Joe Kadison, a Coast Guard veteran, founded Quaker Marine Supply Co. in Philadelphia in 1949 as a marine hardware and clothing outfitter. By the 1960s the company had built a name for its long-brimmed caps, particularly the Oysterman, a patent-leather-billed style that became closely associated with Ernest Hemingway. The brand has since relocated to Brooklyn, still built around the same irreverent, water-worn take on classic East Coast summer style.