help, buying caps for the first time!!!

[Di]

I just received my Amaya XT in Dec '07 and went to Denver for training a couple of weeks ago. I am new to the commercial side of embroidery. My dad owns his own business and wants 100 hats from me. When I went for training I practiced on the Otto 18-098 Garment Washed Cotton Twill Low Profile Unstructured Metal Buckle Cap. I showed him that cap and that's the style he wants. But then I found two caps from Nissun Cap that I think are very similar: style ACWC (but I'm not sure the back fabric stap hides inside the sweatband) and the CHINO (which I think may be a closer match). The ones from Nissun Cap are less expensive so I'd rather order from them.

So here's my questions; Does anyone know if the Nissun caps are good quality and if they are a easy to deal with? Also can someone tell me if either of the Nissun styles compare to the Otto 18-098 style? OR do you recommend a different Company and Style that matches the Otto or should I stick with the Otto?

I know I sound like a nut, but I've never ordered caps before.

Thanks
Di

[Aaron]

I'm going to give you my opinion on caps and some will agree and some may disagree. We sew over 2500 caps per month here and have lots of practice and have tried about every brand you can think of. The cheap hats are exactly that, cheap. You get more thread breaks, the hats are not put together as well so you get more crooked ones. Otto is actually a very good cap for the price. Nissan is cheap and I don't highly recommend them. You can get lots of Otto styles for under $2 or right around $2 and they are way nicer than getting one from Nissan for $1.25 or so. My main hat supplier is Pacific Headwear. Most of the caps I sell from them are around $2.75 - $3.50 my cost and my custoemr love them. If they want cheap I tell them to go buy some overseas and get cheap hats for a cheap price. Pacific has really nice flexfits and you will find any quality flexfit is gonna run you $4.50-5.50. You can get the cheaper ones from otto and they are ok but they don't stretch like they are supposed to so the fit is not as nice and to me not worth the 1.50 less or whatever they are. Sanmar makes some styles that are pretty good but they aren't real inexpensive and I think alot of them run around the same price as Pacific Headwear. I don't recommend selling or sewing items that are too cheap or look cheap cause cheap reflects back to you when someone asks "where did you get those hats"? I have gotten numerous new customers from word of mouth by selling quality products with superb embroidery and would not change a thing.

I would like to mention I am a contract embroiderer and my contractors often order from Nissan, KC, cheap Sanmar hats, etc cause they are all about the bottom line and if they can save a few bucks and put it in their pockets they are happy but they are not the ones having to sew on these and in my opinion it makes them look bad selling cheap stuff. Its surprising what people will send over for embroidery.

I am working on a 200 piece hat order now for a car lot that wanted cheap giveaways and they brought me a 1.49 and a 1.09 hat from SANMAR as samples that they had done for their other car lot. I am doing the same ones for them cause they wanted a $6 hat but I am not thrilled with it and they are OK but not as nice as I would normally sell.

So, be careful what you sell people cause it will effect you in the future whether you realize it or not and you want to be known as the one in town doing Quality not cheap and quanity, you can leave that up to the Chinese [img]smile.gif[/img]

By the way Pacific headwear is www.pacificheadwear.com and they are located in Eugene, OR. They are great to work with and if you are in a bind you can have them sew them for you as well if you have other jobs. I let them sew alot of my Little League hats to free up time for me to do the full back jackets they order and it went real smooth last year.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Aaron Sargent
The Linen Barn
541-770-2957

[Image Embroidery]

Aaron,

I have to agree with you that the Pacific hats are wonderful quality. But they are not available to all retailers. I had a customer come to me with a Pacific cap that he had purchased elsewhere. I told him that I did not carry that brand, but would contact the company to set up an account.

I called Pacific and was told that this area was already adequately covered by another store and that my customer should go there! Well, my customer came to me for a reason, they were not happy with the other store. By the way, yes I do have a storefront in a retail location.

The customer chose to go with another hat and NOT return to the other store.

It is unfortunate that Pacific felt that way. I have since then sold this customer 240 hats from another company.

This is not the first company to not give me an account for the very same reason and I'm sure it will not be the last.

So, now I am very careful when customers bring me an item that I do not carry.

Just my 2 cents. [img]smile.gif[/img]

LuAnn

[Steve]

I agree with Aaron on the caps. I do not sell any cap to my customers that costs me less than $2 because most of those are junky caps. Material too thin, can't be hooped tight, uneven, etc.
You want a cap that people like and will buy from you again. As soon as you sell a cheap cap, it will never get worn. I have never sewn on a Pacific Headwear cap but have done a lot of Ultraclub caps and have been happy with the quality of those.

[Aaron]

LuAnn,

Pacific has actually called me a few times when retail customers in my area try to buy directly from them. They call to ask who these people are and whether or not they should sell to them direct or send them my way. I always have them send the customer to me as an Authorized Pacific Dealer for the area but I did not realize they are limiting their wholesale accounts in areas. I will have to ask them about this next time I order cause I push alot of business their way and would like to know how they limit their accounts.

[Image Embroidery]

That would be great Aaron. The last time this happened to me another member of this board helped me out and I cannot tell how much I appreciated it!

The big guy in this town wants to have it all and he has convinced at least two different companies not to give me accounts.

Thankfully not ALL companies feel that way.

LuAnn