When the first version of the Koinobori cycling cap was finished I thought the position of the fins would be great to have horns instead and therefore came up with the idea to make a really fierce looking devil kind of guy …… the demon cycling cap was on my mind but I wanted to do the pink Koinobori first.

I have also been thinking of a Japanese Oni as a name for it but now I have learned that an Oni is something different and it might be better to call it a 三つ目妖怪 (mittsume yokai) – three eyed monster. However referring to it as a demon might be the best.

Unlike the Koinobori cap the teeth are supposed to look more human-like but with some sharp and strong fangs.

Of course an evil demon must also have a moustache and long eyebrows!
At some point during the long journey of design I picked up the concept of giving him a third eye.

First there also was some kind of scale pattern for the rest of the head but then I opted for gangsta-rapper / pirate style corn row hair …

The orange color of the demon cycling cap’s fabric reminds me of German „Verkehrswacht“ caps – as small kids we used to go to traffic education to learn about the rules of the streets and everybody received a yellow/orange cap (or bobble hat) with a green cross in green circle afterwards. They don’t do it anymore these days, I think. For high contrast but yet not using simple black color, the print is made in a very dark blue which turned out very nice as I think, it almost looks metallic.

The cap is made of 65% polyester and 35% cotton. Silk screen printed and sewn by Apis in Italy.