,681
3	New York	19,465,197

4

Florida

19,057,542

You see a lot of NY hats out there too.

[MrPlaid]

Tourists

[EagleJCS]

Around here, I seem to see more UK (University of Kentucky) logo hats - and other apparel - than anything with the official state identifiers. (e.g. the official state logo, slogans "United we stand, divided we fall" or "Unbridled Spirit", state flag, etc.). Following that, it's UofL (University of Louisville) logos, followed by other local/regional universities.

I think Kentucky gets such a bad rap from the stereotype of being backwoods/backwater/uneducated, that many natives and/or former residents choose not to identify with the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

[Skiballa]

From an ex-Masshole... That's wicked pissah.

True, though I don't sound like that, while I was in the Army, I always got "But you don't sound like you're from Massachusetts!", to which I reply, I'm not from that part of MA.

The official head wear of Massachusetts, btw, is a navy blue ball cap with a stylized "B" on it, just sayin'.

[piperdbh]

The main reason you see so many Californey hats is that we haven't sold enough of these:

[OC Richard]

Yes. Texas.

Hah! Not even close! At least the sort of hat I'm talking about and linked to above, with the state flag on them. (My OP mentions "state pride" and all of the hats on the Ebay search I linked to show the California state flag, and are not hats of sports teams or universities.)

There are what, over 800 hats on Ebay with permutations of the California Republic "bear flag" on them (using the search "California Republic hat") but Texas only a tiny handful. Check out this search, with various Texas colleges, universities, and sports teams taken out... see that very few show the Texas state flag

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw...-tech&_sacat=0

You need to remove that stuff because the quite specific search "California Republic hat" has over 800 hats. (Searching "Texas Republic hat" gives only 3 items; "Texas flag hat" only 65 items. The vast majority of the items which come up with a "Texas hat" search are cowboy hats and hats of various universities and sports teams.)

[TheOfficialBren]

Firstly, being a resident of Southern California, I can verify that OC Richard is correct. There has been a resurgence of State symbols used as fashion accessories as of late, particularly among the young, college aged.

Secondly, the flag was originally intended to be a PEAR, not a BEAR. California was, then as now, an important agricultural centre...except that a dispatch message written (some stories say a misheard word during dictation, and others say it was a simple transposition-related error) to one William Todd (Future-President Abraham Lincoln's nephew) was hardly legible. In June of 1846 Mr Todd then designed a flag based upon the earlier Lone Star flag of California. The new Bear Flag was adopted as the official standard of the short-lived California Republic.

The current version of the flagis a revised design dating to 1889.