Caps that fall over the ears - tribal shopping or trend spotting?

A friend got upset the other day, about the fact that caps suddenly looked different. 'People' were wearing baseball caps over their ears, and the peak was all flat! WTF!

It´s an interesting phenomenon to hear a 30+ friend getting upset about what the 'youth' are doing nowadays, lol, but I got curious about the hat thing. Last night I bumped into one of them, and got directed to the souce... Apparently some grafiti, tattoo, skate style trend (most caps sold out). Check it out: http://www.mikegiant.com/ 
http://www.rebel8.com/mens/hats.html 

Trends are funny. Where do they come from? Street wear, artists, French fashion houses speak... and suddenly we are all wearing a certain colour or style at the same time and feel nauseaus if we are not trendy as in 'normal'. Actually, most people are not keeping up with trends to be 'trendy' but to fit in, to be like everyone else and be accepted by the tribe. Some people are dopamine driven and constantly seek the new, the novelties of life, but most of us simply want what has been tried by others first.

I am reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson at the moment, about how hit lists are mattering less in times when all things are easily accessed throgh Internet, and we can find the oddest things, instead of just sticking to what is in store at the moment. This has opened up for niches and tribal thinking and shopping, a less directed consumerism. Music, books, fashion - there is more to choose from than ever, and it´s easier to reach what is not on the 'top-10'. Our shopping bags will differ more.

Hence, not everyone will wear caps that falls over the ears - those are for guys with lots of tattoos?
Hence, my friend can relax.
Hence, we are all still confused shoppers - maybe even more than ever having to choose among thosands of things - calling for HELP, stuck somewhere at Myers!

The anxiety of freedom, as Kierkegaard or Sartre would have put it...