State of Wisconsin to honor maker of foam hats
The Wisconsin State Assembly votes today (Tuesday) on a resolution to officially recognize Ralph Bruno for his remarkable contribution to our great state’s international identity. What exactly is Bruno’s noteworthy contribution?
He invented the foam cheesehead hat.
The designation seems a bit odd given Travel Wisconsin's recent, well-publicized, and kinda spendy effort to rebrand the state as more of a place for outdoorsy activity and less of place for cheese and beer and football and whatever else people tend to associate with the now iconic cheesehead. But who cares? Bruno is a Sconnie entrepreneur who done good.
As the story goes, back in 1987, Bruno was called a “cheesehead” by some meanie Chicago Bears fans. Undaunted, he reached down deep within himself, grabbed his pain and turned it into creativity. By which we mean he took some foam out of a couch cushion and fashioned the world’s first cheesehead hat. The rest is novelty headwear history.
Bruno's company, Foamation Inc., is located in Milwaukee. Their hats are sold in all 50 states and in more than 30 countries.
True innovators, the hat scientists at Foamation Inc. have also produced game-changing headgear such as the Cheesehead Cowboy Hat, the Cheesehead Sombrero, and the Cheesehead Fez. And let’s not forget the Cheesehead Necktie, the Cheesehead Championship Belt Buckle, and the Cheesehead Frisbee. Full product line here.
And of course, there are host of imitators to be found in the cheesehead hat’s wake of success, perhaps most notably, the unofficial cheesehead brazier.
