How To Leverage Custom Caps To Boost Your Fundraising

Hats are at the top along with tees when it comes to being effective promotional tools. They consistently rank at the top and promise stellar results in well-executed campaigns. The fundraising returns they can potentially deliver are exceptional when considering the cost of wholesale caps, which go between $5 and $8 per piece after decorations. Custom hats can then be sold at high margins, with a retail potential that goes well above $60 apiece. 

Tapping this potential is the challenging bit.

Not a lot of fundraising organizers are aware of the reasons why blank hats are consistently effective.

For any fundraising campaign to succeed, two things must happen: engagement and impact. The campaign should be engaging enough and must have a positive impact on the audience. Custom caps can deliver both in one go. They are preferred accessories; the designs on them can start conversations and endorse brands, and their value as an accessory helps build communities. While the team handles the pitch, the caps continue to work in the background even after the sale.

Caps always elevate fundraisers in terms of profit. A batch of 100 custom caps might cost $700-800 wholesale. Sell them at $20 each, and you're looking at $2000 in revenue and $1200 in profit. But $20 for custom caps isn’t even the average retail price. Caps can easily sell between $30 and $40. The revenue is huge, and the profit is sizable from a single batch. 

Embroidered designs remain popular. We get orders for thousands of embroidered caps every quarter, with some of them being the most stellar designs designed from scratch by our incredible customers themselves. These caps go at a higher price due to embroidery being more durable, precision-oriented, and impactful. Modern machines can create eye-catching results that can well be charged premium prices at fundraising campaigns. Digital printing is advanced enough to decorate caps with photorealistic images and complex graphics that were impossible a few years ago. Turnaround times generally have gone down for patches, meaning you can get custom-patched hats faster and better now.

To add value to the merchandise and maximize impact, we recommend wholesale purchase and mixing at least two decoration methods. 

Here are a few pointers.

You are probably aware that different audiences gravitate toward different styles.

Parents find traditional cotton baseball caps more appealing for their classic look and everyday wearability. Students and the general younger demographic seem to love flat-bill snapback hats. Sports enthusiasts value structured caps made of performance fabrics. Community supporters prefer subtle, sophisticated designs that work anywhere.

You can improve the chance of success by synchronizing cap sales with natural opportunities. Leverage special occasions like the back-to-school season, homecoming games, community festivals, local events, and the holiday season to get the most out of engaged audiences. 

The execution part is where being a little strategic can yield better results. You might have seen small retailers offering combo packages with complementary items—"Buy “This, Get That” kind of stuff. This can be applied to fundraising to add extra value to their fundraising merch. You can also reserve some space on the hats’ canvas, ideally at the back, for showcasing your sponsors. It’s just a little space, we know. But it’s better than nothing at all. Showcasing reputed sponsors also gains more credibility and support for your fundraiser. However, with closures at the back, the space for a logo will be limited again. If this is a priority requirement, we recommend going for wholesale fitted caps. These caps, like the OTTO FLEX 11-1167 Baseball Cap, do not come with closures and will flexibly fit on any head size, delivering superb comfort. 

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