Buyers who work in custom hats wholesale spend their week inside one document. It lists the styles, the colours, the price at each quantity and the date the goods can arrive. When that document is accurate, wholesale runs on routine. When it is vague, every order becomes a negotiation about what was meant, and the buyer who reorders most often reorders from whoever makes the process easiest.
This article treats the line sheet as a structure rather than a design exercise, because the layout matters far less than whether the columns answer the questions a buyer asks in their first thirty seconds.
What a line sheet is for, and what it is not
A line sheet is a purchasing document. It exists so that a buyer can choose a style, pick a quantity band, see the date and place an order without a follow-up email. It is not a lookbook, and it is not a price list bolted onto a catalogue. Those two documents sell the range; the line sheet closes the order.
Keeping the purpose narrow explains most of the decisions below. In custom hats wholesale the sheet is effectively the account: when it is accurate, an order takes minutes, and when it is vague, every reorder becomes a new negotiation. A photograph exists to identify the product, not to win an award. A price column exists to be defended at reorder. A lead time exists to be met.
The columns that decide whether a buyer reorders
Every field you add to a sheet costs attention. These are the ones that earn their place, and the mistakes we see most often in each.
| Column | What belongs in it | The mistake that costs a reorder |
|---|---|---|
| Style reference | A stable code that never gets reused | Codes rebuilt every season so history cannot be matched |
| Construction | Panel count, crown, closure and brim shape in a few words | A marketing name that does not say what the cap is |
| Fabric and finish | Weight, weave and any wash or treatment | Listing the fabric family only, then substituting inside it |
| Colours | Named colourways with a swatch or pantone reference | Seasonal colour names that change while the material does not |
| Decoration | Method, positions and whether artwork setup applies | Leaving decoration to a separate conversation after the order |
| Quantity breaks | The bands you will actually honor next season | Bands built for one promotion and then quietly withdrawn |
| Lead time | Days from confirmation, split into sampling and bulk | A single figure that hides the sampling stage |
| Carton and packing | Pieces per carton, size split and label content | Packing settled after the goods are finished |
Price breaks: how many columns, and why
Three breaks cover most ranges: a small run, a standard run and a container-friendly run. Four becomes a negotiation tool, and five makes the buyer read the sheet instead of the product. Whichever structure you choose, publish it once and honor it, because a buyer who discovers that the quoted break was promotional will not trust the next one.
The breaks should also correspond to something real. A quantity band that unlocks nothing in the factory, no shared fabric commitment, no decoration efficiency, no carton optimisation, is a discount rather than a break, and discounts are the first thing removed when a season tightens. Where the break does correspond to a real change, say what it is, and buyers stop treating the sheet as arbitrary. That honesty is what separates a custom hats wholesale sheet that gets reordered from one that gets renegotiated.
MOQ per style versus per order
Wholesale buyers lose more time here than anywhere else. A minimum order quantity can apply to the order, the style, the colourway or the decoration, and the four are different numbers. State them separately: order minimum, per-style minimum, per-colourway minimum and the minimum where a new logo setup is required.
If a buyer can mix colourways to reach a style minimum, say so, because that single sentence turns a dead order into a live one. If they cannot, say that too, and give the alternative, usually a shorter run at the small-quantity price. Most custom hats wholesale disputes about quantity are really disputes about which minimum applied, and the sheet can end that argument before it starts.
Lead time: the date you promise and the date you can defend
Two dates belong on the sheet. The first is the standard production window once the order is confirmed and materials are booked, which for headwear commonly runs fifteen to twenty days and extends to twenty-five or thirty days above 5,000 pieces. The second is the date by which you need the artwork and the colourway confirmed, because that is the date the buyer actually controls.
Add one line about peak season. Wholesale demand compresses, and a supplier that books decoration capacity first should say so on the sheet rather than in a phone call three weeks into the program. In custom hats wholesale the calendar is the product, because a cap that arrives after the selling window is worth less than no cap at all.
Naming and photos: the same style must look the same everywhere
A wholesale catalogue is read in three places: your sheet, a distributor's website and a photograph taken on a phone in a warehouse. If the style has one code, one name and one set of reference photos, all three agree. If it has a seasonal name, a trade-show name and a factory name, someone will order the wrong thing and the mistake will look like a quality problem.
Shoot the reference photos the same way every time. One angle that shows the crown and brim, one that shows the decoration, and one detail shot of the closure or patch. Keep the background consistent, because consistency is what makes a range look like a range rather than a collection of unrelated caps.
Terms that belong on the sheet
Terms are not legal filler. Six lines prevent most wholesale friction, and each one removes a specific argument from the middle of an order.
| Term | What to state | The argument it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| Payment structure | Deposit, mid-payment trigger and balance against documents | A payment request arriving at a moment nobody agreed to |
| Freight basis | Who books, which basis, and who carries the risk in transit | A shipping cost appearing on the invoice after delivery |
| Quantity tolerance | The band within which a change is accepted before cutting | A revised price requested after materials were reserved |
| Inspection | The standard applied and who signs the report | A final inspection that nobody can point to in writing |
| Tolerance | Colour difference and measurement tolerance on bulk | A rejection that turns on an expectation never stated |
| Claims | The window to raise a claim and the evidence required | A quality conversation reopened two seasons later |
Put them at the foot of the sheet in plain language rather than in a separate document nobody opens, and keep the wording short enough that a distributor can forward the sheet to a retailer without editing it.
