The Art of Headwear

Multimedia decoration on caps can return high margins.
March 1, 2009

Flexfit five panel style 6560 is designed especially for screen printing. With a hard structure buckram, this mid-profile cap has sewn eyelets with a matching undervisor. It is available in black, khaki, navy, red and white.

By Terry Murphy, Senior Editor

The tough economy challenges all decorators, but those who print or embroider hats may have a little advantage over the competition. The price point for caps — which varies by style and brand, of course — is lower in general than for many other types of garments that customers may pass on this year due to budget restraints. Multimedia-decorated caps can fill that gap for you and your customer.

The challenge is to show clients what a great value caps can be as advertising — zillions of potential eyeballs will see their logo if the end-user loves the hat and wears it regularly. That's where the good margins come in — eye- popping multimedia decoration can wow the customer and keep your balance sheet black. We hope the multimedia designs shown here inspire you to present customers with caps they can't resist. In the following pages, we present some new blank models from leading vendors, and share some marketing advice from from five major hat vendors:

Impressions: What is the one/best piece of advice you have for a decorator selling headwear in the current economy?

Bruce Watson, president and COO, Cap America Inc.: Be patient. Don't get swept up in the drama of the news and be diligent about providing customers with the best products and services.

Scott Tubbs, VP and gen. mgr, Dri Duck Traders: Headwear is a great value and one of the best ways for a company to expose its brand. One decorated hat can achieve thousands of impressions.

Mark Stern, VP sales, Flexfit/Yupoong: Quality, service and communication will survive all obstacles placed in your way.

Chris McConnell, exec. VP sales & marketing, Outdoor Cap: Don't fall into the trap of selling on price alone. Sell the positives of headwear as effective advertising and the importance of putting [your customer's logo] on a hat people will wear. Spending money on a less expensive cap that does not get worn is not effective advertising — no matter what the savings.

Chuck Freeman, director — promotions and apparel decorators, Panther Vision: Unique and useful headwear can separate you from your competition.

Dan Saferstein, president, Sportsman Cap Network: Let your customer know that caps are a cost-effective way to advertise. Unlike coats, jackets or polos that can be very costly, headwear is truly the most economical way to get your name out there to your customers.

Impressions: What are the latest trends in headwear, in terms of fit, hottest colors, patterns, detailing, etc.?

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: Moisture-wicking performance fabrics, eco-friendly designs and fabrics, baseball silhouette, high crown and flat visor designs and all-over prints and designs are very popular. Various shades of blue, Fedora style hats and ivy caps, military silhouettes and two tones also are creating excitement. Color and shapes from'80s and '90s are interesting to fashion-minded youth. And apparel fabrics — plaids, checks and stripes — are showing up as well.

Watson, Cap America: Styles that are trendy for 2009: organic, relaxed vintage look, performance fabrics.

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: Lower profile, distressed, fashion-type headwear is very popular. Flex caps also continue to be popular as the styling moves more toward the retail look.

Saferstein, Sportsman Cap Network: Trends are still focused on organic fabric, but performance fabrics also are popular. Brown is a hot color right now, as well as other earth tones such as black, khaki, olive and navy blue.

Freeman, Panther Vision: We have created a flashlight cleverly disguised as a ball cap, so our focus is on function for runners, pilots, hunting, fishing and more. We take our styling cues from outdoor retailers and camo still accounts for more 30% of sales .

Tubbs, Dri Duck: There are still many nice looks such as racing and cut-and-sewn styles, but the trend is more emphasis on the customer's brand and less on the construction of the design.

Impressions: What are the most popular colors for headwear?

Watson, Cap America: Khaki, navy, black, with requests last year for green and maroon.

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: Black, white, gray and navy are strong in all markets.

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: Basic neutrals such as black, khaki, olive, putty and navy. Pink has become a very strong color for ladies headwear in recent years.

Impressions: Are you seeing any trendy colors at the moment?

Saferstein, Sportsman Cap Network: Brown — because it can be seen as a sophisticated color or as a fun, trendy color.

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: Pink as well as brown. Plaids in some types of fashion headwear.

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: Purple, red and shades of blue.

Watson, Cap America: Purple.

Tubbs, Dri Duck: Pink has been strong for women's designs.

Impressions: What are your top three markets are for headwear?

Watson, Cap America: Corporate events, employee recognition and uniforms.

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: Promotional products, decorators, team sports.

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: The promotional market, team sports, action/urban retail.

Saferstein, Sportsman Cap Network: I'll give you our top four: Corporate events, sport teams, employee uniforms, promotional items.

Freeman, Panther Vision: Outdoors sports retail, service employees, consumer retail.

