Lids or Hat World, Inc. is an American retailer specializing in athletic

headwear Headgear, headwear, or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, ...

. It primarily operates under the Lids brand with stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom plus various websites. The majority of the stores operate in shopping malls and factory outlet centers.

History

Lids Corp. was founded in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

by best friends Douglass Karp (son of real estate developer Stephen R. Karp) and Ben Fischman (son of real estate developer Steven Fischman) in 1993. Hat World, Inc. was founded in 1995 by George Berger, Glenn Campbell and Scott Molander, with its headquarters office in

Sioux Falls, SD Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up t ...

. Hat World's first store opened on November 3, 1995 in the Tippecanoe Mall in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...

. The second store opened at Muncie Mall in Muncie, Indiana. The company's operations and warehouse were located in Indianapolis. The administrative headquarters was later moved from Sioux Falls to Indianapolis. The original Lids Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 and certain Lids stores, the tradename/trademark and other assets were acquired by Hat World,Inc., which subsequently changed its store names from "Hat World" to "Lids." Hat World, Inc. (dba the new "Lids") was acquired in April 2004 by footwear retailer Genesco Inc. In 2019 Genesco sold Hat World/Lids to a joint venture between Ames Watson, LLC and Fanatics, Inc. Also in 2019, rapper

Meek Mill Robert Rihmeek Williams (born May 6, 1987), known professionally as Meek Mill, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he embarked on his music career as a battle rapper, and later formed a short-lived rap group, ...

acquired an ownership stake.

References

External links

Official LIDS website

Official LIDS Canadian website

Official LIDS French Canadian website

Official LIDS Foundation website
Companies based in Indianapolis Clothing brands of the United States Clothing companies established in 1995 Retail companies established in 1995 Hat companies American companies established in 1995 1995 establishments in Massachusetts Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 {{US-retail-company-stub