If you want to learn how to start a hat business, you have come to the right place. One of the people’s favorite accessories has always been hats. For some, the craze is so intense that they prefer to amass a collection of it. This craze and love of hats create a unique business opportunity to develop exclusive designs and entire segments of hats. Furthermore, this love for hats gives confidence to many entrepreneurs in starting their own hats business or introducing a brand new collection of hats into their existing accessory business. This step-by-step guide will help you to learn more about starting a hat business and see whether it’s the right step for you to take as an entrepreneur.
1. Familarize yourself with the Hat Industry
To run a successful online hat business, you must first learn everything there is to know about the hat market. This will not only make starting a hat business easier, but it will also assist you in scaling the business. The best aspect about starting a hat company is how low it costs to get started. Keep in mind that the hat market is constantly evolving, so you should stay updated with current trends.
How much does it cost to start a hat business?
You could start a hat business from home at a basic level for around $500 to $800. An extra $300 could get you off to a great start. That being said, if you want to operate your hat business on a bigger scale by buying in bulk through wholesalers, it could cost you anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 depending on the size of inventory and marketing strategies implemented.
Bear in mind, the basic level hat business startup cost of $500 to $800 includes the inventory($200-$500) and marketing costs($300). If you want to go really cheap, you can cut the inventory cost and opt for a dropshipping business model. If you don’t mind a little hard work, the hat business is one of the best businesses to start and grow.
Is hat business profitable?
If you know how to promote your hats effectively, the hat industry can be quite profitable. High-quality and customized hats can retail for as much as $35-$45, with a cost per piece of roughly $5-$10 if purchased from a wholesaler. This equates to a profit of about $35 for every hat sold. Even if only 100 hats are sold, you will make a profit of roughly $3500.
Is hat business worth it?
Starting a hat business is certainly worth it. Since it requires little to no funding and no prior business expertise, the hat business is worth a shot. There’s also a huge profit margin, and the hoodie business model is quite scalable. A hoodie business has a lot of potentials and is simple to start and grow. It’s a great business for teenagers to start because of the low entry hurdle.
2. Plan your Hat Business
The ability to plan forward is vital to the success of any business venture. When it comes to starting a hat business, the same is true. Let’s go over some of the actions you’ll need to follow as you prepare to launch your hat business.
Choose a name for your hat business
You must choose a name that expresses your company’s principles and beliefs, whether you want to start a hat business or a sunglass business.
Remember that the state naming rules in the states where you wish to conduct your business must be followed; otherwise, the state may refuse to accept the documents you filed to form or qualify the hat business. While you may not need to register your hat business while starting out, following your state’s name criteria will help you avoid problems in the future if your hat business takes off and you want to scale it quickly by registering and trademarking it.
Shopify’s Business Name Generator is a free online tool that helps to brainstorm brandable names for your hat business.
After you decide the name of your hat business, the next step is to perform these final checks.
- First, check your State’s business name database to see if your desired name for hat business is available.
- Second, do a domain name search to check if the name of your hat business is available as yourbusinessname.com. If it is available go ahead and register the domain before anyone else gets it. Namecheap offers domain names for as cheap as $0.88. You can use the tool below to see if the domain name is available.
Find a domain starting at $0.88
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- And lastly, do a federal search on the US Trademark Electronic Search System and make sure nobody has already trademarked the name of your hat business.
Choose a business model
In order to start a successful hat business, you will need a solid business model, at a minimum. Don’t just get into the hat business because it sounds fancy and businesses are making millions in this sector.
Ask yourself – what will be the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your hats? What are the creative ways, you’ll lure customers to your business? What is your strategy to retain your existing customers?
Hundreds of hat companies may be found in every corner of the internet, and hundreds more are opening every month. Unfortunately, around 95 out of 100 new hat businesses fail tragically. I’m not attempting to scare you; instead, I’m simply stating facts. As a result, if you don’t want your hat business to fail, make sure you have a good business model in place.
Also, keep in mind that you should expect to put in at least 60-100 hours each week on your new hat business, especially in the beginning when you’ll be learning a lot of new things and will likely be on your own.
Write a business plan
If you want to start a successful hat business, you will need a compelling business plan. A well-written business plan should explain the company’s core objectives and how it plans to achieve them. One of the other purposes of a business plan is that it makes your hat business look professional and appealing to prospective lenders in the near future.