Tubbs, Dri Duck: Direct retail, corporate, uniform.

Impressions: What's important to the end user in terms of detailing?

Watson, Cap America: It is all-important to make the cap comfortable and something the end user will wear. The option to have a custom label in the cap gives our customers the opportunity to market themselves and potentially gain business.

Tubbs, Dri Duck: Quality, design, value.

Saferstein, Sportsman Cap Network: Fit is the most important detail to an end user. Other details of a hat can be compromised, but fit is one thing that either works or it doesn't.

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: Fabric quality is very important as well as the fit of the cap.

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: Naturally, the look of a hat will get the prospective buyer's attention. But, in the long run, fit and comfort outweigh appearance.

Impressions: How is the eco-friendly movement affecting your line this year?

Saferstein, Sportsman Cap Network: We started carrying organic a couple of years ago with one brand. We have added new styles with multiple brands and plan to continue adding some each year as more companies offer "green" styles.

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: The eco-friendly groundswell will remain constant for many years. Customers will purchase these styles at premium pricing and companies producing eco-friendly products will benefit from the principles involved, not just the monetary values — karma!

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: We have organic cotton and bamboo charcoal styles that are doing reasonably well. [Decorators may be] less likely to try and move their customers into this higher-priced product in today's economic environment.

Freeman, Panther Vision: We are presently finalizing a solar rechargeable Cap Light.

Watson, Cap America: We have an organic cap in our line [and are] developing a new organic style and possibly a recycled style.

Tubbs, Dri Duck: Our Authentic Wildlife series caps, devoted to endangered species, are made from 100% organic cotton fabric.

Impressions: Are performance fabrics or treatments still important?

Watson, Cap America: Performance fabrics — like our new Icefil fabric— are so versatile and do so many things.

Tubbs, Dri Duck: Consumers demand more technical fabrics and headwear is no exception. We have used Coolmax for moisture-wicking from the very first development of the headwear line and continually research new performance fabrics.

Stern, Flexfit/Yupoong: Athletes at every level are looking for that edge, and in many cases the properties of a moisture-wicking product produce a psychological edge. Our first moisture-wicking hat was introduced in 2003 and this category has grown significantly through the years. Presently, we offer seven styles, not counting the Bamboo Flexfit, which also incorporates moisture wicking capabilities.

McConnell, Outdoor Cap: Moisture wicking performance fabrics are a natural for the headwear market. Is there anything that makes more sense than a cap with a moisture-wicking "sweatband"?

Freeman, Panther Vision: Comfort is king when it comes to a favorite ball cap. A sopping wet head in a ball cap is not comfortable. In most of our sporting/outdoor market segment caps, we have gone to Coolmax sweatband material. We also have a runners cap that is a combination of wicking and mesh fabric fitted with a Cool Max sweatband.

Saferstein, Sportsman Cap Network: Headwear made with treatments or performance fabrics make caps that much more useful for the most athletic of people. They don't have to worry about ruining their favorite hat because it's made to be worn while working out, playing their favorite sport, or while being outside on a hot day. Performance wear like moisture-wicking fabrics and special treatments are becoming a popular attribute to the latest headwear because those features make a hat so much more versatile. Performance fabrics create new uses for headwear that can stand the wear and tear of athletes.

For more information or to comment on this article, e-mail Terry Murphy at tmurphy@impressionsmag.com.

Hirsch Video Demonstrates Oversize Shirt Printing
A new video from Hirsch Intl. shows how to print oversize designs on the Mimaki inkjet garment printer the company distributes. To see the video, visit hirschinternational.com . Click on “Direct To Garment Printer” and search the right navigation bar for available videos.
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Learn to evaluate and adjust your mix of clientele for optimum profitability and stability.
While the economic lows that many American markets have been experiencing for the past year are certainly painful, they’re also nothing new. Historically, the tide of business success continually ebbs and flows, with one market experiencing a rush of good fortune while another watches its revenue all but dry up. This cyclical nature of business is precisely why decorators must have a diverse customer base that allows them to weather slowdowns — or even meltdowns — in parts of the economy.
September 02, 2009

Decorators Open Up on DTG Workflow, Profits
Impressions interviewed apparel decorators from all corners of the industry to discuss the promise and the real-world results of investing in digital inkjet-to-garment printers. 
Since its introduction to the decorated apparel industry several years ago, direct-to-garment printing has been heralded as a game-changer — a disruptive technology that would dramatically change the way shops conduct business. It would allow decorators to tackle small orders, suppliers said. It would let shops offer personalization and print photographs with amazing detail, they promised. And it would dramatically reduce set-up time, they’ve claimed.
September 01, 2009