When I have the winter doldrums, I’m like many people: I like a free gift! And when I’m looking for a free gift, I often find myself wandering with some friends over to Central Cinema for Moviecat Trivia, a monthly game created and hosted by Jess Aceti and Brian Kirk. The treasures given out to winners range from old VHS horror movies to bowling trophies, but often they give away something COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AMAZING. What is it, you ask? Let me answer your question with a question: What do you get when you combine a cap and a sac?

Is it a small child? A rocket ship? The love between a man and a woman? …No!

You get the one, the only: Cap-sac! What the hell is a Cap-sac? Thank you for asking! I’ll tell you! The Cap-sac (how many times can I use that word in this piece? 10? 115?) is a colorful nylon baseball cap-type-thing with a brim and a zipper pouch on the forehead. Think: a fanny pack for your head. These wondrous creations are so amazing they can even fold into themselves to create a pencil case-sized pouch.

During my most recent trip to Moviecat, my team had the distinction of winning Best Team Name for our holiday-themed “Menorah-T Report.” Our prize? You guessed it! A Cap-sac for each player. “I have tooooooonnnnnsss of these,” said Aceti offhandedly as she handed them to us. What??? First of all, I wondered, what are these things? And how on god’s green earth does she have a ton of them?

It turns out Aceti owns the entire Cap-sac company with her mother, Barbara. So, you know how John Kerry is married to a Heinz Ketchup heiress. Well in some 100 years some lucky guy will marry one of Aceti’s progeny’s progeny and inherit all that sweet, sweet Cap-sac money. I digress.

Some facts: Aceti’s mother founded the Cap-sac company in 1989, when all magical things were born (Just ask Taylor Swift). Barbara had recently moved from selling door-to-door yogurt (the family had so much strawberry yogurt in their house) to the ad specialty industry (the people that businesses get pens, pencils and Tchotchkes from for promotional purposes), Aceti explained.

“She started working with a factory overseas to develop these hats with a pocket on the front,” she said. “Her two biggest clients at the time were Budweiser and the International Gay Rodeo Association. Other than those two clients, the hats proved to be too costly to sell within that industry (everything is expected to be extremely cheap). So, about 2,000 of these hats sat in our house for my entire childhood and teenage years. Fast forward to the year 2009, I am working at Wexley School for Girls and understanding more about marking and producing websites and video, so we brought these vintage caps to the masses. We are still here in the year 2015!”

Here indeed! So much so that Aceti doesn’t even laugh when she sees the hats anymore (unlike me, the newbie). “At this point I guess I don’t giggle so much anymore because it is such a daily part of life for me,” she said, “but if someone sends a photo of lets say a pudding pack in a Cap-sac, that will make me giggle.”

I asked Aceti if they are made in a magical land with leprechauns and dragon stickers. Sadly, not the case exactly. “We tried to have them made domestically but they were extremely expensive and since majority of our audience is pretty young and they don’t have expendable income,” she frowned. “We had to make the choice to manufacture overseas. We work with a small family owned factory in China and have worked with them since we had to manufacture more in 2009 (the originals sold out).”

And the Cap-sac industry is growing! Recently, Aceti and her mother debuted new, more traditional fanny packs, or Pac-sacs, featuring art by Seattleites Derek Erdman and Tom DesLongchamp, artists Aceti has “always loved”. These, along with their cap counterparts, can be bought locally at Monster Art and Clothing in Ballard and online around the world at www.cap-sac.com (also on Amazon). 

Sadly, Aceti said, she doesn’t often wear the Cap-sacs because she has “never looked good in hats.” Oh the irony! Attributing her fashion problem to curly hair. However, she said, “Of course I do wear them when I go to the casino or any place where I know I need to be hands free for the night.”

So no matter how the cards land, Aceti is the real winner.