Creating The Perfect Headwear

You know what’s beautiful? A crisp, concise bold message on a cap, the accessory that pulls your entire look together. Everyone wants his or her own unique hat, Whether it is a Personal design or a business logo,  In today’s society, it is important that we stand out instead of blending in. When you want to add a design to a specific hat( or customize a hat ), there are four primary methods to choose from. Screen printing, patches, heat press, and embroidery,  are all excellent methods and offer their own advantages and disadvantages. When considering your options from Buckwholesale,  you should understand the differences between the options. In this blog, we help you better understand the process and how it works.

Screen Printing

Generally it is easy to screen-print on 5 panel caps without the seam down the front. The more detailed the design is, the more difficult it will be to print over the front seam. 

This method is the most widely used method of hat printing. In the simplest terms possible, an ink-blocking stencil (the design) is applied to a woven mesh. The stencil forms an open area through which ink or other substances can be transferred and pressed onto the hat.

Pros:

• Perfect for larger designs that we recommend consisting of one to two colors.
• Ideal for printing onto cotton,poly cotton , and foam headwear items
• The ink is heat dried, therefore the garments can withstand the roughness of machine washing.
• Same or similar life expectancy as vinyl heat press.

Cons:

• Each color is applied separately, making the cost higher per additional color
• Separate screens are required for each individual design. So, for each additional color, a new screen will need to be used.
• Not the best option if your design consists of several colors.
• Coated fabrics cannot be screen printed.
• Longer turn around time if many colors are used

Heat Press

A heat press is a machine that presses a design onto a material. The machine uses high temperatures and heavy pressure to embed the design onto the material permanently. This method is great for single to two color designs as well. Heat press machines typically require 350 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In terms of pressure, they typically demand forces of 40 to 80 psi.This ensures that your graphic should stay on the headwear for a long time.

Pros:

• Generally one of the faster headwear printing processes.
• Photographic material can be pressed.
• We use only high quality transfer paper allowing an excellent quality graphic on the headwear.

• Same or similar life expectancy as screen printing

Cons:

• Depending on amount of colors, you may experience larger  set-up costs..

Both methods, when carried out properly by buckwholesale, make for headwear  of great quality and appearance. It is suggested that you seek professional help when taking on a printing project. Professionals have the proper equipment and expertise to get it right the first time.

Embroidery

When it is about customizing headwear embroidery is one of the most common options. While embroidering a head garment, thread and needle are used to create the logo design. It creates a 3D look on the material and is often thought to be quite professional and classy. It’s best to avoid small, detailed designs, as those are difficult to embroider. For flat embroidery, the minimum thickness for shapes is 0.05″ and the max is 0.5″. For 3D puff, the minimum thickness is 0.2″ and the maximum is 0.5″. There should also be a space of at least 0.5″ between multiple 3D objects.

The main point? Use minimalist, bold designs with thick lines.

Embroidery Clothing Pros & Cons

A guide to the pros and cons of embroidery.

Embroidery is just one of a number of options for decorating most fabrics when it comes to headwear. In this brief guide we will attempt to look at the pros and cons for choosing embroidery over alternative garment decoration techniques.

What is embroidery?

Embroidery is the decoration of fabrics by process of needle and thread.

So what are the plus points to embroidery?

The thread itself - Because the design uses a thread to draw the detail, it will withstand the harsh conditions of daily wear and constant washing. We often say that an embroidered logo will outlast the garment itself. So you can see embroidery is a very durable way of decorating clothing.

Sustained colour quality - The durability of the thread means that the colour sharpness will also be maintained through the lifetime of the garment wear.

Appearance of quality - Whilst other garment decoration techniques have their merits in terms of the quality of the finished product, in our opinion nothing quite looks as smart and professional as embroidery when done correctly by Buckwholesale.

Numbers of colours within the design - Other decoration techniques are costly when there are a number of different colours within the logo or design. This is not the case with embroidery where colour numbers have no effect on cost, either in terms of set up or individual garment cost.

Suited to certain materials - Heavy materials such as fleece or heavy cotton is specifically suited to embroidery and often not an option for other forms of garment personalization such as screenprint.

So we now know the pluses to using embroidery but what is the downside to this method of headwear decoration?

Design size - Embroidery pricing is based on the number of stitches within the design. Therefore the bigger the logo the more expensive it is. As an example if you want your design across the full front or back of a hat, embroidery is quite often not the most cost effective way of doing this.

Overall cost - Embroidery can be more expensive than alternative personalization methods. As discussed the cost can be dependent on logo size and the quantity of headwear pieces, but generally speaking the quality of the finished embroidered product is reflected in the price.

Visual effects and shading - Embroidery is a rigid decoration technique in that the needle and thread can only produce a certain amount of design detail. Machine embroidery techniques have advanced and you would be amazed at what can be achieved but printing can often show color fading and shade which embroidery is not able to do.

Small detail - Small detail, especially small text is often not easily recognized when embroidered. In order for text to be clear it really needs to be block stitched which then increases the overall size of the text.

PATCHES

We have many options for the types of patches we can use, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Whether attempting a vintage look or pushing the boundaries with an updated take on the theme, the decoration method we choose greatly affects the impression of the finished piece. With that in mind, here are the pros and cons of common hat patch styles. 

Embroidery

With the classic style that customers expect, the embroidered emblem harkens back to those giveaway caps of yesteryear. 

Pros: The vintage look is a natural fit and the dimension and shine of embroidery creates welcome visual interest, even with single-color designs. 

Cons: Like all embroidery, smooth gradients, fine details, and small text can cause problems. Digitizing fees may apply for this method.

Remember, if sending us a file for embroidery or patch Unless you are a photoshop guru, you may not want to attempt to digitize a file. If not done properly, you may run into a logo with an unpolished look. The embroidery machine will follow the exact path you create, even if its an error.

 Before the embroidery process can begin, we need to convert your file into a format that our embroidery machines can read. This process is called digitization.

In closing, Contact us today at Www.buckwholesale.com to discuss how we can help build your idea or brand using one of our headwear personalization services. Remember, your head is your most mobile billboard, use it wisely.