2024 Guide To Best Winter Print On Demand Products

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners have come to think about print on demand as simply printing t shirts or hoodies, but in reality the world of print on demand has expanded far beyond these basic products.  This becomes especially pronounced as winter settles in and a new range of winter products comes into focus.

In this 2024 Guide To Winter Print On Demand Products, just like in year’s past, we will cover some of our favorite products for cold weather and provide tips and ideas to inspire products that you can create for your brand. 

We’ve also added a new section this year, to discuss winter specific approaches for product branding.

So grab a hot cup of coffee, snuggle in, and let’s review some of our favorite winter products.

Improve brand value and reduce costs with this simple strategy for winter collections

If you plan on launching a single winter product and aren’t thinking about an entire winter collection, this section likely won’t be helpful and your time would be better spent checking out our specific production recommendations below. But if you are thinking of launching a few winter products or a winter collection, understanding these key concepts can save you some time and expense in sampling.

Here is the deal, winter products tend to have a high variation in the types of materials and fabrics that are used to create them. For example, the nylon exterior of a puffer jacket, the heavyweight knitted blend of a hoodie, or the loose chunky knit of a beanie. “So what?” you ask.

Well these differences can create challenges when you want to adding your branding to each different product. In most cases, if you are releasing products together, you will also want a consistent presentation with your branding.

For this reason, it’s highly recommend to utilize embroidery patches and or woven labels, to apply branding for winter collections. These branding assets will help keep your branding consistent across the wide variety of products that frequent winter collections. Lastly, these branding options will help keep your cost of goods sold low to help you increase your collections bottom line.

Go on enjoy the rest of the article, and best of luck with your winter collections.

Puffer Jackets & Vests

These staple winter jackets were made insanely popular by Yvon Cuinard and Patagonia’s approach to layering to create warmth.  They are ultra lightweight but pack a punch way above their weight class, providing extraordinary warmth and comfort during chilly days.  They fold down into a small pouch making them very travel friendly and a versatile option.  

Bringing these jackets to market as part of your brand demonstrates a premium approach to product creation and improves your customer’s perception of your brand.  Speaking of your brand, let’s review how to make these puffer jackets your own.

Mens Hyperloft Puffer Jacket (EXP100PFZ)

• This nylon exterior jacket is both water resistant and wind resistant to protect you from the elements.
• Batten down your hatches with easy to use toggles at the waist and elastic sleeves.
• This jacket packs into it’s own internal pocket for easy storage making your travels a breeze.
• Features an internal chest pocket for concealed embroidery access.

Mens Hyperloft Puffer Vest (EXP120PFV)

• Soft, warm, and packable, this puffer vest works great for layering under outerwear or size up to layer over hoodies.
• The nylon exterior is perfect for blocking wind and keeping moisture out.

Womens Hyperloft Puffer Jacket (EXP220PFZ)

• The women’s version of the EXP120PFV. It’s super soft, easily packable, and provides immediate warmth for when the weather takes a turn for the worst.
• Features an internal chest pocket for concealed embroidery access.

Womens Hyperloft Puffer Vest (EXP200PFV)

• The women’s version of the EXP100PFZ. This jacket is exceptionally versatile with #5 reverse coil zippers at the chest and pockets and capped elastic sleeve cuffs to keep the cold weather out.

Recommended Branding For Puffer Jackets

• Private labeling is the foundation of creating brand value.  Provide a simple black and white logo that will be turned into an apparel tag and sewn into your bomber jackets.  It’s extremely affordable.
• Apliiq recommends using embroidered patches if you’d like to add artwork to bomber jackets.  They can help improve margins for your products and tend to get extremely good results.
• Using custom embroidery is also a good option for adding artwork to puffer vest and jackets.  These jackets are outfitted with a hidden compartment that allows the backing of the embroidery to be hidden within the pocket, creating a very clean finished result.

