Knitted team beanies: 4 ways to work in your club colours

Our last beanie article looked at cuff styles. This one is about colour, and how it gets into the knit. A beanie can't be sublimated like a jersey, so every fade, fleck and pattern on these hats is built from the yarn itself. That changes what you can ask for, and how your club colours will look on the finished hat. Here are four ways we knit colour into team beanies, with the eight styles behind them.

Why knitted colour works differently

On a printed jersey, almost any colour or gradient is possible because the dye goes onto finished fabric. A knitted beanie is made from coloured yarn, one row at a time. Each colour you add is another yarn on the machine.

So the question isn't only "which colours?" It's also "how should they meet?" They can fade into each other, twist together in one yarn, form a pattern band or sit side by side as two solid blocks. Each method gives a different look from the same two club colours.

Look 1: Ombre fades

An ombre beanie changes colour gradually from cuff to crown. It's the knitted version of the gradient fades teams already wear on their jerseys, which makes it an easy match for a sublimated kit.

The fade can also sit on the cuff alone. On the burgundy ombre fade cuff beanie the body stays solid burgundy and the cuff carries a burgundy to blush pink band with a thin double stripe. It's cut for a women's range and pairs with matching hoodies in the same colourway.

Look 2: Marled yarn

Marled yarn twists two colours into one strand. Up close you see flecks of both. From the stands it reads as a softer, mixed shade. It suits clubs that want their colours on a hat without a hard line between them.

Marl works on the pom too, even when the body is solid. The olive and charcoal marled pom beanie keeps an olive crown and a deep charcoal cuff with two bone white stripes, then mixes both colours in the pom. Earthy, low-key and easy to wear off the pitch.

What to send us for a colour-led beanie

• Your colours by reference. Pantone numbers or a photo of your current kit in daylight.
• The order of the colours. Which shade sits at the cuff and which at the crown.
• How they should meet. Fade, marl, pattern band or a clean split.
• Pom choice. One colour, marled or two-tone, or no pom at all.

Two club colours, four different hats. It depends how the yarns meet. From the knitting floor

Look 3: Jacquard pattern bands

Jacquard knitting switches between yarns to build a pattern into the fabric. On these beanies the pattern sits in a band on the cuff, so the crown stays plain and the pattern frames the face.

Checks and tartans are the other common bands. The red and beige check band beanie runs a thin red and oatmeal check across an oatmeal cuff, with an oversized oatmeal pom. The black and pink tartan jacquard beanie is louder: a black crown, a black and fluorescent pink tartan cuff and a fluoro pink pom.