Print-on-Demand Embroidered Hats

Founding an online clothing brand is a responsible task even for experienced business people. Fashion trends are changing at lightning speed, so you never know what trends will be popular tomorrow. However, some things are always in demand, and hats are among them. If you're looking for a safe choice to make decent money without essential investments, start selling custom hats to people worldwide based on the print-on-demand model. Why is it profitable, and how to start a business?

Table of Contents

Is it worth starting a custom hat dropshipping business?

4 tips to making the perfect hat

PodZa can help you to sell custom embroidered hats

Frequently asked questions

Is it worth starting a custom hat dropshipping business?

A hat business can be as profitable as a boutique of exclusive T-shirts, which are always a trend in the POD market. However, you'll likely meet fewer competitors along the way, as not every store offers designer hats. Such goods are always in demand at any time: bucket hats, caps, boaters, sombreros in warm seasons, pom-pom beanies, trappers, headbands, and neck handkerchiefs in cold seasons. With the right strategy, your brand name will become famous. 

The other print-on-demand benefits on hat sales are connected with your business model. Working on a dropshipping basis is quite profitable: you do not need to buy equipment, rent an office, hire production staff and pay for their work (plus sick and holiday pay), or buy and store raw materials. All you need is to find a partner who provides an embroidery service and think over the important details: type of accessory, material, design with logo, and embroidery format. 

We recommend cooperating with the best print-on-demand hat companies. For example, Apliiq and Inkthreadable offer custom embroidery. Cap Wholesalers works both in the dropshipping of hat embroidery and wholesale. The world-famous Printful and Printify are versatile: they embroider almost on any item of clothing: jackets, baseball caps, bags, or towels. Most suppliers take care of all the production, packaging, and delivery. You just follow your order and contact the customer if necessary. 

As you can see, the print-on-demand business of selling custom embroidery hats has enormous benefits. It is thanks to the high demand for the product and the opportunities offered by professional fulfillment companies. However, don't forget that 90% of your success depends on your approach to a product range selection according to the market trends, material selection, and design development. But first things first.

4 tips to making the perfect hat

1. Choose type

First, decide on the print-on-demand direction: perhaps selling only men's baseball caps, children's bucket hats, or trucker hats for e-commerce. Becoming an expert in a single area will increase your competitiveness. Developing in several areas at once is more complicated because you will have to create designs for different types of products, and your target audience will broaden as well. The decision is up to you. 

Embroidered hats that are profitable to sell:

1. Beanie hat. It is an essential item of the winter wardrobe. Beanie hats and pom-pom products are leaders in this category and good options for children and adults. For severe cold weather, you can add to your range a winter embroidered fur hat with rhinestones.
2. Hat. A hat is a definite addition to the trendy look.  Two popular shapes that are long in demand and still fashionable are the wide-brimmed and fedora (made from soft felt wrapped in the ribbon). Straw hats are also worth including in the summer range, as they're perfect for the beach.
3. Cap. It is a stylish accessory. Add it to your catalog, and you’ll be able to choose any style and shape. Baseball caps, camo hats, peak caps, octagonal hats, flat caps are popular among men, and baseball caps, jockey caps, German caps, visor caps are in-demand among women. In print on demand, simple dad hats are valued for their ease of patterning and embroidery. 
4. Snood. It is a hybrid of a beanie hat and a scarf. It is in high demand as you can wear it with various garments (from jackets to down parkas and fur coats). This accessory can diversify your range and create a collection with a particular embroidery. 

2. Choose material

If you need to choose fabric, you should consider the item type. Cotton, cashmere, wool, fur, silk, even leather, and artificial materials (viscose, acrylic, polyester) are suitable for beanie hats.  Caps are usually made from tweel (100% cotton fabric or 97% cotton + 3% spandex) or jeans, while hats are made from felt, silk, straw, leather, and suede. Moreover, a lot depends on the complexity and scale of the design. At this stage, you should understand what kind of embroidery you want to decorate your product with. 

3. Create a design

This is one of the most exciting stages, thinking over the visuals. If you're a keen embroiderer, you'll cope with it easily, but if not, you should ask a designer. How to do a print-on-demand hat with exclusive design easily? Remember that not all materials are suitable for custom designs, for example, fur hats, woolen berets, straw hats. Not all companies print embroidery on such products. In non-standard situations, you should not expect the cheapest print-on-demand hat services from well-known suppliers.  

You can choose various themes: names of music bands, TV series, countries and cities, names and letters, funny inscriptions and smiley faces, or fashionable collocations. Themes depend not only on your imagination but also on the preferences of your target audience. For example, young people appreciate captions with hashtags #, unlike the older generation. 

Design Trends of 2021: What to Choose to Make Your POD Products More Attractive to Customers?

4. Print and sell

Before sharing your ideas with the artist, consult an expert and determine which embroidery method is best for your hats. Hand embroidery (cross stitch, satin stitch, beadwork, ribbons, long stitch) is used to create exclusive, unique pieces. The price of manual labor is usually higher than that of automated. Standard machine options are shuttle stitch, paillettes (sequins) of various shapes, sizes, and colors, rhinestones (artificial stones). 

So, now you're ready to turn your ideas into reality: integrate your online store with the POD application, add your designs and wait for the first customers! As soon as you receive an order, your white-label partner will automatically be notified and start fulfilling it, then pack the product and send it to the consumer.

PodZa can help you to sell custom embroidered hats:

• develop your online store from scratch on the top e-commerce platform: Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce; 
• create a unique design that matches the range theme and corporate identity;
• integrate Podza, a comprehensive system for automating dropshipping, into your business processes;
• integrate your store with a POD and the best Shopify hat print-on-demand apps and configure an admin panel.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a custom-made hat cost? 

According to Printful, the price of on-demand hat printing ranges between $12 and $19. Digitization and adjustment will cost almost $3-7. For more precise information, we recommend consulting the catalog of the supplier you are planning to work with. 

Is a hat embroidery business profitable?

It is profitable for three reasons: demand for hats is stable all year round (it is necessary to renew the range of products every season); competition in this area is lower than in the T-shirt market, especially if you sell custom products or goods for a narrow target audience; working according to the dropshipping model reduces costs and risks and allows you to adapt to market trends quickly.

Where can I sell my own hats?

E-commerce platforms are perfect for this purpose: Wix, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerc, Etsy. Just connect your online store to the app, and your customers' orders will be automatically imported into the system and sent to your partner for fulfillment.

How can I sell hats on Shopify?

Follow only 3 steps: create an account, integrate your store with Shopify, and learn its new functions. Our comprehensive Podza solution will ensure quick and easy integration.

You’ve got ideas for a cool hat design, but you don't know how to implement them? Go step by step: think over the range of products, select materials for different products, find or make up design options, and study the terms of print-on-demand fulfillment companies. And we will do the rest for you: from integration with the POD service to implementing an order tracking system. Let’s keep in touch!