What To Look For
Jay-Z made a Yankee hat "more famous than a Yankee can" and you can too. In the summer of 2010, Jay-Z designed a special hat to be sold at Yankee Stadium. You too can put any design on a baseball hat, but if you want to look good, make sure you look for well-manufactured hats as your canvas. Jay-Z chose to work in partnership with Majestic and New Era 59/50. Other good manufacturers for customized hats include Sportsman and Under Armor. Look for well-fitting hats, made from wool, cotton or polyester. Each material provides comfort but all have drawbacks.
Common Pitfalls
According to a brief survey of chat rooms, custom wool caps look better because they have a taller appearance on the head, but shrink when you wash them and are not as comfortable to wear. Polyester hats don't look as good, but feel better and will not shrink. In general, wool fabrics keep you warmer where as polyester fabrics resist sweat and odors. Don't make the mistake of picking out a cap that won't meet your needs. Choose wool caps for fashion designs; choose polyester when playing baseball and choose cotton when looking for a baseball cap just to keep the sun out of your eyes.
Where To Buy
Lids.com is the most versatile venue with a wide selection of hats on which you can add text, graphics and designs. You can upload your own artwork designs in .GIF or .JPEG format or send hard copies that they will digitize for you. Lids also has stores in many malls across the nation. Hatland.com has the widest selection of New Era 59fifty fitted hats including blank hat that could be taken elsewhere to be designed. Amazon sells custom baseball hats, but selections are limited. For team baseball hats, your best bet is to go to a local venue that specializes in providing unique, but local, logos for sporting goods.
Cost
In 2010, most custom baseball hats are priced around $27. Custom designs are more expensive depending on your design choices. Text-only designs can add $7 on to the base price where as provided graphic design choices can add $9. Lids.com offers text and graphic design add-ons for $11, but to add your own graphic you must provide a $50 nonrefundable one-time set-up fee that is waived when purchasing more than 36 hats. Most websites require a minimum purchase of six hats for custom designs. Local sporting good stores and national franchises will require minimum unit purchases also.
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