Newsboy cap

The newsboy cap or newsy cap is a casual-wear cap similar in style to the flat cap. Sometimes also referred to as the: Baker Boy, Bandit Cap, Apple Cap, Eight Piece Cap, Eight Panel, Cabbie, Jay Gatsby (from The Great Gatsby), Fisherman's Cap, Pageboy, Applejack Hat, Lundberg Stetson, and the Poor Boy Cap.

It has the same overall shape and stiff peak in front as a flat cap, but the body of the cap is rounder, fuller, and paneled with a button on top, and often with a button attaching the front to the brim (as the flat cap sometimes has).

History

The style was popular in Europe and North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among both boys and adult men. As the name suggests, it is now associated with newspaper boys. This gives rise to a misunderstanding. It is true that many newspaper boys and other working boys wore flat caps along with other styles. This style was not, however, worn only by boys.

Flat caps were very common for North American and European men and boys of all classes during the early 20th century and were almost universal during the 1910s-20s, particularly among the working 'lower' classes. A great many photographs of the period show these caps worn not only by newsboys, but by dockworkers, high steel workers, shipwrights, costermongers, farmers, beggars, (such as Oliver Twist), bandits, artisans, and tradesmen of many types. This is also well attested in novels and films of this period and just after.