Heavyweight Hoodies

There are few things more satisfying than holding a brand new heavyweight hoodie in your hand.  The Apliiq team often  hears from our brand partners that they don’t have a good sense for what the differences are between a standard midweight fleece hoodie and a heavyweight fleece hoodie.  It’s definitely one of those situations that are hard to describe in words, but easy to feel in person.  For this reason, we strongly recommend sampling a heavyweight hoodie for fall and winter collections.  While many sellers can be concerned about the higher cost of a heavyweight hoodie, in reality it can be a higher margin product, but it will need to be marketed and positioned as a premium quality hoodie to your audience and customers.  You will be surprised to see that many customers are willing to pay a bit more for a better hoodie.  Not only do heavyweight hoodies keep you warmer, they also tend to have enhanced durability and will last longer.  With these hoodies, it could be your brand that is selling your customer’s favorite hoodie.  Hoodies have a variety of customization and design options to ensure your product is a perfect fit for your brand, let’s take a moment to review your best options.

IND 4000

• This heavyweight unisex hoodie is a go to for any cold weather climate. Handcrafted with premium ringspun cotton, the IND4000 has a generous fit and is completed with a fleece lined hood.

IND 5000

• The Legend Premium Heavyweight Crossgrain hoodie is guaranteed to last.
• This style is handcrafted and limits vertical shrinkage by it’s body panels which have been carefully cut cross-grain.
• A unique feature of the IND5000 include the antique silver eyelets and beautiful drawcord tips.

Recommending branding for creating premium hoodies

As with most premium branding, less can be more.  With this in mind, let’s review the best subtle branding options that will put the perfect touches on your premium hoodies.

• Private labeling is absolutely required for any premium hoodie.  Both of these styles of hoodies have neck taping, that will be expertly opened by a seamstress and your brand tag sewn in.  Your customer will never know you didn’t create the hoodies entirely from scratch.
• We love using center chest embroidery options to add a touch of flair or color to your premium hoodies.  The heavyweight nature of these hoodies is well complemented by the texture and durability that embroidered designs add.
• Heavyweight hoodies are great canvases for printing, when possible, for bulk orders screen printing provides a top quality result and unmatched color accuracy and opacity.  If you don’t want to deal with minimums, use transfer printing to simulate screen printing results. Of special note, is new oversized printing options available for transfer printing.

Premium Beanies

Do not overlook adding premium beanies to your collections, especially during the winter.  When done well, beanies can add a premium nature to a collection and be a leading profit contributor with their incredibly strong margins.  They can be so cost effective that you could even consider giving them away as pack-ins or customer thank yous.  While we love the basic acrylic beanies, we also love more stylish knit beanie options we will cover below.  Regardless of which beanie  style you choose, follow our branding guidelines to ensure the top quality beanies that your customers will love.

Branding Guidelines For Premium Winter Beanies

The characteristics that your customers love the most about beanies (soft, cushy, malleable), can make for some interesting challenges in producing your beanies.  This is exactly why direct to garment printing is never used on beanies, and why you may want to even think twice about using direct embroidery with detailed artwork files.

Apliiq believes the best way to produce top quality beanies consistently and cost effectively is using custom patches, like embroidered patches or woven labels.  These can be easily sewn directly onto beanies and will generally hold their shape and provide the best representation of your artwork and branding.  

Classic Knit Beanie

• This 100% acrylic beanie is the perfect hat to keep your noggin warm whether you’re skiing the mountains or walking on a cloudy day with it’s form-fitting silhouette.

Fisherman Beanie (1120)

• Popularized by the street/skate culture, the fisherman beanie is an insanely popular “shorter” beanie style that not only has a sleek modern fit, but also is incredibly soft and warm.

Chunky Knit Beanie (sp90)

• Looking for a beanie that’s not only super warm but elegant? Look no further. This 12″ knit beanie features a great textured look which can be adorned with a woven label or embroidered patch.

Organic Beanie (ec7040)

• Save the world with this eco-friendly beanie. This earth and human friendly beanie is made from 100% organic cotton and pesticide free.
• The EC7040 is 9″ deep and double lined for extra warmth.