The classic sports cap dates back to the late 80’s with Ralph Lauren being the brand often held responsible for originating the trend. It spread into urban sub-cultures in the 90’s when it was adopted by the hip-hop community and has remained there ever since. A recent resurgence in streetwear trends from that era has seen a rise in its popularity once more.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been working with Space Age Wear on the re-launch of their embroidered cap collection. They’ve really made the most of the process and have managed to incorporate all the main embroidery styles into the range. If you’re still looking for inspiration these guys are an example of how to jump on the cap embroidery trend.

Standard Flat Embroidery

Caps are perfect for embroidery because they’re made from a high thread count fabric which means they can hold a large volume of stitches, in other words more detail. Flat embroidery is probably the most common style. Artwork is digitised (converted into a file made of stitches instead of pixels) before being sent through to the embroidery machine ready for sewing.

Multi Colour Embroidery

Exactly like the above except a spool of thread is allocated for each colour. We suggest providing a pantone when supplying artwork so that a close thread colour match can be achieved.

3D Embroidery

3D embroidery, sometimes referred to as 3D foam or 3D puff is a technique which allows the design to be raised from the surface by inserting a foam under the top stitch. This particular process is best suited to designs which consist of fonts or more basic shapes.

Embroidered and Woven Patches

There are two main types of patches: woven and embroidered. The former are usually cheaper and flatter but yield higher definition results therefore perfect if your artwork is very detailed. Their embroidered counterpart (pictured) has more of a 3D lift so if you’re liking for a final result somewhere between standard and 3D embroidery this is the way to go. 

You can shop the Space Age Wear cap collection by visiting www.spaceagewear.com. For more information about cap embroidery or to place an order email sales@3rdrailclothing.co.uk.