Custom Beanies: Everything You Need to Know Before Designing Your Own
Custom beanies are one of the most versatile pieces of branded merchandise. They’re practical, easy to wear and give your logo visibility throughout the colder months. Whether you’re creating merchandise for a clothing brand, sports team, charity or business, a well-made embroidered beanie is a product people genuinely keep and wear.
As with all personalised hats, the beanie benefits from prominence: it’s sat right on someone’s head, it’s an extra accessory in a way that a t-shirt or jumper isn’t, and so it’s likely to draw some extra attention. What’s more, many people will often have one or two hats in rotation, unlike a t-shirt, so if you create a product that customers value then it’s possible your merch could be one of someone’s most regularly worn garments.
In this blog, we’ll cover the key things to consider before creating custom beanies, from embroidery and knit styles to bespoke labels and finishing touches.
4 Tips for Designing Better Custom Beanies
Great custom beanies don’t need complicated designs. Choosing the right embroidery, materials and finishing details often has a bigger impact than adding more elements. Here are four simple tips to help you create beanies people will actually want to wear.
1. Embroidery Is the Way
We sometimes get requests for “printed hats”, but with all our personalised hats, including beanies, embroidery is the only way, as it’s not possible to do screen printing or direct-to-garment printing (DTG).
Want to understand the different decoration methods? Read our blog “Top Techniques for High Quality Custom Apparel” for more information. After reading it, you’ll understand why embroidery is the best for beanies.
2. Keep the Design Simple
With embroidery, it’s best to go for designs that are simple and clear – especially when it’s going to be relatively small, as it will be on a hat. This means that it might be worth re-thinking or adjusting your design or logo, to make sure that it will come out as best as possible.
You may also enjoy our blog “Embroidery for Caps: 4 Tips for Creating Professional Cap Embroidery“, where we cover embroidery hat design in more detail.
3. What Kind of Knit?
The key to the basic beanie is, of course, simplicity. Composed of just one piece of material, malleable to whichever head it is worn by, and usually in one block colour, it’s all about keeping it to the basics.
However, there are small ways in which you can look to take a different tack, one of which is the type of knit you choose: a classic tight knit or ribbed (like those pictured above), the latter having a chunkier look.
4. Want To Go Bespoke?
Want to add an extra something to your beanie, to make it stand out? One option is to have your own label stitched into the beanie, which falls under the category of garment finishing. This can be wherever you choose, and can give an extra distinctive touch, as well as making it a more premium-looking product.
If you want to take this approach, you either need to provide the label yourself, or we can arrange bespoke label production. (The only thing to bear in mind is that bespoke label production requires a minimum of 500 units.) Worry not, bespoke labels are also a great way to elevate hoodies, jackets and other premium branded garments, so they can be used in all of them to add a cohesive branding element.
Create Custom Beanies People Want to Wear
Whether you’re creating winter merchandise, branded workwear or clothing for your own brand, embroidered beanies are a timeless choice. At ICON Printing, we help businesses, creators and organisations produce premium custom beanies with expert embroidery and finishing options. Get a Quick Quote online in less than 2 minutes or speak to our team at sales@iconprinting.com about your next project.