In a presentation at the 28th Annual ICR Conference last week, executives from New Era Cap, indicated that sales have been expanding at double-digit CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) in recent years and are now running over $2 billion annually, according to a research note from Needham & Co.

At the presentation held last week in Orlando, Florida, company Co-President Jim Patterson and CFO Kevin Wilson also revealed the Buffalo, New York-based brand is generating solid profitability with EBITDA margins running above 20 percent.

The executives said New Era’s business is supported by its longstanding partnerships with the four traditional major sports leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, according to the Needham report.

Among channels, wholesale remains by far the largest part of its business, although the brand has seen rapid growth in e-commerce, and it now contributes about 11 percent of revenues. As reported, New Era had opened several North American flagships in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Toronto, but they were closed in the latter part of the last decade.

International became a growth priority only since around 2000 but now accounts for nearly half of total revenues. The growth has been supported by the opening of over 1,000 largely franchised stores across more than 110 countries in EMEA, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Patterson and Wilson also noted that New Era in 2024 acquired ’47, a privately-held premium sports lifestyle brand based in Boston, and indicated the acquisition represented an opportunity to reach a more “casual fan.” Executives see a bigger potential to expand the ’47 brand internationally

New Era is led by Christopher Koch, a fourth-generation CEO of the family-owned company. In 2022, Koch handed over day-to-day operations to co-presidents Patterson and Jim Grundtisch.

In September 2023, New Era appointed Steve Gallo to North America general manager, with responsibilities for product, marketing and commercial efforts in the U.S. and Canada. Gallo was most recently president of the recovery footwear brand Oofos and, prior to that, served as general manager of the sports-licensed division at Adidas Group.

Image courtesy New Era