One page or a full catalogue
Use one page for the styles that carry volume, and a catalogue for the range. Buyers who order weekly want the short sheet with the eight styles that ship, because that is the document they can act on without scrolling. Put the seasonal and specialty styles in the catalogue and link back from the sheet, keeping the pricing structure identical in both. Two documents with different prices for the same style is the fastest way to lose a wholesale account.
Reading a factory's sheet before you trust it
When a factory sends a sheet, read the omissions rather than the numbers. A sheet without a per-colourway minimum, without a carton plan and without a stated decoration setup is not a purchasing document; it is a menu. Buying from that sheet does not mean the factory is wrong, only that those gaps will be resolved in email later, and email is where dates go to die. Ask the same factory to send a completed custom hats wholesale sheet for one live style, and the omissions become obvious in a single page.
What changes when the sheet is for export
Export adds two fields. The first is origin and composition information, because textile labelling rules in the destination market decide what must appear on the product itself, and the EU textile labelling regulation is the reference most European buyers cite. The second is any material claim, which needs documentation behind it rather than a word on the sheet.
Where the cap carries a recycled or organic claim, the sheet should say which certificate applies and where it can be verified, because a claim without a document becomes the buyer's problem at customs rather than the factory's.
The reorder path the sheet should make obvious
A good sheet makes the second order almost automatic. That means the style code from the first order still exists, the colourway is still available or a nearest alternative is named, the decoration setup is recorded as already paid, and the quantity band is the same. Add one field for artwork reference and one for the original order number, and a reorder becomes a two-line email rather than a redevelopment.
Building a custom hats wholesale sheet from a factory range
We are a Dongguan headwear factory with fifteen years of production, a workshop above 4,000 square meters and more than a hundred staff across sampling, embroidery, sewing and quality. Samples develop in roughly three to five business days and bulk runs in fifteen to twenty days, extending to twenty-five or thirty days above 5,000 pieces, with monthly capacity between 120,000 and 150,000 pieces.
When a wholesale customer builds a sheet from our range, we supply the column data rather than a price alone: construction, fabric weight, closure, carton plan, per-colourway minimums and the decoration positions the build can carry. That is what lets a distributor publish a sheet they can defend six months later when a retailer reorders.
Next step: draft the sheet before the price list
Start with the columns, not the numbers. If the structure answers a buyer's first three questions, the pricing conversation becomes short.
Send the styles you intend to wholesale through our product pages, read how the OEM and ODM service handles private label ranges, or ask the team to fill the columns through the contact page. Our notes on assortment planning and reorders cover the range decisions that sit above the sheet, and for European programs the EU textile labelling regulation and OEKO-TEX Standard 100 are the two references buyers ask about most often.
Custom hats wholesale: line sheet questions
What is the difference between a line sheet and a price list?
A price list names products and prices. A line sheet is a purchasing document: style codes, construction, colourways, quantity breaks, lead times, carton plans and terms, all in one place. A buyer should be able to place an order from a line sheet without asking a follow-up question about what the product is.
How many price breaks should a wholesale hat range use?
Three is usually enough: a small run, a standard run and a volume run. Four is workable if each band corresponds to a real change in cost. Five or more slows the decision without improving the margin, and bands that exist only for one promotion should never appear on the standing sheet.
Should MOQ be quoted per style or per order?
State both, plus the per-colourway minimum and the minimum that triggers a new decoration setup. The four numbers are different and buyers conflate them constantly. If colourways can be mixed to reach a style minimum, say so, because that one sentence closes orders that would otherwise stall.
What lead time should a wholesale sheet promise?
A standard window of fifteen to twenty days for bulk once materials are booked, extending to twenty-five or thirty days above 5,000 pieces, plus sampling time where a new construction is involved. Add the artwork deadline, because that is the date the buyer controls and the date that most often moves the shipment.
Do we need a separate sheet per season?
Keep the core sheet stable and add a seasonal supplement. Styles that carry volume should not be renumbered every season, because the reorder path disappears when codes change. New styles can join a short seasonal page and graduate to the core sheet once they repeat.
How do we handle colourways that sell out?
Name a nearest alternative next to the original and mark the original as unavailable with a date if you know it. Buyers accept substitutions when they are disclosed on the sheet and rejected when they are discovered on delivery. The sheet is the cheapest place to have that conversation.
What packing detail belongs on a line sheet?
Pieces per carton, the size split inside each carton, the label content and whether mixed cartons are possible. It sounds minor until a distributor receives 40 cartons that need re-labelling before they can reach stores, at which point the cost of the repack exceeds the margin on the order.
How much photography does a wholesale range need?
Three images per style is enough: a three-quarter view showing crown and brim, a decoration detail, and a closure or patch detail. Shoot them consistently on the same background so the range reads as one collection rather than a pile of unrelated photographs.
Which claims need documentation on the sheet?
Any material or sustainability claim, because the exposure moves to the importer once the goods are in transit, not to the factory. Name the certificate that applies and say where it can be verified. A claim with a document behind it is an asset, and a claim without one is a liability.
What is the fastest way to speed up a reorder?
Carry the original order number and the artwork reference on the sheet, and record that the decoration setup was already paid. A reorder then becomes a two-line email against a known style code rather than a new brief, which is usually the difference between a two-week and an eight-week cycle.
