BUFFALO, NY (August 2008) – New Era Cap Co., Inc., the leading headwear designer and manufacturer, announced today that it will team up with Tradition, an Atlanta-based apparel design company, to launch “New Era presents Tradition,” a full line of caps and apparel that will support “the Yard” program for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s). The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), an IMG Company, will manage the licensing for the program.

“the Yard” is an initiative dedicated to advancing the tradition, culture, and aspirations of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The program will leverage the rich and compelling history of America’s HBCU’s to create a “give-back” mechanism through royalties generated from licensed product sales. A portion of all “New Era presents Tradition” sales will be paid as a royalty to the institutions to be used towards scholarships or other worthy investments on campus.

“Working with ‘the Yard’ program allows us to give back and support one of our target audiences – college students,” said Pete Augustine, President, New Era. “By partnering with Tradition who already has a strong HBCU presence, we hope to raise more funds to benefit campus initiatives.”

To kickoff the program, New Era, Tradition and the CLC will hold a press conference on October 22, 2008, at 6pm at the New Era Atlanta Flagship Store located at 117 Luckie Street. The press conference will be followed by a private event. For more information, go to: http://www.neweracap.com/tradition/

New Era headwear and Tradition apparel, primarily tees and fleeces, will hit bookstores at 13 participating colleges and universities beginning in September 2008. This will be a limited launch with more fashion-forward products becoming available at clothing boutiques in the surrounding areas of the schools for the holiday season. In addition, New Era and Tradition will participate in events at select colleges and universities throughout Fall 2008 and beyond to promote the brand.

“We’re excited to have teamed up with New Era to develop a more fashion forward collegiate collection. New Era has truly bridged the gap between licensed headwear and fashion headwear for quite sometime, and we hope to add to that success with Tradition,” said Gerard Murray, Tradition. “We hope aligning ourselves with the great legacy and pride of the HBCU students and alumni will speak volumes to our commitment to build on their future."

“HBCU’s have some of the most storied traditions and history of all American colleges and universities, and the “New Era presents Tradition” product line will bring this to life.” said Cory Moss, CLC’s Senior Vice President and Hampton University Alum (’92). “We are thrilled to be partnered with New Era and Tradition to create the premier apparel line celebrating HBCU’s.”

Schools participating in The Yard program include: Alabama A & M University, Alabama State University, Alcorn State University, University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Bethune-Cookman University, Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Florida A & M University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Lincoln University, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore, Mississippi Valley State University, Morehouse College, Norfolk State University, North Carolina A & T State University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A & M University, South Carolina State University, Southern University, Tennessee State University, Texas Southern University, Tuskegee University, Virginia State University, and Winston-Salem State University


New Era Cap
Founded in 1920, New Era Cap Company, Inc., the leading headwear manufacturer and creator of New Era Apparel, brings to market products that transcend time, culture, sport and fashion. Producing more than 35 million caps per year, New Era is the exclusive manufacturer and marketer of the official on-field cap worn by every Major League Baseball team and their Minor League affiliates and maintaining agreements with other licensed entities. On the street, New Era is known as the Originator of the True Fitted for its signature cap style, the 59FIFTY. Some of the Company’s core markets include Action Sports, Children, Fan, Women and Fashion/Street. The Company, headquartered in Buffalo, New York, employs approximately 1,700 people world-wide in New York, Alabama and at its operations in Canada, Europe, Japan and Hong Kong. New Era is a ‘Category A’ affiliate of the Fair Labor Association.

Tradition
Founded in 2006, Tradition formed to consult, design and market apparel/footwear for both startup and established companies in the ever changing landscape of today’s young men and junior marketplace. Through prior experiences they discovered a niche’ to carve out a fashion forward collegiate license apparel brand. Tradition was the brain child of the company’s founders. The Tradition brand was designed, promoted and delivered to marketplace with remarkable feedback from the select retailers it sold to. It has since proven to be more of a brand that has taken a proactive role in developing ‘cutting edge’ styles, promoting student scholarship and invoking on-campus social awareness programs. Presently the company is actively participating with voter registration drives at eight HBCU campuses.

The Collegiate Licensing Company
The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a division of IMG College, was founded in 1981, CLC is the oldest and largest collegiate licensing agency in the U.S. and currently represents nearly 200 colleges, universities, bowl games, athletic conferences, The Heisman Trophy and the NCAA. The mission of CLC is to be the guiding force in collegiate trademark licensing and one of the top sports licensing firms in the country. CLC is dedicated to being a center of excellence in providing licensing services of the highest quality to its member institutions, licensees, retailers and consumers. Headquartered in Atlanta (Ga.), CLC is a full-service licensing representative, which employs a staff of more than 80 licensing professionals who provide full-service capabilities in brand protection, brand management, and brand development. For more information on CLC, visit: www.clc.com or www.imgworld.com


CONTACT
Dana Marciniak, New Era Cap
(716) 604-9259
dana.marciniak@neweracap.com

Nicole Garner, The Garner Circle PR
(770) 256.1800
pr@thegarnercircle.com