Apart from the beanie pictured here, there are a lot of trends in headwear that we are seeing return. Kids these days love the big foam front trucker caps that were so popular in the 1980’s. They’re cheap and they’re easy to decorate. And I guess the big, oversized look is considered “cool.” I remember when it was “not cool” to wear a cap that wasn’t sized to fit your head, like the kind professional ball players wear. But nowadays there are so many different kinds of caps available, it’s hard to say if anything is really in or out. Anything goes seems more like it. Anything goes certainly doesn’t make it easy for cap decorators. If you are heat printing hats you already own a cap press. If you want to get started in this lucrative arm of the custom printing business you must get one. When we introduced our cap press over 20 years ago, we knew back then that caps aren’t all the same size. That’s why we offer interchangeable platens for all our Hotronix cap presses. If you print caps, you probably know how important it is to have the right size lower platen. Whether you’re printing high profile, low crown, mid-profile, visors or low profile, you will need to have a heat platen that fits the cap. Caps can be confusing. Here is a video from the folks at Stahls’ that gives you more information.
Ted,
How do you keep the creases from happening on the cap when cap pressing?
Hi Stan,
Having the correct size lower platen that fits your cap will help a lot. Another trick is to make sure you unfold the “hem” of the cap if it has one. If you press directly on top it will cause a line through your transfer. If your cap press has a hold down device, make sure you use that as well. Basically you want to make sure your cap fits on the press as smoothly as possible. Here is a link to see what I am talking about. http://youtu.be/wH3TPKzUsvw. If you have any questions about printing on caps, please call Stahls’ and they will be happy to help you.