what's City Hats?
City Hats is a generative NFT art collection by photographer and artist Omar Z. Robles, focusing on street photography that captures the essence of urban life through the lens of hats worn by city dwellers. Each piece in the collection tells a story of individuality and the hidden narratives within everyday urban scenes, blending traditional photography with blockchain technology to create unique, ownable digital artworks. The project builds on Robles' previous series like "City" and "City-TEXTURED," emphasizing the sensory and poetic aspects of city environments. Minted on the Art Blocks platform, City Hats utilizes algorithmic generation to produce variations of photographic elements, ensuring rarity and uniqueness in each NFT. Collectors interact with the collection through Ethereum-based smart contracts, allowing for provenance tracking and secondary market trading on platforms like OpenSea. The project highlights the intersection of fine art and crypto, inviting viewers to appreciate the subtle magic in overlooked urban details.
City Hats offers exclusive new piece claims for collectors and gas-only Santa hats for holders.
Links
x.com/omarzroblesLaunched a collector-exclusive claim period for new pieces, open to previous collectors only until 2026-01-25 or until supplies are exhausted.
Holders can claim as many Santa hats as they currently own City Hats, paying only gas fees, on a first-come first-served basis until supplies last.
Reached 550 total mints as of 2025-12-24, with a snapshot scheduled for the same day.
Taking a holder snapshot on December 24, 2025, with details to be announced on December 25, 2025.
Holders gain whitelist eligibility for the Money Laundering 2: The Unbanked mint in a cross-project collaboration.
OpenSea integration allows minting with $USDC, $APE, $REKT and other supported ERC-20 tokens on the ETH network, not limited to ETH.
Token #516 was minted by @Shills_81, bringing the collection total to 516 mints.
Subway systems are a hidden trait in the collection by design, with many tokens dwelling underground in subway systems.
A "Hero Hat" style remains unminted in the collection.
The collection stands at 515 mints distributed across 139 unique holders.
Helmets are rare in the collection and some helmet tokens are still unminted.
The "Tiered Hat" style exists in only 4 tokens across the collection, with token #374 being the only one revealed to date.
Collection progresses to token #510, with @hourdingpixels minting the 510th token.
Active minting phase continues with remaining items available for purchase in the collection.
The project reveals "Stripes" as one of the rarest color traits in the collection, with a handful of striped tokens still waiting to be minted.
The "Stacked Hats" style trait exists in only 4 tokens across the entire collection, and @WGMeets has pulled the only one revealed to date.
Collection advances to token #509, with user @NGMIoutalive minting the 509th token.
Minting hits 500 tokens, the halfway mark of the 1,000-piece collection, with @WAPSHOP_ETH pulling the 500th mint.
Minting progresses to 493 tokens and 131 unique holders, with 7 remaining tokens until the 500 mint milestone.
Collection reaches 490 mints and 129 unique holders, with only 10 tokens remaining until the 500 mint milestone.
Minting advances to token #488, featuring the Hand Gesture trait with 14 of 27 total now revealed in the collection.
Crypto artist Trevor Jones mints several City Hats tokens including token #468.
Minting advances to token #477 with 6 out of 9 umbrella traits now revealed, including two umbrella traits pulled on the same day.
The collection reaches 473 mints with 124 unique holders, 27 tokens away from the 500 milestone.
Minting progresses to token #471, which carries the umbrella trait - one of only 9 in the collection, with 5 revealed to date.
The collection has 119 unique holders at 460 mints, 40 tokens away from the 500 milestone.
Minting progresses to token #460, featuring Paris as the location trait, with the collection advancing toward the 500 milestone.
Minting progresses to token #456, which features London as the location trait.
Minting progresses to approximately 450 tokens (50 away from 500 milestone), with token #446 featuring Belgium as a new 1/1 country trait in the collection.
Token #423 features Tallinn, Estonia, the only piece from this location in the entire collection, representing a unique 1/1 geographic trait.
Minting progresses to token #435, featuring a Panama Hat photographed in Venice.
Token #118 collected by @AdamWeitsman features the only live animal as headgear in the entire collection, representing a 1/1 unique trait rarity.
Minting advances to token #420, progressing 20 tokens from the previous #400 milestone reported on 2025-11-19.
Minting reaches the 400th token milestone, progressing 3 tokens from the previous #397 reported on 2025-11-19.
