Brooklyn Cassettes Cork Tradesman Hat

The waterproof Brooklyn Cassettes cork hat is legendary. We will restock at some point this year.

Brooklyn Cassettes is an early PJ O’Rourke II design that has grown into a lasting fan favorite—part nostalgia, part neighborhood pride, all attitude. Created around 2012, the piece captures a moment when sound, sport, and identity were being re-recorded in real time as culture migrated across the river and reshaped Brooklyn’s streets.

At the center is a classic cassette tape—an object synonymous with rewinding, replaying, and remixing history—rendered with bold simplicity and wrapped in motion, as if pulled straight from a boombox on a blacktop. The arched, sword-style typography gives the design its backbone: sharp, confident, and unmistakably retro, nodding to 1980s New York music, street hoops, and self-made culture while remaining timeless in form.

Stripped to a stark black-and-white palette, the piece stays raw and direct—like a logo painted on a gym wall or wheat-pasted on a corner. More than a graphic, Brooklyn Cassettes is about migration and memory: how culture moves, how scenes evolve, and how Brooklyn absorbs influence and turns history into style. It stands as a love letter to analog sound, street rhythm, and the borough’s ability to remix the past into something its own.