The future of baseball caps is in hip-hop and country crooners.

Sports cap retailer Lids is launching a new business strategy to capitalize on a growing trend that has nothing to do with sports teams, The Post has learned.

The Indianapolis-based company, which sells baseball-styled caps at 1,277 stores across the country, is wooing rappers, country stars and individual athletes for licensing deals for exclusive merchandise, executives told The Post. The new caps will make up half of the store’s merchandise within two years, they said.

“The growth of our business is in this fashion space,” Lids Chief Executive Tom Ripley told The Post exclusively. “We are going after the fashion customer and that’s women and non-sports consumers.”

On Wednesday, Lids announced Meek Mill, the multi-platinum hip-hop artists behind “24/7,” had become a co-owner of Lids and will release a limited-edition exclusive hat line for its store in August.

source: nypost.com