What are the Different Types of Hats? A Guide to Headgear for Your Brand

Hats are versatile pieces of fashion. They can be used as stylish final pieces to the perfect outfit, or they can be essential items for certain pastimes or areas of work, such as protecting against the sun or keeping your head warm against the cold.

As hats are often necessities in the world of work, pastimes, and personal style, it only follows that they can be great choices for custom branded merchandise for businesses. When considering effective planning to make your custom headgear go further, you should think about what are the different types of hats and how can you use them for your business?

Hats and Your Brand: How Headgear Can Be Effective Branded Merchandise

When it comes to branded merchandise, there are a lot of items that are generic (but no less effective), such as office supplies and stationery. To make more of an impression with your brand, however, and make it more likely that your brand name will be seen, fashion items are great options to get your company name out on the road and seen by more people — as well as making a great custom corporate gift.

Custom hats for clients, customers, or business associates are more likely to travel with them because they’re highly useful for many purposes, weather and seasons. Not only that, but hats can easily be left out and displayed even if they’re not being worn, which means there is more potential for your brand to be seen, shown off, and remembered all the time.

When thinking about branded merchandise and how you can best produce customized hats, you may be thinking about the different types of hats. There may be more to choose from than you think, and the key to successful custom headgear is offering a wide variety with a large range of purposes. This can be helpful in ensuring you’re not dealing out the same kind of headgear to every person who may not have a purpose to wear it.

Effective customized headgear for your brand should take into account the purpose, season, and individual. Therefore considering what the different types of hats are is essential for effective headgear branding.

What are the Different Types of Hats?

If you’re thinking of using headgear as branded merchandise, you don’t just want to roll out one generic hat for all clients, customers, and business associates. Headgear can be completely personalized and suited to all personalities, which means your branded merchandise will be more exciting, well-received, and creative if you are aware of the different types available.

There’s a hat for any season and style, so here are the hat styles you need to know about. Some of these may be perfect for your next brand customization, or maybe you’re just curious for your next headgear purchase!

Baseball Cap

This is one of the most popular and well-known types of hats because it’s so versatile for both men and women and for many different purposes. It may even be one of the most popular hats worn. For this reason, it’s often the number one choice for many businesses who are looking to promote branded merchandise. Throwing in a baseball cap is always a great brand piece, as it can fully display your logo on the prime spot in front.

Baseball caps can be used for a variety of purposes, including sport and sun-shielding. While originally a key part of the standard baseball uniform, this cap has easily become a number one fashion item for many people. So when considering what type of hats is perfect for your business, this one definitely tops the list!

The baseball cap has also become synonymous with the ‘dad hat,’ due to its comfortable and casual nature. Its popularity means you can find the perfect custom dad hats for your business.

Boater Hats

The boater hat is a prime example of 19th-century men’s fashion. This is a straw summer hat, worn traditionally by gondoliers, and can usually be seen with a ribbon wrapped around the front. A boater hat can be very stiff with a flat top, meaning it isn’t the softest of hats, but certainly a popular choice for those who want something light to also keep out the sun.

Although it was popularized by men, it’s easily become a gender-neutral hat embraced by many women, too.


Felt Hat

The felt hat can come under its own category because it’s a material that can be applied to many hats. For example, felt is a very popular material for the fedora, bowler, or top hat.

Felt Hat for Dangerous Man Brewing Company by Anthem Branding

Flat Caps

Flat caps are easily at the top of the headgear fashion pool, often used as staple items, whether it’s a formal outfit or a casual one. Flat caps are known around the world by many different names, including bunnet and cheese-cutter, and come in a variety of materials, including tweed, wool, or plain cotton. Flat caps, as the name suggests, have a flat top with a stiff peaked brim. A similar style is the newsboy cap.

Trucker Hat

A trucker hat is a variation of the baseball cap, or the dad hat, which has easily become an iconic fashion piece. What makes a trucker hat stand out is that it can be a little taller than a baseball cap, with mesh sides instead of dense cotton. Due to its popularity in the fashion world, custom trucker hats will go down well with any client.

Foam Trucker Hat for Avery Brewing Company by Anthem Branding

Panama Hat

This is a traditional hat made of straw, synonymous with warmer countries dealing with the sun. Surprisingly, the Panama hat actually originated in Ecuador, not Panama! This brimmed straw hat often has a notable ribbon wrapped around, similar to a boater hat but with a different brim.

The Panama hat can look similar to the fedora hat, although the popular fedora is a little wider and has more shape to it, in a wider variety of colors and styles.

Bowler Hat

The bowler hat is a very fashionable piece of headwear, but it’s a very formal one compared to the likes of baseball caps or sunhats. You may be more accustomed to seeing the bowler hat on the head of an English gentleman. It is a hard felt hat, which can come in many colors, but is usually seen in black. The top of the hat is iconically rounded instead of straight.

Top Hats

The top hat is a staple piece of headgear that all those familiar with highly formal dinner dress will be aware of. The top hat is most often black and of the highest quality. While applicable for dinner dress, it’s also become a choice for certain performance mediums, like the circus and the theatre.

Pillbox Hat

This hat may not be seen very often, except on the heads of royalty or important public figures. This is a small hat worn by women, which has a flat top and straight sides, meaning it can be propped on the head without a brim.

Cowboy Hat

Popular in Western culture, the cowboy hat is a must for anyone considering the different types of hats because it’s the most important piece for a North American cowboy style. A wide-brimmed hat with a high crown, the cowboy hat can come in any color or material you can imagine, and usually with embellishments such as string or buckles.

Sun Hat

The sun hat does exactly what it says and provides ample headgear for protection against the sun — as well as being fashionable. Usually seen on women, this wide-brimmed hat with a sloping brim is perfect when coupled with beachwear for a summer walk or sunbathing.

A great alternative to the sun hat is the bucket hat, which is a soft, smaller, and more casual way to protect from the sun.

Beanies and Winter Hats

Knit Beanie for Denver Locals by Anthem Branding

The classic beanie is functional for all seasons and purposes, including an iconic winter hat. Soft, comfortable, and usually made of wool, beanies, and winter hats are easy to slip on and wear against the cold.

In Summary

Thinking about what the different types of hats are means thinking of many which are iconic staple pieces in culture and history, and those more casual choices which are perfect for branded merchandise and can easily be worn every day.

Contact our team if you’re interested in custom headgear for your business.

To learn more about our custom hat program, download our detailed catalog to learn more.