All in all, a well-written actionable business plan is a crucial document for your hat business. Without it, you’d be running around like a headless chicken.
A compelling business plan for a hat business can have many sections, some of the must-includes are:
- Executive Summary
- Business Description
- Market Analysis
- Competitor Analysis
- Services to Offer
- Competitive Pricing Strategy
- Marketing Strategy
- Fundings
- Financial Projections
You can use business plan software like BizPlan and Enloop to compose a professional-looking business plan. However, don’t get lazy and pay someone 10 bucks to write a business plan for your hat business. You will need professional high-quality work and it should come from within you.
3. Sourcing the Hats for your Business
Before starting a hat business, you must identify your suppliers. However, the problem with these suppliers is that they will have MOQs(Minimum Order Quantity) in place. And if you are starting with a small budget, maybe you don’t want to invest in the inventory at all. In that case, you can follow the dropshipping business model. If you think dropshipping is the way to go, you can source all your products from AliExpress.
If you don’t think the dropshipping model will work for you, don’t worry – I have listed some of the domestic and global manufacturers, suppliers, and wholesalers of hat products.
Domestic hats manufacturers and suppliers
Some of the domestic hats manufacturers and suppliers are listed below:
- Cap Wholesalers (USA)
- The Park Wholesale (USA)
- Union Wear (USA)
- Maz Accessories (UK)
- Hats and Caps (UK)
- Avenel Hats (Australia)
Global hats manufacturers and suppliers
Some of the global hats manufacturers and suppliers are listed below:
Customizing the hats
Keep in mind, when buying in bulk from platforms like Alibaba, if you meet a certain MOQ, they will do a custom logo on your hats. However, if you want to buy just 50 hats through them, that is not possible. You will need to customize it yourself with either branded packaging or logo printing on your hats. Fortunately, there are companies who let you buy even just a single hat and customize it with your logo.
4. Set up an Online Store with Shopify
The next step is to make the name of your hat business public on the internet for all to see. Websites are an important part of the hat business You must have a good online store if you want to hats online.
Utilize the internet’s capabilities to the fullest. Personalize your website and make sure it is consistent with your brand. To make a strong first impression on your visitors, include photographs of your hat lineups as well as customer testimonials. Don’t forget to include your mission and vision statements on your website, as well as an explanation of why customers should buy your hats.
It has never been easier to set up an online store. Thanks to Shopify, paying a web developer thousands of dollars for a simple online store is a thing of the past. You can now launch a new online store for your hat business with Shopify for as little as $29. The cherry on top is that Shopify provides a 14-day free trial (no credit card required). This gives you plenty of time to set up an online store, add products, and configure payment methods for your hat business. When your online store is complete, you can easily connect it to your Namecheap domain. Simply navigate to the Domains section of Shopify’s Dashboard and follow the basic instructions.
If you want someone else to handle the technical aspects of your hat business while you focus on getting more customers, we can help. Our $199 digital package includes a professionally designed online store, custom email, 24/7 support and maintenance, SEO, and digital marketing services. You don’t want to miss out on this chance. Please contact us as soon as possible before the offer is no longer available.
5. Promoting the Hat Business
Promoting your hat business may appear simple, but believe me, it is not. In the digital space, you will be competing with thousands of other hat businesses. You will not succeed unless you have a cutting-edge marketing strategy. I’m not trying to scare you; I’m simply stating the facts.
Word of mouth marketing is the most effective form of marketing for your hat business. However, for the words to spread, you will need the first few customers. And your friends and family are the ideal first few customers. When your hat prototype is finished, make sure to give it to your friends and family to try on. Don’t give your product away for free; instead, charge them the basic cost price. Don’t worry about the profit for the time being; trust me, it will come. You just need to make sure you don’t lose money when you’re first starting out. When your friends and family receive their hats, ask for feedback and make a list of what they liked and disliked about your product. If they liked your hat, ask them to tell their friends and family about your hats. You can also ask them to share your social media pages with their friends.
But, let’s be honest, you’ll need a lot more than your friends and family to buy you hats. To promote your hats across the country or around the world, you must use digital marketing. Please contact us if you require assistance with running digital ads for your hat business. We can provide you with free marketing advice and materials to assist you in marketing your hat business.
Finally, get involved in your local chamber of commerce and small business groups to learn about the marketing strategies used by other companies to sell their products online.
