The most talked-about accessory of the summer (and maybe even the year) arrived on Tuesday night with the first drop of merchandise for and , just hours after the . The official online shop featured understated T-shirts and mugs in shades of navy blue and white, but there was also a bold new offering: a $40, union-made woodsman camouflage cap with the campaign’s logo emblazoned in bright orange. The product description proudly declared it “the most iconic political hat in America,” a bold statement considering how synonymous .
According to a statement from the Harris-Walz campaign, within 24 hours of the hat’s release, they not only sold out of their initial inventory, but also received thousands of pre-orders for the hat, generating nearly $1 million in sales. The distinctive cap went viral online almost instantly, with social media users quickly pointing out the similarities between the Harris-Walz design and merch for . Roan offers her own camouflage hat in a trucker style, featuring the phrase “Midwest Princess.” The hat’s popularity and its association with Roan were seemingly sparked by , an online moment that recalled .
Others online suggested that the camo hat tapped into the current mood. “This is the Bushwick x Los Feliz unity that our nation needs,” (formerly Twitter) about the hat, acknowledging the current trend of wearing hunting and fishing hats—a sort of throwback to —for street style rather than practicality.
Despite the Roan comparisons (Walz’s fellow Midwesterner herself took to X to comment on the hats’ similarities, writing, ) the Harris-Walz campaign, known for its viral moments and , said in an email to TIME that the hat is an homage to the governor’s down-to-earth personal style. Walz, a former teacher, football coach, and avid hunter, is often seen wearing practical workwear like Carhartt, T-shirts, and a well-worn camouflage baseball cap—the same cap he was wearing when Harris called him to ask him to be her running mate. While the hat’s origin story is charming, its true appeal lies in its broad appeal to both outdoorsy middle-aged Midwestern dads and Gen Z fashionistas, a smart move for a campaign needing to connect with a wide range of Americans in a very close race.
For Kjerstin Haugsby, a 33-year-old architecture student and mother of two in Minneapolis, the hat’s charm lies in its Midwestern sensibility, which she sees as a metaphor for what Walz brings to the ticket.
“The camo hat is the most Minnesota thing,” Haugsby says, noting that she can’t wait to get one of her own. “We’re an outdoorsy group of people. It’s super unpretentious and it’s not some expensive brand name. I think it’s such a symbol of the Midwest and the blue-collar, middle-of-America, middle-of-the road people.”
Haugsby says that she thinks it’s “hilarious and wonderful” that the hats have become so popular nationwide, noting that while young people in coastal cities may be wearing the hat for a fashion trend, there are plenty of voters in older generations who may be wearing them in a more practical sense. On X, a user by the handle @
“As a white dude with guns and an F-150 I am actually buying this! & I will be going to the range with it and out and about like I do with my OWL hat. (Old White Liberal).”
And while camouflage print, long associated with guns and the military, has often been linked to conservative politics, the hat, like Walz, is a reminder of the value of nuance. Walz has referred to himself as “one of the best shots in Congress” and used to have an ‘A’ rating by the National Rifle Association (NRA). Now , whose liberal policies as governor and advocacy for gun control policies in the wake of the led the NRA to change their rating of him to an ‘F.’
“The country’s changed on this. We’ve changed. The situation has changed and I along with it as a leader,” Walz said in a 2018 interview with . “I’m a staunch supporter of Second Amendment rights to own firearms … But I also recognize the need to have some common-sense changes in this. I reject the notion that it’s one or the other. Those folks out there who are responsible gun owners―their hearts are breaking every time you see one of these shootings.”
This kind of duality is why Nora Deely, a 22-year-old audio engineer living in Chicago, who recently purchased one of Roan’s trucker hats, thinks that the camo caps are such a hit. Roan’s outrageous sartorial sensibility, which has become a key aspect of her persona, owes as much to her small-town roots as it does to drag queens and glam punk. Her stylist, Genesis Webb, christened Roan’s style as While camo has seen highs and lows as a fashion trend over the years, there’s no doubt it slots right into this amalgam of influences.
“Sometimes when I see the camo, I think about people that might be more conservative,” Deely says, noting that as a fellow Midwesterner, she appreciates Roan using camo as part of her aesthetic. “So when I see queer artists like Chappell Roan, who’s from Missouri, or young people wearing camo, it feels like we’re reclaiming it.”
But for some, like Chris Mewes, a 38-year-old consultant from New York who plans to vote for Harris and who pre-ordered one of the Harris-Walz hats, it isn’t even that deep: “The camo just spoke to me.”