Trucker Chic Is the New Black
Trucker trendy and camo couture are styles to stay on top of this year.
What do trucker hats, camo-printed tops and earth tones have in common? They all fit into the Americancore trend, which has been going strong for the last few years on TikTok and Instagram, where people around the world share their obsession with American culture and food or show off their farmer-chic ensembles.
Trucker hats – which typically have a foam front, mesh back and snapback closure, as opposed to the curved bill and top button of a traditional baseball cap – have been in fashion for a while, and the style doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Searches for “trucker hat” in ESP were up by about 5% in May and again in June this year, compared to the same period in 2022, according to ASI Research.
Celebrities and big brands have gotten in on the trend. Supermodel Kendall Jenner recently sported a camo trucker hat at a football stadium in Paris, and the Waffle House restaurant chain sells camo trucker hats with its logo embroidered across the front.
Once mostly reserved for “rugged” industries like agriculture and manufacturing, camo trucker caps have crossed over into more fashion-forward markets like music festivals, the food and beverage industry, and travel and hospitality.
Alternative band boygenius offers this camo-printed tee on its merch site.
Country stars aren’t the only ones adopting the trend, however. Alternative band boygenius, which counts rocker Phoebe Bridgers as a member, sells a camo-printed T-shirt with the band name in rainbow gradient puff screen-printed across the front. Pop musician Justin Bieber has an orange-and-white trucker hat in his Peaches collection of merch, and rappers Post Malone and Bad Bunny also feature trucker hats as part of their merch.
Trucker hats are cost-effective to take on the road. “It’s a great way to pivot when you’re doing hats as merch,” he says. “If it’s a venue where they’re working in multiple cities, they can easily remake transfers and press the hats on the hat press. If they run out during the day or if it’s a multiday festival, they can create more on site.”
Camo print is a popular color scheme for trucker hats, especially paired with a flaming orange shade that’s used in deer hunting, Lever says. He notes that neutral tones like fatigue green and beige are also popular.
“This movement goes along with the sustainability push that we’ve all witnessed and is why we’re seeing so many earth tones throughout retail,” she adds. “Camo fits nicely here, so much so that a generic tonal camo pattern is almost considered a neutral – you can pair it with just about anything.”