The family-owned company started out in 1918 as the American Needle and Novelty Co., which made the green celluloid visors that bank tellers and telegraph operators used to wear to keep the glare out of their eyes.
American Needle, though, is best known as the first company to sell licensed sports headwear. By the 1940s, many professional baseball teams were wearing caps made by American Needle, which is based in Buffalo Grove, Ill., outside Chicago.
Around then, Bruce Kronenberger, the son of the founder, persuaded a reluctant Philip Wrigley to let him sell Chicago Cubs hats at Wrigley Field on consignment. The caps sold well and the licensed sports apparel business was off and running.
Soon, retailers like Sears were carrying hats. American Needle added hats for minor league teams as well as hats for individual players. Kronenberger also received one of the first licenses to sell caps with N.F.L. team logos.
When Kronenberger died in 1985, his son Robert took over. Robert and his twin brother, Ronald, increased the company’s sales tenfold over the next decade. American Needle added hats with logos of professional basketball and hockey teams, college teams and old Negro leagues teams. The company also came out with its Cooperstown Collection of vintage caps of major league teams.
The company’s growth continued in the 1990s as baseball caps became a fashion statement and automated embroidery machines improved.
The company, Robert Kronenberger said, has offset the lost income from the N.F.L. by developing high-end sports clothing like golf shirts. But that has not stopped him from pursuing his case against the N.F.L., which, he said, has consumed countless hours and dollars.
“For me, it’s a principled thing,” he said. “We just want to be
competitive. I understand that it’s probably an N.F.L. business decision.
It’s just black and white and this is wrong.”