So, you’ve decided that you want to step into the clothing apparel business. For many business owners, this can be a foreign and confusing process on paper or in theory. However, when you break it down step by step, launching your own line of branded merchandise is easy and accessible for almost anyone to try. Keep reading to get the step-by-step approach on how to start your own line of branded hats and other merchandise. Whether you want to start a branded clothing line from scratch or want to add to your current business, these tips can help you.

Create Your Designs

The first step on the branded hat apparel journey is to consider your design ideas. You might already have an idea in mind, which is why you decided to pursue hat and apparel merchandising. But if not, no worries. There's still plenty of time for you to go back to the drawing board for inspiration. Consider how you’ll want to design your apparel’s colors, logos, slogans, and more. Hats are a unique piece of apparel because they have so many design options. You could paste your logo on the bill of the hat, the front, the back, or on the sides. Get creative with your design process until you settle on several designs you love.

Once you have an apparel design that you’re happy with, expand that creative thinking to some of the steps down the road. Eventually, you’ll need a website or retail store to sell your hats. Start perusing websites or local stores that spark your inspiration, which you can use to gain design ideas for your own store or website.

Find the Perfect Canvas

Even if you have a design in mind, you need somewhere to put it. Find the perfect canvas—or product in this case—to host and display your design. Find a hat retailer or wholesaler that offers a wide range of hats in different styles and colors, like our shop here at KBETHOS. If you already have colors in mind to match your designs, stock up on these. If not, consider starting with a variety of colors. After a brief period in business, select your future batches based on which colors were most popular with your customers.

Along with colors, there are also a variety of different hat styles to choose from. You can find everything, from classic hats to dad hats to flat brim hats, and more on the market. With all these options, how do you decide which to choose for your brand? First, consider your target audience. What style of hat best appeals to them? Next, consider your design ideas. Certain hats may reflect your design ideas better than others. For example, curved and flat-brim hats will display logos differently from one another.

Once you’ve decided on both color and style, decide how you want to receive your blank hats. If you plan to sell a lot of hats or choose a particularly trendy style, you may want to order them in bulk through a wholesaler. This will help you save money on your order and ensure you have enough inventory to meet demand.

Choose a Customization Company

You’ve almost got your finished product in-hand! The last step of the hat-making process is to choose a customization company to style your blank hats for you. Most apparel businesses starting out won’t have the knowledge or capabilities to customize their own hats, which is where customization services come in. For example, you could choose a custom embroidery company to print your logo, slogan, or other design on your hat for you. Another popular hat and apparel design option is screen-printing. Both embroidery and screen-printing have their benefits, so the final choice comes down to pricing and aesthetics on your end.

Set Up Your Store

If this is your first time selling products, you’ll need a place to offer them. You could choose to open a retail location or a website for your products. For most intro-level business owners, starting out with a website is the best way to go. Since you’re starting with hats, you might not have enough stock to fill out an entire shop to begin with. Regardless of your choice, make sure you secure the proper business license and get everything squared away regarding business taxes. If you need assistance, hiring an accountant is a great way to get all your business licenses and expenses squared away.

On the other hand, if you’re adding branded merchandise to an existing store, choose how you want to incorporate it into your existing product line. If you have an online store as well, consider creating a section exclusively dedicated to your branded merchandise. This will help keep the attention on the hats themselves instead of the existing products surrounding them. Creating a merchandise collection page will also give you the perfect place to link to when marketing your new additions to the store.

Market Your Apparel Line

The final step to launching your own line of branded hats is to market your new products. There are many ways to accomplish your marketing goals. Many new or established businesses take to social media marketing to announce new products; you can take this route with your new line of branded hats. If you already have an established business and are adding to your line of products, consider sending out a new product newsletter to your customers through mail or email list. This will help alert them to the new products. Many of your loyal customers will be excited to order your branded merchandise and show support for a business they shop with often.

This has been a basic walkthrough on how to start your own line of branded hats. Hats make a great apparel option to start with or to expand your current line of products. If you’re considering starting your own apparel line, you can find a wide variety of hats to get you started here at KBETHOS. We carry everything from wholesale blank dad hats to trendy bucket hats. Check out our selection of wholesale hats that can easily help you get started on your own branded merchandise line.