Starting a trucker hat bar business can be fun and profitable if you love fashion and interacting with people. Below, we outline the key steps to set up a successful trucker hat bar business, from the initial concept to the grand opening and beyond.
Contents
What is a Trucker Hat Bar?
A trucker hat bar is usually a pop-event for a special occasion, a booth at a vendor show or even a special section within a boutique. The idea is that the customer can pick out a trucker hat and embellish it with various accessories such as badges, patches, hat pins and hat chains to personalize the hat just for them.
This is a fun event for girls’ night out, a bachelorette party or just someone wanting to create a custom hat. So, let’s get started in setting up your own trucker hat bar business.
Trucker Hat Bar Supplies Needed
You can get started quite inexpensively if you follow our guidelines of how we started. You may want to create a budget if you start to get distracted by all of the pretty things!
Hat Heat Press
You’re most expensive investment will be a hat heat press machine for caps. The one shown below appears to be the most popular among other truck hat bar businesses:
The VEVOR brand of hat heat presses has been the most popular among other truck hat bar businesses (click here to buy on Amazon). The heat press will come with instructions how to use, but you can always use google how to use as well.
For a smaller, less expensive option, and actually more portable option, there are some smaller hat heat presses available. Just keep in mind that it may take longer to do each custom order as these smaller ones may not get as hot or can’t do as big of an area at a time. But if you have more time than money, then this route is for you. Click here to see the above one on Amazon.
Trucker Hats
Next, you will need to invest in some trucker hats in a variety of colors. The foam front trucker hats are the easiest to work with. But if you can find some other types for less, go for it!
We found the best prices for trucker hats on Temu.com. You may have read about Temu – they are a Chinese company, and they have been accused of using people’s information without their consent, so to be safe shopping with them, do NOT download their app on your phone. Only shop via Temu.com on your web browser on your computer. And never use a credit card to pay for your order. We personally only use PayPal at checkout so Temu has no access to any of our personal information. But don’t check out just yet as they are going to have the best prices on the accessories that we mention below. Oh, and they have fast and relatively fast shipping.
If you are in a hurry, Hobby Lobby stores carry mesh trucker hats for only $1.99 each.
May hat bar veterans prefer Otto brand trucker hats, but they are tad more expensive. We found the best prices for Otto hats at CapBargain.com and Amazon.com. They are also available directly from their website at OttoCap.com.
Hat Patches
Next you need patches! If you are just starting out, the cheapest place to get hat patches (also called hat badges) is at, you guessed it, Temu.com. But don’t buy the first ones that pop up. Search for certain shapes that you want and then sort by price: low to high. It is usually less expensive to buy in bundles.
For instance, if you are looking for “star iron on patches”, you can get 15 mixed pieces for $1.48 or 27 mixed pieces for $2.23. In this case, the larger bundle is a better deal at 8¢ per patch, but you may want to have your calculator/phone nearby to calculate.
Obviously 8¢ for a patch is super cheap, and these cheaper/small patches are not going to be the focal point of the hat. You may have to spend a tad more for the big “front and center” hat patches. Personally, we like to keep the big patches under $1.50 each.
A couple more places that you can buy inexpensive iron-on patches is online at Amazon.com and at Dollar Tree stores. Dollar Tree has some nice has 2- and 4-packs for only $1.25. If you can’t find at your local Dollar Tree, you can order online at DollarTree.com, but you must order a case of 24. Dollar Tree also allows you to apply for sales tax exemption status.
Some online sellers offer brand logo patches, such as Marlboro, Carhartt, Nike, even Louis Vuitton, Chanel, but these are not officially licensed. We do not recommend buying them as you don’t want to get in trouble for selling knock-offs or dupes.
We use a photo crafter keeper storage box with cases to organize our trucker hat badges (as shown above). We got ours from a Target liquidation salvage store, but you can find them on Amazon.
Other Options
Some people don’t wear hats, so you may want to offer additional options to decorate. Other popular items include belt bags (shown above), koozies, and dog bandanas (shown below).
DTF Transfers
Click here if you don’t know what DTF transfer are (plus get some free samples). These are not necessary, but they are less expensive than patches and badges. They are also usually more colorful and easier to apply. You can still apply badges with them, but be careful not to melt the transfer if you apply badges after the transfer. You may want to use glue (discussed next) instead.
E6000 Glue
Having some super strong crafting glue on hand is also a must, just in case you can’t get the badges to stay on the hat with heat alone. This is cheap on Amazon.
