For a cap fanatic or hoarder, there are caps for everything. Wherever you are off to, there is always at least one cap that would fit the occasion better among the rest in your collection. There is a cap for going to an indoor event, there is one for evening stroll in the park, and there is perhaps one for just hanging around the house! We totally get it. Caps are one of the most versatile and practical clothing items that you cannot help but love.
If you are getting your own customised caps printed for the team, we say go for it! After all, no one can have too many caps – unless you are a hoarder, that is, but for now let’s draw the line at 30 pieces of caps. Nevertheless, be sure to learn the process one step at a time and the dos and don’ts. That said, if you haven’t made up your mind on the design and material, don’t worry, you are already starting your process right since you are here! Without delaying it any further, here are five things to avoid when designing and printing your customised caps!
Wrong Material
As you may already know, not all materials make a good cap. For instance, polyester cap — seriously? Either to absorb heat under the sun or cool you down in hot weather, this material is notorious for doing poor job in both of those. When it comes to garment, prioritise your comfort and practicality over anything else, especially for items like caps. If you do not like the feeling of wearing them, it wouldn’t take long until they get abandoned in the corner of your wardrobe to collect dust. Get a cotton or cotton blend materials with sweat-wicking properties. Sometimes even a cotton-polyester cap can make you sweat a bucket, so be careful to choose the right material. If you are certain you will be wearing the cap during the day, perhaps getting a material with higher cotton content should be your top priority.
What to do?
Assess what are the purposes of your cap and where will it be used. Indoors? Outdoors? What is your climate or usual weather like? Does it rain a lot where you live? After that, compare it with the various options of materials you have. If your place constantly rains, perhaps polyester material would fit. However, if your place is mainly hot and humid, you will sweat a lot outside. Hence, opting for sweat-wicking materials would be best.
Wrong printing method
Let’s go over the two most popular materials – embroidery and screen printing. Which one should you go for? Depending on your chosen fabric material, both of these can be a mistake! If you are picking a material as light like polyester, embroidery will not look the best on the cap and it may ruin the fabric, to some extent. Screen printing can work on most fabrics, but embroidery may be the more durable, long-lasting option depending on how frequent will it be exposed to the sunlight.
What to do?
Decide on your preferred material first, and only move on to the printing mode after everything is decided. If you are not familiar with the technical stuff, you can leave it to the professionals to recommend the right choices for you.
Incorrect Placement
Placing your printed design poorly will compromise both the look and quality of the cap. The design may hit certain seams or stitches in which certain parts like the bill make catch a needle, which can either crash the machine, ruin the needle, damage the fabric material, or all of these. Putting all those aside, your cap can look poorly-designed as well. You may also want to stay away from an all-over design. This may not be too big of a problem if your design works, but if it doesn’t, it is going to be a mistake that can cost you a fortune. For every spot that needs to be printed with a design, a new cost would be added into the invoice.
What to do?
Try not to place the design too low or near to the bill of the hat. It is always better to consult the printing consultant in regards to this.
Unsuited Colours
Unless it is the signature of a brand or for safety purposes, it is not a common sight to find people styling neon-coloured caps – and it’s for a reason. Even if the caps are in green or yellow, they are almost always the lighter or deeper tones, and the colour is normally solid without being reflective or shiny.
What to do?
Stay away from neon unless it is the theme colour of your team or a signature. Pick a solid colour (be it light or dark) that complements all skin tones well.
Design on The Bill
While it is not completely impossible to print on the bill, there are several other things you need to take into account that will break or make your cap. For a start, look at the underside of the bill. The cardboard of the bill can get a little ‘wavy’ due to the heat pressed nto it. If you are one to regularly take off your cap and hold it in your hands, you may subconsciously curve the bill which can cause the printing to come loose. Not to mention, your cap will have to go through several extra processes in order to have a design embroidered or printed on the bill. This, as a result, can cause a higher total cost imposed on your invoice. Plus, why the bill? Unless everyone around you is much taller or much shorter than you, placing the design on the panels would be more visible and appeal to passers-by.
What to do?
Avoid designing and printing the bill, but if you must, pick one corner to place a medium or small logo-sized design. Try not to cover the whole bill with printed ink so it will not look messy.
All in all, the point is crystal clear. Just because caps are relatively an easy piece of garment to work with, it does not mean you would not make any mistakes during the cap printing process. As a matter of fact, as you can tell from this article, there are various things to take into consideration when you are printing a headwear. It is always safer to reevaluate everything before proceeding with what you originally have in mind and talk to a professional consultant about it.
