10 Creative Ideas for Embroidering Your Logo on a Hat!

There are so many ways of customizing hats with your logo. When you’re in town looking at people’s headgear, you may think to yourself, “I want my custom hats to look like that!” but how do you convey that to your embroiderer? Let’s look at a few of the most common hat decoration methods and learn more about what they entail.

1.       Embroidered Hats

Simple embroidered or stitched hats are the most common technique you will see for embroidered logo caps. Sometimes referred to as flat stitching, it’s simply a design that is sewn out by the embroidery machine onto the substrate. The three main types of stitches are run stitches which are thin needle width lines of stitches, satin stitches which move the needle back and forth to create wider lines in a tight zig zag motion and fill or tatami stitches where the machine lays out a woven appearing network of threads that cover and fill an area.

2.       3D Puff Embroidery

3D Puff embroidered hats look great, but this method is only suitable for bold text and fat elements. Baseball teams come to mind first like the New York Yankees! An initial outline for the design is sewn out and then the machine stops to allow the embroiderer to apply a 2-3mm foam topping. Once the foam is in place, the design is resumed, and the machine uses a satin stitch to make long tight stitches over the foam. At the end, excess foam is torn off and the 3D design is revealed!

3.       Applique Patch Hats

Another thing you will see people wearing is the popular patch hat. There are so many different ways to customize a patch hat. Probably the most common is an embroidered fabric shape that is appliqued onto the cap with an embroidery machine. The machine sews a placement stitch, the embroiderer places the fabric patch onto the hat and the design is resumed. The machine then tacks down the fabric and finishes the border with a decorative satin stitch edge.

4.       Woven Patch Hats

Woven patches with your design or logo can be special ordered and applied to hats in the same way described above for the applique patch hats. It’s fantastic for detailed logos with fine elements or even if that’s just the look you are wanting. Woven labels can be specially ordered as well and sewn into the backs of caps like the picture here. This gives you a little extra way to show off your brand and catch second looks.

5.       Leather Patch Hats

Leather patches can be laser engraved or embroidered with your design and attached with a heat press and adhesive or in some cases embroidered onto the caps with an embroidery machine. In the image above you'll see embroidered leather patches. A leather patch is very common and popular and shows up very nicely on hats that have patterns and bright colors.

6.       DTF Heat Transfer Printed Hats

DTF stands for Direct to Film. It’s making a splash in the screen-printing world because the ink is printed with a special printer onto a film instead of pressed through a silk screen. DTF transfers are suburb for making printed hats in addition to shirts, hoodies and tote bags.

7.       DTF Patch Hats

You can also create patches with the DTF technology that are embroidered with an applique method onto caps. This achieves yet another custom look for patch hat lovers!

8.       Back of Cap and Side Embroidery

Sometimes folks like to add a bit more about their business and brand with additional text. Embroidering the arch on the back of hats and the side panels are a great place to add text like city and state, a motto, names or bible verse. The back of Flexfit fitted caps can even accommodate small icons. (Think about the Major League Baseball logo.)

9.       PVC Rubber Patches

PVC rubber patches can be special ordered and applied to hats of your choosing. They are rubbery and offer a 3 dimensional appearance and robust color. These patches are growing in popularity and add yet another way to stand out. I’ve seen a few clothing brands and farm and ranch stores branch out with this method. Customize gifts at Christmas like bags, hats, and coats with your logo to make company merch gifts for employees!

10.   Distressed Fabric Patch Hats

Do you want a casual, relaxed look for your brand? Why not try a ragged fabric patch hat? It’s made in a similar way to the applique patch hats except we use a woven piece of fabric like canvas behind the embroidered design. We trim the fabric and rough it up at the end to reveal the vintage worn look instead of finishing with a clean satin edge stitch.

Now that you know a little more about the different decoration methods for custom logo hats, you can easily convey to your embroiderer what you want and get the ball rolling for a quote. What method do you like best? We’d love to hear what you think! Contact Your Hats MT and get a quote today for your own custom headgear.


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