For instance, our Dollar General liquidation store had a lot of stick-on hat patches for super cheap, but they were basically just stickers on the back. Add some E6000 (and heat) and no one is the wiser!
Heat Transfer Tape/Sheets
You will need to hold your badges in place on the hat with either heat transfer tape or transfer paper. These are both available on Amazon. Some hat bar business owners will have a printable trucker hat template printed out in duplicate for customers to layout their designs. Others use hat bar design boards. We personally just let the customers use transfer tape and tape the badges on the hat where they would like them.
Additional Trucker Hat Add-ons
People go nuts for more accessories for their trucker hats. And they can be relatively inexpensive if you can make some of them by yourself.
Hat Pins
There are various types of hat pins: those that look like stick pins, those that look like safety pins, and those that look that tacks (with backs). These are all available on Temu.com for cents on the dollar. Simply search for hat pins and brooch pins.
But you can also make your own by buying your own tie tack pins and gluing on various items (with you E6000 glue). Think outside of the box! We have made hat pins by gluing on fabric flowers, shot gun shells, pennies, shoe charms and even Scrabble tiles.
Hat Chains
A hat chain is basically a short necklace (or long bracelet) usually across the brim/bill of the hat, although some will use a full-size necklace and drape it across whole hat area.
Since hat chains are a relatively new idea, they are not available from big (cheap) stores just yet, but don’t fear, as these are easy to make! Buy a cheap jewelry kit that includes lobster clasps, open jump rings and a needle nose pliers to put on the end of some chains or strings of beads, and you’re set!
You can still buy pre-made chains from Temu.com, then cut the chains to 7.5″ long, add a lobster clasp to each side with a jump ring, and you now have hat chains!
Your First Hat Bar Party
Now that you have all of your supplies, it’s time to have a party!
Pick Location / Date
If you are having a section of your current boutique dedicated to a hat bar, then this doesn’t apply to you, but you should promote a launch date!
If you plan to attend a vendor show (where the location and date is chosen for you), you will need to ask if you will have access to electricity (which usually costs even more than the standard vendor fee). Otherwise you will need a portable generator (battery operated or gas run) to use your heat press! Also, you may need to provide your own tables and possibly a tent if the show is outside. We do not recommend this option.
We recommend popup sales! Since we are familiar with liquidation popups, this is route we do and recommend. You can usually “rent” a local business “back room” for free. We found a popular Mexican restaurant that requires a $100 deposit to hold the room for you, but you can use that money towards your tab (or get your money back). We chose a Thursday night (perfect girls’ night out date night) to be open for business 5-8 pm.
Set Prices
We probably don’t charge enough, but we live in a rural area (aka disadvantaged region), so we currently charge:
- Hat with One Accessory – $20
- Hat with 2-3 Accessories – $25
- Hat with 4-6 Accessories – $30
- Add-on Accessories – $2.50
- Accessories Include: Graphic Transfers, Badges, Patches, Hat Pins, Hat Chains
Others charge upwards of $45-$65 for the same hats, so if you live in a more affluent region, go for it!
Social Media
If you don’t have a social media presence for your business, that is the first step. Popular social media for this business is firstly Facebook, followed by Instagram, Snapchat and Tiktok.
Once you have your date/location/launch planned, create a Facebook event. If you don’t have a following yet (or even if you do), you may want to invest $10-$25 to “boost” your event. Be sure to pick the zip code of your event with up to 50 miles radius. You should also pick to show your event to only women who are your target audience.
Items Needed
Besides the items all listed above, you will need some extra items, such as tablecloths (not mandatory, but they look nice). You may want some organizer to display your iron-on patches. Spice racks work great!
You will also need a money bag or box (we use this one from Amazon). And don’t forget some starter change.
We also recommend that you accept debit and credit cards as a lot of people do not carry cash nowadays. We use originally used PayPal, but we now use Square. Both are free to sign up and use, but Square has more options, and the fees are less. We originally started with a Square reader that plugs into your phone, but we have since upgraded to the Square contactless reader. Both allow you to manually type in the card info, but that is not only a hassle, but the fees are higher if you do that.
Conclusion
Starting a trucker hat bar is all about being creative and giving customers what they want. Keep things fun, focus on quality, and make sure your customers leave happy. This way, your hat bar will be the place everyone wants to check out!
Image Sources: Bend The Trend and The Hat Bar Society Facebook Group
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