After losing his cap repeatedly on the locomotive where he worked, George 'Stormy' Kromer asked his wife Ida to stitch him a new fashioned baseball cap with a higher crown. a pull down earband to keep it snug, and a soft cloth visor. The six panel cap she made was so unlike the popular cap of the day, that all George's fellow engineers wanted one. Over the next few years the Kromer's sold enough caps to enable them to open a small shop in a run down brick building. Stormy Kromer Mercantile was launched, and by the 1930's the company had moved to larger facility and was producing thousands of caps for workers across all industries.