The basics of beanies

When it comes to the colder months, there’s nothing better to have on your head than a beanie. Simple, snug and warm, it’s the perfect merch item for the winter. If you run a brand associated with the outdoors, then it’s a natural choice. In other cases, you might simply want to offer merch for your clients for the colder part of the year, which – if you’re based in London or elsewhere in the UK – can often make up a sizeable portion of the time.

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.

For those who are interested in making custom beanies, but don’t have experience in merch or personalised hats, we’ve spelled out the key steps in creating your own distinctive iteration of the classic garment.

Four tips for creating custom beanies

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).

(For more information on screen printing and DTG, head here; for more on embroidery, head here.)

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. 

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. 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.)

Want to create your own custom embroidered jackets? ICON Printing offer fast turnaround printing and embroidery on a range of garments, counting a number of clients ranging from such as WeWork to Boiler Room and the Tate. Get a quote in 2 minutes online.