Wholesale beanies: buyer's guide

Buying beanies in bulk to embroider or patch? Length, cuff and pom-pom shape the order, and they decide where the logo goes.

Beanie orders come from all kinds of jobs: a school's winter spirit run, a crew's cold-weather uniform, a brewery's merch table, a ski club. Every style in this guide is one size and knit mostly from acrylic, so fiber doesn't split them much. Shape does. You're choosing between a short 8-inch beanie and a 12-inch one that folds into a cuff, a plain crown or a pom-pom, solid colors or stripes. Each of those changes where your logo sits and how you put it there.

Which beanies are in this guide?

Eight styles, from short and plain to long with a pom. To see every style we carry, browse all beanies.

• Sportsman SP12 12" Solid Cuffed Beanie: 100% acrylic solids, with an adjustable cuff shown at 3 inches. It has the widest color list here, from neons to Blaze Orange, Safety Yellow and two camos.
• Sportsman SP15 12" Pom-Pom Cuffed Beanie: a 3-inch cuff, four top seams and a pom-pom. It comes in solids and two-tone pairs like Navy/Gold and Red/Black.
• Sportsman SP08 8" Beanie: a short acrylic knit with much of the SP12's color range, camo included.
• YP Classics 1500KC 8 1/2" Beanie: hypoallergenic acrylic with four top seams.
• YP Classics 1501KC Cuffed Beanie: hypoallergenic acrylic, 12 inches long, in colors like Carolina Blue, Spruce and Safety Green.
• YP Classics 1501P Pom-Pom Cuffed Knit Beanie: a 12-inch classic fit with a pom, in Black, Dark Grey, Heather Grey and Navy.
• Sportsman SP60 12" Striped Pom-Pom Cuffed Beanie: 97% acrylic / 3% polyester, in striped sets like Navy/White/Grey/Gold.
• Sportsman SP12T 12" Color Blocked Cuffed Beanie: two-tone heather pairs such as Heather/Navy.

How long should the beanie be?

Pick the length by how the client wants it worn. A 12-inch beanie is long enough to fold up into a cuff, which puts a double band of knit across the forehead. The SP12, SP15, SP60, SP12T, 1501KC and 1501P are all 12 inches, measured uncuffed.

At the short end, the SP08 runs 8 inches and the 1500KC runs 8 1/2. That's the classic skull-cap length, worn close to the head with no fold. It's the easy pick for anyone who wears a beanie under a hood.

Cuffed or uncuffed?

Decide this before the art, because the cuff is your logo space. On a cuffed beanie the logo goes front and center on the cuff. Many embroiderers fold the cuff down and stitch through one layer. Once it's turned back up, the back of the stitching hides inside the fold.

The cuff height also caps your design height. The SP12's adjustable cuff is shown at 3 inches, and the SP15's cuff is 3 inches. Keep the logo well under that so it doesn't wrap over the fold line.

On a short or uncuffed beanie, the logo goes on the body of the knit, just above the band. Nothing covers the back of the stitches there, so they face the wearer's forehead. Shops often finish that side with a soft cover backing.

How do you put a logo on a beanie?

Use embroidery or a patch. Those are the two methods the trade relies on for knit caps. Screen print and DTG are rarely used on beanies, because the knit stretches and its surface is too uneven for ink to lay flat.

For embroidery, plan around the knit. A beanie stretches in the hoop, and its loops can swallow thin stitches. Most embroiderers back it with cutaway or tearaway stabilizer and lay a water-soluble topping on the face. The topping keeps stitches sitting on the knit instead of sinking into it. Bold letters and simple marks hold up better than fine detail or small text.

That's why the 1501P is our pick for a dense stitched logo. Its manufacturer describes the knit as super dense, made for easy embroidery. For more on how caps take thread, see best hats and caps for embroidery.

Patches skip most of the hooping work. A woven, embroidered or leather patch is made flat ahead of time, then sewn on or heat-applied if its backing allows. Leather patches on a cuff are a common retail look. On a knit that gets pulled on and off all winter, a sewn edge is the sturdier choice.

What are these beanies made of?

Mostly acrylic, with a few blends by color. The Sportsman SP12, SP15 and SP08 solids are 100% acrylic. Their heathers mix in polyester, half and half on most. The SP12 and SP08 camos are 95% acrylic and 5% elastane. The SP12T's heather pairs run 80/20 or 82/18 acrylic to polyester.

If a client needs one fiber across the whole order, stick to the Sportsman solids or any YP Classics style. All three YP Classics styles are 100% acrylic, which the manufacturer describes as hypoallergenic.

What about pom-poms, stripes and color blocks?

These are the spirit-wear and retail looks. The SP15's two-tone colors, like Royal/Red and Forest/Gold, read as school colors before you add a stitch. The SP60 brings multi-color stripes and a pom, and the SP12T does two-tone without one.

A pom sits at the crown, well above the cuff. So it doesn't change how you place a front logo, and you can run the same art on a plain and a pom version.

There's no size run to plan, either. Every beanie here is one size, so you order by head count.

Which beanie fits which job?

• School spirit run → Sportsman SP15 in a two-tone pair
• Safety-color crew gear → Sportsman SP12 or SP08 in Blaze Orange or Safety Yellow
• Hunting or outdoor brand → SP12 or SP08 in Green Camo or Grey Camo
• Retail drop with a leather patch → YP Classics 1501KC
• Dense stitched logo → YP Classics 1501P
• Short beanie under a hood → YP Classics 1500KC or Sportsman SP08
• Retro striped look → Sportsman SP60
• Two-tone, no pom → Sportsman SP12T

Which one would we start with?

The Sportsman SP12. It's a popular style with the widest color list of the eight, from team solids to safety colors and camo. The 12-inch length folds into a cuff shown at 3 inches, which gives you a clean front panel for a stitched logo or a sewn patch. The SP15 adds a pom-pom and the SP12T adds color blocking on a 12-inch cuffed body, so a client can mix looks within one order.

If the order also needs caps, the headwear buyer's guide covers trucker, dad and performance styles.