No matter where a destination retailer operates, a hat is the perfect souvenir for almost any customer. Most come in unisex designs and appeal to guests young and old alike.
“Hats are definitely something people are looking for,” says Cendy Sangermano, director of merchandise at Delaware North, which oversees 42 gift shops at national parks and resort hotels across the country. “They’re useful souvenirs. Overall it runs about 7% of our business across our park locations.”
A store’s location helps to determine what hat styles and themes will sell best. For example, Sangermano says outdoorsy themes perform best at the retailer’s national park locations.
“In national parks, we see a lot of relaxed trucker hats that move forward,” she adds. “But at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida, for example, lighter weight fabrics sell well.”
Beanies sell better at cooler destinations, but shops in warmer destinations should still consider offering a couple of beanie options. People might not wear their new beanie in Florida, but they might want to take the new name-dropped beanie home with them to wear in the winter.
With tourists looking for all kinds of hats to take home with them, destination retailers need to make sure their hat selection is always fresh.
Create a sense of place
Tourists tend to be drawn to hats and beanies that feature the name drop of the destination they are visiting.
Angel Santos is the art director at Capsmith, which manufactures headwear out of Sanford, Florida. Santos says name-drop hats are big sellers for destination retailers. He adds that style preferences vary depending on the region and type of customers that visit a particular store.
“Overall, though, we have seen a slight shift into more conservative headwear with cleaner looks and smaller icons,” says Santos.
For Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, Wyoming, branded, name-dropped hats are bestsellers in the hats category, with logoed beanies being more popular in the winter months. The resort operates 11 retail shops at the ski resort and in town.
Justin Burkhart, director of rental retail and repair at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, says the shops carry a variety of hats that feature the resort and state name drops on popular hat brands, such as Norrona, Burton or 47 Brand.
“Far and away, we sell more logo and branded hats than not,” says Burkhart. “Generally, people want something that says Jackson Hole with either a moose or a tram, or the classic resort logo. We have a balance of those for customers.”
Sangermano adds that it’s important to offer hats that create a sense of place either through destination-specific artwork or a name drop.
“We’ve tried some more generic hats, but those tend to be slow sellers because they don’t have the iconic name drop of the place where it is,” she says. “It’s capturing a sense of place through name drop or outlook of the place you’re operating in or an animal that might be in the location that people are drawn to.”
Stylish picks
In addition to creating a sense of place, destination retailers should also consider carrying caps that match trending styles each year.
Vintage-looking hats sell great at Texas Hot Stuff in Fort Worth, Texas.
In 2024, tourists seem to appreciate vintage- looking hats. Texas Hot Stuff, a destination retailer in Fort Worth, Texas, carries a mix of baseball hats, trucker hats and novelty straw hats to tourists wanting a Texas-themed souvenir. Marketing Manager Robert Boling says vintage- looking baseball and trucker caps have been popular lately.
“The tattered look has been popular, especially with women,” he says.
Rum Label has been the bestselling hat for Capsmith lately, which has a bit of a vintage feel to it. The hat comes with both mesh- and solid-back options.
“It evokes a lived-in look,” says Santos.
Sangermano shares that the kids today appreciate a good, old “dad cap.”
“It’s basically just a baseball cap but is being called a ‘dad cap,’ or at least Generation Z and Alpha refer to it as the dad cap,” she explains.
But “dad caps” appeal to more than just youth, she adds. “You see everyone buy them, from kids to dads.”
Sangermano adds that women seem to buy both men’s and women’s hats lately.
“Women want things that look feminine, but not girly and not everything overly pink,” she says. “They like more natural colors and things that are more on trend or fashion forward.”
Burkhart says he also notices that hats seem to be more unisex than other souvenir apparel items. “Hats are very universal,” he says. “We do have some women-specific hats or beanies, but 90% of our adult hats are unisex.”
Something unconventional
Some customers prefer novelty-style hats as souvenirs than traditional ball caps or beanies, so it’s also important to have some fun options for people.
Capsmith carries a variety of novelty caps designed to appeal to souvenir shops across the country. The wholesale vendor’s “Color My Cap” comes with markers for customers to color the hats with beautiful scenery, which makes for a fun kid’s souvenir. The company also has its Action Big Eye Critters that feature plush animals on top that move, which can be profit boosters for destination retailers with animals on-site such as zoos and aquariums.
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort guests enjoy the resort’s name-dropped beanies and baseball caps.
Boling says one of the most popular hats at Texas Hot Stuff is a traditional baseball hat with a bottle opener on it. The retailer carries this style of hat in a variety of colors along with the Texas flag or state shape on it. “People like the dual functionality of it,” he says.
Being in the Southwest, Boling says straw cowboy hats are also a hit with tourists visiting Fort Worth. Some feature charms on the front, such as horseshoes or sheriff stars.
“We usually order 15 different styles of straw hat,” says Boling. “They range in color from tan to brown to almost white and then, of course, black.”
One unique hat that is a bestseller for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is what Burkhart calls their “waffle” hats. Burkhart explains that the resort features a small restaurant called “Corbet’s Cabin,” known for its waffles.
“It’s a little pop culture phenomenon,” says Burkhart. “So our ‘waffle’ hats, or anything that calls out waffle culture, are great sells for us.”
He adds, “I think people are apt to grab something that looks fun and unique versus what they need. There are people who ‘need’ a hat but having something that calls out our location that they can’t get anywhere else is where we generally do best. They can take a piece of Jackson Hole home with them.”
