Company That Makes Baseball Hats With Gang Logos To Pull Product From Stores

[matcom]

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CLEVELAND _ A New York company that makes baseball caps emblazoned with logos associated with local gangs has agreed to pull the caps off the shelves and will destroy logo patterns.

The Buffalo-based New Era Cap Co., which supplies hats to all Major League Baseball teams and has been endorsed by numerous rappers, has been pulling the hats off the shelves in response to local activists who said the logos fostered gang violence.

``We plan to be a little more vigilant in the future,'' said Dana Marciniak, spokeswoman for New Era, which ordered caps removed from Finish Line stores at two malls, among others.

Activists said the baseball caps bore the names of neighborhoods as well as local gangs such as ``Da Valley,'' for Garden Valley housing project; ``10-5,'' short for the 105th Street gang called Waste-5; and ``HVD,'' referring to the street gang on Harvard Avenue.

http://www.newhouse.com/gang-logo-baseball-caps-to-be-pulled-from-stores-6.html