From Your Logo to a Leather Patch: How a CAPHEAD Hat Gets Made
Most custom hats are printed by the thousand, from a file nobody checked, by a company you will never hear from again. CAPHEAD works the other way around. Every hat that leaves our Burnaby shop starts as your logo, gets checked by a person, and is approved by you before anything is made, then ends as a patch cut from genuine top-grain leather, engraved in our shop, and applied to the exact hat you picked. Here is how it happens.
Step 1: You pick the hat and send the logo
It starts on the product page. You choose the hat (a Richardson 112 or Yupoong trucker, or a Yupoong flat bill), the leather colour for your patch, the patch shape, and where it sits. Then you upload your logo. Vector files (AI, EPS, SVG, PDF) engrave the cleanest, but a high-resolution PNG or JPG works too. If your logo needs a tweak to engrave properly, we will tell you before anything is made.
Step 2: You approve a digital proof
Before leather gets cut, you receive a digital proof showing your logo as it will appear on the patch, on your hat, in your colours. Nothing goes into production until you approve it. If the placement, size, or shape is not right, this is the moment we fix it, free and without drama. Your order is custom and final once made, so the proof is where we make sure "custom" also means "correct."
Step 3: Your patch is cut and engraved from real leather
This is the part we will not outsource or shortcut. Your patch is cut from genuine top-grain leather and engraved on our laser engraver here in Burnaby, as part of the day's production run. Leather takes engraving beautifully. The lines burn in deep and permanent, the natural grain shows through, and no two patches are perfectly identical, because the material is real. Then we seal it with an acrylic topcoat so the engraving holds up to sun, sweat, and everyday wear.
Step 4: The patch goes on your hat, by hand
The finished patch is applied to the front (or side, if that is what you chose) of your hat and checked against your approved proof: right logo, right colour, right placement. If it does not match the proof, it does not ship, and we make it right.
The mockup difference
If you came to us through a mockup request, you have already seen this process from the best seat in the house. When you ask for a free mockup, we do not send a computer rendering. We build your actual patch, put it on your actual hat, and photograph the real thing. What you see in that photo is literally what arrives at your door. It costs us more time than a mockup generator would. We think it is the only honest way to sell a custom product.
How long it all takes
Production starts the day you approve your proof, and orders are typically ready to ship within 14 business days. Shipping is free anywhere in Canada on two or more hats, and delivery usually lands 8 to 10 business days after your order ships. Every step, from upload to the box leaving Burnaby, is handled by the same small team that will answer your email if you write to us.
Ready when you are
Pick a hat, upload your logo, and approve the proof. We will handle the leather.