Fashionistas rocking panda hats is nothing new (the phenomenon, as described by Zach: “look at me, I'm a white kid in a low income ethnic neighborhood, zomg I'm so zany!”), but once the Giants secured a spot in the playoffs, it suddenly became cool to start caring about baseball.  Just the other day I spotted the troubling sight of a dude with a panda hat sewn into his helmet riding a fixie through the TL.  Clearly something is going on here.

According to AsianWeek, the fad was discovered by two dudes working as heating, ventilating, and air conditioning/electrical technicians while vacationing in the winter-paradise Bejing:

The idea to market and sell the cute and fluffy headgear came in January this year after Wesley paid a visit to Beijing, China. While standing at the entrance of the Forbidden Palace in the harsh winter cold, Wesley bought himself a panda hat from a nearby street vendor to keep warm.

“I thought we could bring it here to the States and make it work here,” says Wesley. “So after I came back we ordered a few and sold them on Facebook.”

[…]  Soon thereafter, the two formed The Head Panda and decided to expand their business across the Bay Area. During the San Francisco Giants’ home opener in April, the two set up shop near the Third Street Bridge across from AT&T Park. Hoping to capitalize on some Kung Fu Panda supporters, the pair arrived with 170 panda hats in hand at 11:00 am for a 1:05 pm first pitch. They sold out by 12:45 pm.

While the article at hand didn't really discuss the developing cool kid embrace of panda bear head-warming technology, it did make a passing reference to the phenomenon growing beyond Pablo “Kung-Fu Panda” Sandoval:

…they have added few other animals—fox, bunny, sheep, lion, husky, tiger, and bears to their list. Since their debut in March, they have launched their official website where one can buy a plush friend of their own anytime.

With their expansion, the two have also begun to have their brand recognized outside of Giants games. A few weeks ago, Jon sported a henna tattoo of the company’s logo on his arm. while sitting in class at City College of San Francisco. A classmate recognized the logo from a panda hat she bought at a Giants game.

So there you go…. panda, husky and the elusive 'el tigre' awaits the heads of tweens and cool kids pushing the boundaries of what it means to be fauxhemiam.  Hell, even the knockoff artists are getting into the game for those of you looking to save a buck or two:

(photo by earlyadopter)