Most decorators skip the spec sheet. They look at the picture, check the price, and place the order. Then they wonder why the embroidery puckered, the patch sits crooked, or the customer comes back saying the hat does not look right. The spec sheet tells you everything you need to know before you touch the blank. Here is how to read it. Shape This is the crown profile. High Pro, Mid Pro, Low Pro, Relaxed, Gramps, Champ, Smart 7. If you missed last week’s post on crown shapes go back and read it first. The shape determines how the hat sits on the head and how much real estate you have to work with on the front panel. A High Pro gives you more vertical space for tall logos. A Low Pro is cleaner and more modern but tighter on height. A Relaxed crown is unstructured which means it moves with the head and can cause embroidery registration issues if you are not hooping it correctly. Bill Flat or pre-curved. This affects decoration on the brim if you are doing it and it affects the overall aesthetic of the finished product. A flat bill reads more streetwear and urban. A pre-curved bill reads more classic and lifestyle. Know your customer before you choose. Sweatband Standard or moisture wicking. This matters more for performance and uniform applications than for branded merchandise. But if a customer complains about comfort this is usually where the conversation starts. Fabric This is the most important line on the spec sheet for decorators. Cotton takes embroidery beautifully but can shrink and is harder to clean. Polyester holds color better and is more durable but can be slippery under the needle. Blends give you the best of both but require knowing which percentage dominates the hand feel. For heat transfer applications fabric content is critical. A high polyester content can cause dye migration where the ink bleeds into the fabric over time especially with dark garments. Always check fabric content before recommending heat transfer on a headwear blank. Fit and Closure

Walk into a Target, a gas station, a tourist trap gift shop, or a college bookstore. Pick up any hat with a logo on it that costs under $20. Flip it over and look at the label. Yupoong. The 6606 is an animal. Six panel, mid-profile, structured front, Permacurv visor, snapback closure. It sits in the same category conversation as the Richardson 112 without the Richardson price tag. For a decorator or a hat brand builder on a tighter margin, that matters. The fabric breakdown tells you exactly who this hat is built for. The standard colorways run 74/26 polyester/cotton. Camo goes 85/15. Multicam brings in a spandex component at 60/39/1 for stretch and recovery. Kryptek and Veil go full polyester. The mesh back keeps airflow moving. Every configuration is purpose-built for a specific end user and most of them are wearing it outdoors doing something physical. For embroidery the structured front panel performs well on flat work. The mid-profile gives you a proper embroidery field without the crown collapsing in the hoop. Puff is viable here in a way it is not on the unstructured 6606. The undervisor details are worth knowing before a customer asks. Camo and Multicam run black underneath. Heather colorways go grey. Kryptek and Veil get silver with the YP four-bar logo on the wearer’s right side. The 6606 Structured and the Richardson 112 are not identical but they are having the same conversation with different audiences. The 112 is the decorator’s blank, the brand builder’s canvas, the hat that signals craft. The 6606 Structured is the performance and outdoor market’s answer to the same shape, built for buyers who want structure and durability without paying for the Richardson name. Knowing the difference between the two is not trivia. It is how you match the right blank to the right project without guessing. What blanks are you currently working with or building on? Drop them below.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

If you have spent any time around a screen printing shop or an embroidery operation, you have seen this hat. Structured front panel, snapback closure, mesh back, and available in over 60 colorways. The Richardson 112 is not the flashiest blank in the catalog but it is the one professional decorators reach for first and there are good reasons for that. The structured front panel is the key. Because it is reinforced with buckram, the front face of the hat holds its shape during embroidery. The machine has a flat, stable surface to work on which means cleaner stitching, less puckering, and a finished product that looks intentional rather than amateurish. Unstructured hats can shift during hooping and the results show. The colorway library is the other reason. When a brand wants to run the same embroidered logo across five different hat colors, the 112 almost always has every color they need in stock at the distributor level. S&S and SanMar both carry deep inventory on the most popular colorways which means fast turnaround and no waiting on special orders. For anyone building a hat brand, whether you are decorating in house, working with a print shop, or using Printful for print on demand, the 112 is your starting point. Learn it, understand it, and your first conversation with any decorator will go significantly better. What blank are you currently working with or considering for your first run? Drop it in the comments.