The collection consists of 12 total countries and 27 cities, with 6 countries and 11 cities currently uncovered through minting. Token #108 representing Mexico City is collected by @ArtOnBlockchain.
Minting progresses to token #397, described as a Grail and nicknamed the Harlem Crown.
Token #272 features the Fascinator Hat, confirmed as the only one of its type in the entire collection, representing a 1/1 unique trait rarity.
Minting progresses to token #390, advancing 6 tokens from the previous milestone of #384 reported on 2025-11-16.
Golden Sombrero Charro is identified as one of the unminted Hero Hat Grails still waiting to be uncovered through minting.
Token #196, collected by @lifeofc, is confirmed as both a Hero Hat and an "Omar's Grail," introducing a new sub-classification within the Hero Hat rarity tier.
The collection contains 39 Hero Hat Grails total with only 17 revealed so far, establishing an additional rarity tier within the project. Token #231, minted by @deltasauce, is confirmed as one of these Hero Hat Grails.
Minting progresses to token #384 with @seanbonner minting two new hats.
Minting progresses to token #382 featuring a Rastafarian Crown trait minted by ME-Flipper. @balon_art (previously identified as a top holder with 19 hats) actively trades on secondary market using multiple wallets including @ArtizenEth, while @JJCERZSS returns as a repeat minter with a second purchase.
Holder distribution shows @tonyherrera as top holder with 30 hats, followed by @GuyNorcal (26), @lifeofc (24), @balon_art (19), and @antidisiplin (12).
Minting progresses to token #379, featuring the Martian Helmet trait with Rarity #3 ranking, minted with @MeLlamoMatt.
The project is featured on OpenSea's Currents 59, gaining editorial recognition from the major NFT marketplace.
Minting progresses to token #375, featuring one of only 2 Umbrella Hat traits in the collection.
Minting reaches token #370 with a mint by @JNSilva_, advancing from the previously reported token #247.
The mint reaches approximately 50% completion as the public sale continues.
A token-gated Telegram group launches for holders to coordinate and discuss the collection.
Active minting underway with top collector acquiring 30 NFTs.
Token #1 minted by @BoonaETH with rare Reflection trait and token #230 minted by @dave_krugman, with minting progressing to at least token #247 including the collection's only Star trait.
Minting changes to instant reveal format where NFTs display their hat immediately upon mint, starting at approximately 8pm EST. (Tweet ID: 1989133564131098629)
Public sale goes live on OpenSea with minting currently active.
A photo contest closes in a few hours, offering winners a chance to receive free mints.
Collection consists of 1,000 frames covering 27 cities across 12 countries.
Three-stage mint launches November 13 at 0.02 ETH: previous collectors at 12 PM ET (max 4 per wallet), community allowlist at 2 PM ET (max 10 per wallet) including CryptoDickbutts, Squiggles, Chimpers, Meebits, $PLEDGE holders, Rodeo holders, and Good Vibes Club, and public mint at 4 PM ET with no wallet limit.
The City Hats drop page goes live on OpenSea ahead of the November 13 mint.
CryptoDickButts community receives allowlist access, marking the sixth community partnership for the November 13 mint following ChimpersHQ, Meebits, $PLEDGE holders, Good Vibes Club, and Chromie Squiggle holders.
Drop page goes live with mint scheduled for November 13 on OpenSea.
Crypto_citizens community from Bright Moments receives official allowlist access for the City Hats mint.
CryptoPunks community receives official allowlist access for the upcoming mint.
NFTs feature embedded metadata traits including hat style, material, gesture, and location.
November 13 mint will take place on OpenSea marketplace.
Chromie Squiggle holders (Art Blocks collection) receive allowlist access as the fifth community collaboration, following ChimpersHQ, Meebits, $PLEDGE holders, and Good Vibes Club partnerships.
Good Vibes Club (@goodvibesclub) members added to allowlist, marking the fourth community partnership following ChimpersHQ, Meebits, and $PLEDGE holders.
$PLEDGE holders receive allowlist access for the November 13 mint as the third major community collaboration following ChimpersHQ and Meebits partnerships.
Meebits NFT community receives allowlist access as the second major community collaboration following ChimpersHQ partnership.
ChimpersHQ community receives allowlist access as part of first major community collaboration, with more partnerships planned for announcement this week.
1000-piece NFT collection launches on OpenSea November 13.
Collection launches November 13 on OpenSea. WAPSHOP_ETH joins as newest collector.