Looks like Fox is continuing to stir up trouble among the Browncoats. For years fans have happily donned their knitted tributes to Joss Whedon's falled series, the Jayne Hat. It's possibly the most popular piece of convention-goer flair. But it looks like it's about to get a lot harder to get a homemade Jayne hat, because Fox is attempting to shut down all rogue hat makers.
According to Whedonesque, Fox has been sending out cease-and-desist letters or just outright demanding Etsy ban any non-sanctioned Jayne hats. This is after almost a decade of not giving a crap about any of this.
Recently, Ripple Junction has licensed the fan apparel and obtained the rights to mass-produce the product. And in return, Fox is shutting down all the mom and pop Jayne hat makers. Which is ridiculous because the very point of a Jayne hat is to own a mangled handmade orange monstrosity that warms your noggin, not something churned out on an assembly line. But now that Fox has sold the licence, they now have to shake down Etsy members who are lovingly knitting their Firefly memorabilia.
This doesn't mean you can't make your own Jayne top, but you just can't sell it online. Blastr reached out to both Ripple Junction and Think Geek (where the licensed hats are sold) and both companies denied involvement in the shuttering of homespun Jayne Hats.
Image via Geek-a-bye Baby