How to Customize Hats with Your Company Logo or Custom Design

When setting out to make your own custom hats, there's more to consider than just how to customize a hat with your logo. First, you have to determine what type of hat and decoration method you want to use. For the vast majority of caps, this will be embroidery. Once you've got that figured out, you can follow the steps below.

1. Create your design – digitally mock up your logo or design for your custom embroidery. When you are planning your design, make sure to consider how many needles your embroidery machine can accommodate and how many thread colors you want to budget for.
2. Save your design or logo – save your file in a format your embroidery machine can read within your embroidery software. This is typically a ‘DSB’ or DST’ file.
3. Transfer file to the embroidery machine – this can be done easily using a USB cable, flash card or directly from the computer running the software.
4. Teach the embroidery machine about the design elements – the proper needles, threads, and orientation to use must be selected within the embroidery software. Typically, each of the needles is numbered and threaded with a different color thread. Only one needle with one color will embroider at a time, so an embroidery sequence must be scheduled.
5. Line up your hats for embroidery – the fabric of the hat is stretched across embroidery frames or loops and slotted into the arms of the embroidery machine. The fabric should be tightly stretched over these frames and secured to the machine.
6. Begin the stitching – once your hats are set and your machine is programmed start the machine and let it run until your embroidery design is completed.

Congratulations, you've taken the first step towards customizing your first hats! For even more information on how commercial embroidery works, check out our Guide to Custom Embroidery. Otherwise, you can head over to our Custom Headwear Buyers Guide and pick out a cap for us to embroider for you!