With individual identity playing such an important role in today's society, ways to express ourselves are very important. Clothing and accessories have given us this possibility for quite some time, but there is one accessory that often gets overlooked. The trucker cap is one of the best ways to express yourself. It offers a blank canvas on which just about anything can take place.

While it has evolved into quite a fashion icon, the trucker cap started out as anything but fashionable. Originally, they were distributed by rural companies that supplied farmers and rural workers, like truck drivers, with various products. They were simply promotional items that had the company's logo printed or sewn into the hat. The bill was typically stiff, the cap extended a bit above the head, and they were in no way intended for self expression or fashion.

Before any type of printing or logo goes on to a trucker cap, it is essentially blank. The bill and mesh backing are usually the same color. The front part of the cap, which is traditionally made of foam, can be the same color as the bill and mesh or it can be different. For example, a hat could have a blue bill and blue mesh, while the foam front is white. What is important, though, is that in the very beginning it is blank. It presents itself as a canvas for an artist to create on.

And that is exactly what has happened over time. What began as a simple trucker cap displaying, at most, a company logo has transformed into a clothing accessory that can be customized to the extreme. A simple form of customization may be creating the foam part of the hat in a plaid design or a repeating pattern. On the extreme side of personalization, an intricate tattoo design or collage can take up the entire foam portion of the trucker cap and extend onto the bill as well. To take it even further, beads, rhinestones, and other jewels or buttons can be added as well. This brings to mind a common customization for fisherman; hooking their lures right into the foam portion of the cap.

So when it comes to personalizing a trucker cap, the simple, original methods still apply. These hats are perfect for branding a company, or for displaying the logo of any club or group. But they really get interesting when phrases get added or when extreme art jumps off the hat and shouts, 'look at me!' Some of my absolute favorites are the hats that display the original Nintendo games. These have the characters and logos on them from games like Metroid, Super Mario Brothers, and Duck Hunt. They can also be personalized by simply displaying a sports team's logo or just a word or small phrase.

The possibilities to personalize one of these hats are truly endless. So ask yourself what you are about and it is almost guaranteed that there is a trucker cap reflecting who you are. Next, go search for some trucker hats to find your perfect match!