13 Types of Caps and Hats You Can Personalise

A branded cap gets worn in public, outdoors, at eye level. Very little else in a merchandise range delivers that much visibility for the price paid. The one slight negative is that headwear is more technical to decorate than a flat garment, so the style you pick affects what you can put on it.

In this guide

• Structured Cap Styles
• Dad Caps, Bucket Hats and Sun Hats
• Beanies and Winter Hats
• Running Caps and Visors
• Which Cap or Hat Style Suits Your Brand?
• How Caps and Hats Are Branded
• Minimums, Turnaround and Mixing Styles
• How to Order Custom Caps and Hats
• Custom Caps and Hats FAQs

Structured Cap Styles

1. Baseball Cap

The default headwear option. Six panels, curved peak, structured front. Takes embroidery cleanly on the front panel and suits almost any brand, and it is the style most teams choose for a uniform because it still looks professional on customer facing staff at the end of a shift.

2. Snapback

Flat peak and structured front, and it comes with an adjustable plastic strap. The flat front panel gives you the largest decoration area of any cap, which makes it the best choice for a bigger logo.

3. Trucker Cap

Foam or solid front with a mesh back. Cooler to wear and visually distinctive, which makes it a favourite for summer events. All the branding goes on the solid front panel, embroidered direct or as a woven or leather patch, since the mesh will not hold a stitch cleanly.

4. Five Panel Cap

A flatter, more contemporary silhouette than a six panel. Extremely popular with streetwear and music brands. The single front panel takes a centred logo well.

5. Fitted Cap

No adjuster, sized to the wearer's head. Cleaner looking, but you have to order a size range rather than one size fits all, which makes a team order slightly more complicated. Flexfit fitted caps such as the YP004 and YP017 come in two sizes, S/M and L/XL.

We recently embroidered this AS Colour 1106 Stock Flex Cap for Smirnoff Ice. It is a high profile six panel cap with a flat peak, made from a twill stretch blend of 97% cotton and 3% spandex with an elastic sweatband. It is available in Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large, so a team order needs a size split, but the tall, flat front panel gives a two line logo like this plenty of room.

Dad Caps, Bucket Hats and Sun Hats

6. Dad Cap

Soft, unstructured front with a curved peak. Sits lower and looks worn-in from day one. Increasingly popular for merchandise, though the soft front takes a smaller logo than a structured cap.

This one is ours: the B655 Beechfield Low Profile Vintage Cap, embroidered for Strava. It is 100% heavy washed cotton with a soft unstructured crown, a pre-curved peak and a self-fabric strap with a brass-effect buckle, so it looks broken in from the first wear. A short wordmark like Strava's is the ideal dad cap logo, stitched in white across the front where the soft panels sit flattest.

7. Bucket Hat

Very much back in fashion and a favourite for festivals and summer events. Branding usually sits on the front of the crown or on the brim.

Our Coca-Cola bucket hat is the 1117 AS Colour Bucket Hat, a one size, 100% cotton hat with a reinforced, stitched brim and side eyelets for airflow. We embroidered the Coca-Cola script and the Korean lettering beneath it on the front of the crown, which shows how much fine detail a cotton bucket hat will hold when the artwork is digitised properly.

8. Sun Hat and Wide Brim

For outdoor events, hospitality gardens and anywhere staff are exposed to the sun all day. Practical first, branded second: a small logo on the front of the crown is usually all it needs.

Beanies and Winter Hats

9. Cuffed Beanie

The classic knitted beanie with a turned up cuff. The cuff is the most common place for an embroidered logo or a small woven label, and the cuffed beanie is the most popular winter headwear we produce. Wide, short logos suit it best, because the cuff is far wider than it is tall.

10. Fisherman Beanie

Shorter, tighter fitting and sits higher on the head. A more current look than the looser fitting beanie, and becoming increasingly requested by our clients. The shallower turn up means the logo has to go smaller than on a classic cuffed beanie.

11. Bobble Hat

Seasonal, cheerful and a strong choice for Christmas gifting or winter events. The cuff is embroidered the same way as a cuffed beanie.

Running Caps and Visors

12. Running Cap

Lightweight technical fabric, often coming with reflective detail. Ideal for event merchandise for runs and rides, where a cotton cap would be too heavy and sweaty. Keep the logo compact, because a thin, unstructured front will not carry a dense stitch.

