Inside China's Greatest Hat Factory

It's crazy, it's crazy seeing you in person. We've been talking for like a few years. Will Larsy.

All right, okay.

Where's this one from? That house? Yeah, he threw it at a thermal. And like the wash, 100%.

So we need to go to the factory to see the cap material and see which color matches better.

Sure.

Yes, of course. So, okay, 100% is this one, and then it's number 27. So number 27 is this.

This component is 100% polyester.

Oh, it's 100% poly. These are 80/20. These are 80/20 cotton.

Cotton, yeah.

Yes. Okay.

So this feels better.

This is for the cap. It's for the liner.

Okay.

I've been working with this hat factory for almost 4 years, and they work with some of my favorite brands. Like Dime MTL and Saint Woods, both local Montreal brands. I am so excited to share this with you. They're truly amazing at what they do and they deserve to be exposed to the world. So let's jump into it.

Bonjour. Bonjour.

Bonjour. Bonjour. Montreal brand. No matter where you go in the world, your city follows you. Oh my God, you guys did— That's tight. I can't understate how important it is to know exactly what's going on inside the factories you work with, because if you come and see the techniques that they're actually making, then it'll inspire your design. Cheers. Thank you very much.

Cheers.

My name is Lippy Wu.

My name is Jane.

My name is Sisi.

You guys represent the factory called CN Greatest. So can you tell me a little bit about what you guys do here?

We make different kinds of caps and hats.

So this is the tape that goes inside the hat, and right now he's taking that tape and sewing it on. So these pieces start without any tape on them and they finish looking like this. And that's what's going to go inside the hat all over. You've never seen anyone operate at this speed and precision. Every single hat here she's doing by hand entirely, fully manual, and every single hat is coming out precise 100% of the time. It's insane.

You choose this one. 20,000.

Yeah, this is good. So Livi has blessed me with the honor of making a hat from start to finish. We're going to make like a basic corduroy hat just to show the process of how this factory goes about making products. So right now we're in the sample room and we're going to take a look at the fabric. So one of the inspirations for this hat was this Oakley hat over here. So we're going to go through and see what we can make.

This material is for the cap. We need to cut it into panels, to cut the panels, so we can start now.

I got you. And then what's this over here?

This is for the sweatband material.

So he's basically cutting the holes for the eyelets that are going to go around the hat. And since the back panel we designed has 2 eyelets, he's basically making 2 holes on those back panels, so— specialty. So right now she's beginning to sew all of the panels of the hat together. So this hat has 4 panels together actually at once. Look at this, all 6 panels are done. She works really fast. Looks amazing. Thank you. This is a double needle machine and she's using it for the tape seaming on the inside because it needs 2 lines of sewing going all the way inside the hat. This piece of foam right here is what's going to go inside the brim of the hat to make it flexible. It gives it a little bit of structure. Notice how she's sewing it inside out right now. Actually, the corduroy that we want is on the inside, but the reason she does that is so that no sewing marks show. She's actually going to flip it inside out, which is what she's about to do right now. And now we have a very clean sewing job. So if you ever wondered why they sew 3, 4, 5 lines sometimes on the brim of a hat. It's actually to get all of the air bubbles out because there's an air pocket that's created underneath the hat, and sewing the lines brings all the air out. So look, you can see underneath that it's actually puffing up, but as she adds more and more lines, all of that air that's caught inside is actually going away. And this is what a finished brim looks like. So she just put tape right along this part of the hat. But not the entire hat. And the reason why is because that is where the brim is going to go. So they use it to actually reinforce the brim so that it's a much cleaner sewing job. Look at this, we're starting to have a hat here. That's something though. Now she's going to attach the terry sweatband on the inside. Notice how all of the panels are very well aligned. So this is proper craftsmanship. You can see that actually these panels, the corduroy here that's going diagonal, lines up exactly with these panels and exactly with these ones and these ones and these ones all the way around. So right now he's making the hole where the grommet is gonna go, which is what the strap goes into when it's being fed into the hat. Go ahead. Nice!

Nice!

Almost done. Just missing the button on top. So cool. Just like that. The last step is going to be to steam the hat so that there's no imperfections. This is the quality control step, and they do this with every hat. So right now he's adjusting the size of the steaming machine. To make sure it properly fits the mold of this hat so that it can get steam everywhere and take out all the wrinkles.

Okay, better way to do it. Appreciate it.

Legend, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Is it tight? Yes, dog. What is the minimum order quantity at this factory?

100 pieces per design, per size normally. If the winter hats are special design, then 300 pieces.

Okay, so if it's very customized, then maybe it's going to be 300 units.

Yes.

Okay. Okay. Tell me, 100 pieces is a very low minimum. Are you able to customize like a lot with a 100-unit hat?

Yes. In 100 pieces, there should be all the same, and you can do embroidery on it, print and label inside, anything you want to put in on the one hat.

And so how long would a sample take?

10 days after confirm all details.

What is a sample cost?

$50, not include shipping cost.

What about production time?

It depends on the design and quantity, usually 25 to 55 days.

What is the price range for a simple cap for production?

It is about $4 $4.5 to $6.5 per hat.

For 100 units?

Yes, factory price, not include shipping.

You guys could do this for $4.50 to $6.50?

About $6 to $7 this one because we have a printed inside.

Okay, there's puff embroidery on the front, embroidery on the side, different colors with custom seam taping, woven label on the inside, specialty metal sort of snaps on the back and the brim is made out of like a charcoal material. So this is like pretty insane. Even the bottom is a specialty material. And what about this?

It's very— maybe just $5, $5, $5.5.

For— it's about $5, $5.5. Just print and then print on the fabric as well. Why did you choose to do hats?

For me, it is simple because I think when people wear the hats or caps, they will look much fashionable.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate you guys.

See you later.

Oh, Jack and Will. I'll see you tomorrow.

No, no, tonight we will have dinner together.

Oh, we have dinner? Okay, all right, see you tonight.

On fait le sifflet, le soleil, toujours droit devant. À marcher, mille cris d'enfants.

3, 2, 1, go!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Reviens donc, reviens donc en ce soir de l'amour. Un geste de bonheur, chant de lune, rêve secret d'alcool. L'air de vent, le cri des grands faux.