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Southport Connecticut Retro Vintage Washed Cap - Charcoal Logo

Southport Connecticut Retro Vintage Washed Cap - Charcoal Logo

Regular price $32.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $32.00 USD
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This is our retro Southport, Connecticut logo, printed in weathered charcoal on a retro vintage washed cap — an unstructured cotton dad hat that looks broken in from the day it arrives. The charcoal carries a faint wavering tone and a light speckle, so the print reads like it has been in the sun as long as the cap has.

One size fits most, so it is an easy gift to get right: no size to guess, only the town. Each cap is made to order. Hand wash cold and air dry, and keep it out of the dryer.

Settled in 1639 as Mill River within Fairfield, with a grist mill by 1662 and a wharf by 1769, the village was burned by British and Hessian troops in July 1779; only the c.1766 Meeker House survived. The merchants rebuilt it house by house in the Federal and Greek Revival styles and incorporated it as the Borough of Southport in 1831.

By the 1890s Southport Harbor was shipping about a hundred thousand barrels a year of the Southport Globe onion to New York and the southern ports. The captains’ houses still line Harbor Road and Pequot Avenue, the 1894 Pequot Library stands in Richardsonian stone, and the harbor is one of the prettiest on the Sound. That village is the mark on this piece.

The cap is 8.5 oz 100% cotton twill, enzyme washed and heavily brushed for a soft hand, with an unstructured six-panel crown, a mid-profile fit and a curved bill. A self-fabric strapback with a metal slider adjusts the fit and tucks away, and a self-fabric sweatband lines the inside. It is garment dyed with OEKO-TEX certified low-impact dyes, so every cap's color varies slightly — washed here means faded color and a weathered print, not distressed or frayed.


QUICK FACTS — SOUTHPORT CT WASHED COTTON CAP — CHARCOAL LOGO

Town: Southport, Connecticut

Founded: Settled 1639 as Mill River; Borough of Southport 1831

Known for: The onion port; a 19th-century harbor village rebuilt after the burning of 1779; the Pequot Library

Art: Southport vintage retro logo, charcoal (printed)

Blank: unstructured six-panel cap, mid profile, curved bill, metal slider

Fabric: 8.5 oz 100% cotton twill, enzyme washed, garment dyed

Care: hand wash cold, air dry

Colors: 10 offered

Sizes: Adjustable

Made to order in the USA



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Wear Local. Feed Local. Stay Classic.

Product FAQs

How does your sizing work?

Every item is made to order, so please check the size chart on this page before you buy. Women's fitted tees run small; size up for a looser fit. Caps are one size with an adjustable strap.

How are items made and when will they arrive?

We make each item to order using premium blanks, embroidery and soft-hand prints. Production takes 2-5 business days (weekends and holidays excluded), then 4-10 days in transit via USPS, UPS or FedEx to U.S. addresses; most orders arrive within 6-15 business days. You'll get a tracking link the moment it ships. Any current shipping offer is shown in the bar at the top of every page and applies automatically at checkout, no code needed.

How do I send a gift?

Enter the recipient's address as the shipping address and your own as the billing address at checkout. Nothing ships with a price; the package includes a plain packing slip. Tracking goes to your email, not theirs. For birthdays and holidays, order two weeks ahead to be safe.

What's the return policy?

Made-to-order items can't be returned or exchanged for size or color, so please use the size chart and photos before ordering. If anything arrives defective, misprinted or damaged, send a photo and your order number within 30 days and we'll replace it or refund you.

How do I care for my item?

Apparel: wash cold, inside out, with like colors; no bleach; tumble dry low or hang dry. Embroidered pieces: iron inside out to protect the stitching. Caps: spot clean. Printed glasses and water bottles: hand wash only, no dishwasher, so the artwork lasts. Mugs and engraved glasses are dishwasher safe. Any item-specific care notes are in the description above.

Who makes this?

Merlin Classics is a small Connecticut brand making original retro designs for the towns people love. Every piece is printed, embroidered or engraved to order in the USA, and the business supports hunger relief in the communities our collections celebrate.

Then came the war. In July 1779, the day after British forces burned Fairfield, they put Mill River to the torch as well — a raid carried out by British regulars, Hessian jägers, and Loyalist troops that left almost nothing standing. Only one house, the Meeker House of about 1766, survived. What makes Southport remarkable is what happened next: instead of fading, the village rebuilt itself from the waterline up, in the crisp Greek Revival and Federal styles of the new republic. The district you can walk today is almost entirely a post-1779 creation — a town that turned its own destruction into one of the finest harbor-village streetscapes in Connecticut.

Our Southport logo carries an oyster over "Connecticut · Est. 1636" — the shared shoreline emblem of every Merlin Classics Connecticut town, marking the founding of the Connecticut Colony. Printed black-and-white with the worn look of an old oyster-crate label or shoreline signage, the oyster reads as the Connecticut shore in shorthand: the Sound, the harbors, the shellfish beds. It suits Southport especially well — this was a working harbor that shipped oysters right alongside its famous onions.

Why People Visit Southport Connecticut

People come to Southport for one of the best-preserved harbor villages on the Connecticut shore: Greek Revival houses built by shipping and banking wealth, a stone library, and a quiet yacht harbor on Long Island Sound. It's small, refined, and walkable — a village that rebuilt itself after 1779 and has kept its 19th-century streetscape intact ever since.

Southport Connecticut Merlin Classics retro vintage logo featuring an oyster over Connecticut Est. 1636