Carnaby Street Hat Shop With Cap Embroidery: New Era London

Carnaby Street has sold clothes to London's style tribes since the 1960s, and its dedicated cap shop is New Era's London flagship at 40 Carnaby Street, London W1F 7DU. It opens Monday to Thursday from 10am to 8pm and on Friday and Saturday from 10am to 8:30pm. On the brand's UK site a 59FIFTY New York Yankees fitted cap costs £34 and a 9FORTY adjustable £23, and the store will stitch your initials or a design on to the cap before you leave.

New Era started in 1920, when Ehrhardt Koch, a German immigrant, borrowed money from his sister Rose to set up New Era Cap Co. The company's history page says its first factory was a rented back room on Genesee Street in Buffalo, New York, where it made Gatsby-style fashion caps. Koch's son Harold joined in 1932 and steered the firm towards baseball, and the first New Era professional baseball cap was made in 1934 for the Cleveland Indians.

During the Second World War fabric was scarce, so the family bought surplus plain cloth in New York's garment district and dyed it in a washing machine at home to match team colours. In 1954 Harold designed the fitted 59FIFTY, and the brand still says it takes 22 steps and 22 pairs of hands to make one. The cap became the on-field cap of Major League Baseball, which is why the Yankees logo is now as common in Soho as in the Bronx. In the 1960s Harold opened a factory in Derby, New York, close to the family home, and it became the exclusive producer of the 59FIFTY.

New Era reopened the Carnaby Street store after a refurbishment on 13 January 2025. The new fit-out uses light silver fixtures with clear product positioning, and the walls are arranged so you can see the whole run of a silhouette at once. Alongside New Era's own label, the shop carries headwear, apparel and accessories from its licence partners, including MLB, NBA and NFL teams and Formula 1 teams such as Atlassian Williams and Oracle Red Bull Racing.

The feature most visitors come for is the customisation station. The store offers custom cap embroidery in store, so you can add initials, a name, a logo or your own design to a New Era cap; the team at the station will show you which styles and placements are possible. There is also a fitting room, moved to the back of the shop in the redesign, for trying on jackets and other apparel. If your size or colour is not on the wall, staff can use the in-store shop online service to order from the wider web range.

New Era names its caps by number, and knowing the main ones saves time. The 59FIFTY is the fitted, structured cap with a flat peak, sized by head measurement rather than by a strap. The 9FORTY has a curved peak and an adjustable back, and the 9FIFTY is a structured snapback. Try the 59FIFTY in two neighbouring sizes; the difference between a cap that perches and one that sits just above the ears is small, and staff will measure your head if you ask.

Think about the logo as well as the shape. Low-profile 59FIFTY caps sit closer to the head and suit smaller faces, while the standard crown is taller. If you plan to have something embroidered, buy a plain or small-logo cap so there is room on the side panel or back. Ask before you pay whether a particular licensed cap can be embroidered, since team logos already fill much of the front panel.

Prices below are the brand's UK online prices. A 59FIFTY New York Yankees Essential Black fitted cap is £34 and a Boston Red Sox Authentic Collection low-profile 59FIFTY is £37. Special editions cost more: the New York Yankees MLB Mythical Black 59FIFTY is £48, and a dark brown World Series dog-ear 59FIFTY is £65. The 9FORTY New York Yankees League Essential adjustable in dark brown is £23.

The UK site also advertises 15 per cent off for students and free delivery on online orders over £40, useful if the exact cap you want is not in the shop that day.

Saturday afternoons on Carnaby Street are crowded, and embroidery takes longer when there is a queue at the station. Weekday mornings after 10am are the quiet time. Late opening to 8:30pm on Friday and Saturday makes it easy to combine with dinner in Soho. On Sundays the two official listings differ slightly, but both have the store open between 11:30am and 6pm.

New Era also has a store at London Designer Outlet in Wembley Park, but the official FAQ describes Carnaby Street as the place for new season drops, exclusive collaborations and limited-edition releases, so collectors should head to Soho first.

Carnaby Street is pedestrianised, so you can wander between shops without traffic. Kingly Court, entered from Carnaby Street, has three floors of restaurants around a courtyard, and Kingly Street behind it has Dishoom and late-night bars. Foubert's Place and Broadwick Street fill the blocks to the east with fashion and sneaker shops.

Liberty London, the mock-Tudor department store, is at the top end of the street on Great Marlborough Street and worth a look for its fabric hall alone. Regent Street is a block west. If you visit in early November, Carnaby Street switches on its Christmas lights on Wednesday 4 November. Oxford Circus is the nearest Tube station.

Address: New Era London Flagship, 40 Carnaby Street, London W1F 7DU. Hours: Monday to Thursday 10am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 10am to 8:30pm; Sunday from at least 11:30am to 6pm. Nearest Tube: Oxford Circus.

Prices quoted are from neweracap.co.uk: 59FIFTY fitted caps from £34, special editions £48 to £65, and 9FORTY adjustables from £23. Custom embroidery is done in store at the customisation station.