13. Visor

Open topped, regularly seen in golf and tennis. A small market, but the right call for the right event, with a short logo stitched on the front of the band.

Which Cap or Hat Style Suits Your Brand?

If you are short on time, this is how the thirteen styles usually line up against what people order them for.

• Staff uniforms and customer facing teams: a structured baseball cap, or a dad cap for a more relaxed brand.
• Streetwear, music and merch drops: a five panel, a snapback or a bucket hat.
• Summer events and festivals: a trucker for airflow, a bucket hat, or a wide brim for staff in the sun all day.
• A large or wide logo: a snapback first, then a structured baseball cap.
• Winter teams and Christmas gifts: a cuffed beanie, a fisherman beanie for a more current look, or a bobble hat.
• Runs, rides, golf and racket sports: a running cap, or a visor for golf and tennis.

For the bigger question of whether your brand belongs on a cap or a beanie in the first place, our guide to custom embroidered caps compares the two on visibility, season and audience.

How Caps and Hats Are Branded

Embroidery is the standard decoration method for caps, which is why a high percentage of the caps we produce are embroidered rather than printed. It is durable, it looks premium and it suits the curved, structured surfaces involved. Our embroidery page covers how it works, including 3D embroidery, which is particularly popular on caps because the raised stitching stands out on a structured front panel.

Keep your artwork simple. Fine detail, gradients and small text do not translate well into stitches, and a cap gives you a smaller area to work with than a chest panel. A clean logo mark almost always beats a detailed one on custom headwear. Caps are stitched on the front panel, beanies on the cuff and bucket hats on the front of the crown, and a structured cap allows for a small second mark on the side or back as a separate position.

Minimums, Turnaround and Mixing Styles

Whichever style you land on, the terms are the same. Personalised caps and beanies start at a minimum order of eight units, the standard turnaround is six to seven business days, and express delivery is available on request. You get a free visual proof within 30 minutes of the order being confirmed, so you can see the logo at the size and position it will be stitched before anything goes onto a cap.

Mixing styles in one order is fine and is what most brands end up doing, typically custom caps for the summer and beanies for the winter. If you are unsure which suits your artwork, send the logo over and we will tell you what will stitch cleanly at headwear size before you commit to a style.

How to Order Custom Caps and Hats

Four steps from first enquiry to delivered order, with one point of contact the whole way through.

Get a custom cap and hat quoteor call 0208 064 1315

Custom Caps and Hats FAQs

Which cap style is most popular for branded merchandise?

The structured six panel baseball cap, by a considerable distance. It takes embroidery cleanly on the front panel, it suits almost any brand and nobody has to think about whether it suits their style. Snapbacks come in second, usually when the logo is wide and needs the room a flat front panel gives.

Can I mix different cap styles in one order?

Yes, and most brands are doing so. A common split is caps for the summer and beanies for the winter, ordered together so the artwork is digitised once. Each style still needs to meet the minimum for its technique on its own.

Which cap style is best for a staff uniform?

A structured baseball cap for most teams, because it holds its shape all day and looks smart on customer facing staff. A dad cap suits a more relaxed brand, such as a cafe or a brewery taproom. Both are usually one size with an adjustable back, so you avoid the size split a fitted cap needs.

Which styles suit a bigger logo?

A snapback first, because the flat front panel offers you the most usable area of any cap. A structured baseball cap is next. Avoid a dad cap or an unstructured cap for a large mark, since the soft front takes a smaller logo and the fabric moves as it is worn.

Are beanies embroidered on the cuff or the crown?

The cuff, almost always. It is the flattest part of a knitted beanie and it stays visible when the hat is worn. A fisherman beanie has less cuff height to work with, so the logo goes smaller than on a classic cuffed beanie.

What is the minimum order for each cap or hat style?

Eight units per style for embroidery, whichever of the thirteen you choose. The standard turnaround is six to seven business days from artwork approval, with express delivery available on request.

Do fitted caps come in different sizes?

Yes. A fitted cap has no adjuster, so it is sold in sizes. The 1106 AS Colour Stock Flex Cap, for example, comes in Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large, so send us a size split with your order and we will embroider the same logo across every size.

Can you embroider a bucket hat?

Yes. Embroidery on the front of the crown is the most common choice, as on the 1117 AS Colour Bucket Hat we embroidered for Coca-Cola. Bucket hats start at the same eight unit minimum as our other embroidered headwear.