The real cost of printed swim caps for a UK club in 2026
The one price we publish, what it covers, the six things that move a quote away from it, and how early a UK club needs to start.
Bruno P., 2026-10-12
The first thing a UK club secretary wants to know about printed caps is roughly what they'll cost. Fair enough. Nobody wants to spend a committee meeting on caps and then watch the treasurer choke on the number. So here's the one price we publish, what's in it, what moves a quote away from it, and when to order.
Quick background. The caps are printed by Swim Hat Company in its UK factory (Euro Swim Caps is its European brand, same factory). AquaEvents passes your request to them and the quote comes back to you. The figure below is our UK price. Your quote is still the number you sign off.
The price we publish
Standard silicone caps, your logo in one colour on one side: GBP 4.99 per cap for 300 to 499 caps, including 20% VAT. It's the same figure you'll see on our UK swim caps page and the silicone caps page. VAT is already in it, so it can go straight into the budget without anyone reaching for a calculator.
Everything else is a quote, and I'd rather say that plainly than dress it up. A cap order has half a dozen settings and each one changes the sum. We'd rather send you the right number within 24 hours than publish a grid of guesses that turns out wrong for your order.
| Setting | Covered by GBP 4.99 per cap | Anything else |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Standard silicone, 50 g | Long-hair silicone, suede, latex, polyester, lycra, competition and allover print: priced in your quote |
| Quantity | 300 to 499 caps | Fewer than 300, or 500 and more: priced in your quote |
| Print colours | 1 | 2 to 6 colours, subject to artwork: priced in your quote |
| Printed sides | 1 | Both sides: priced in your quote |
| Names | None | Individually named caps cost extra: priced in your quote |
| Production | Standard, 3 weeks from artwork approval | Express and Super Express: priced in your quote |
Two worked examples
Both sit inside the published band, so the arithmetic is just multiplication. Both totals include VAT.
| Order | Caps | Per cap incl. VAT (GBP) | Total incl. 20% VAT (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard silicone, 1 colour, 1 side | 300 | 4.99 | 1,497.00 |
| Standard silicone, 1 colour, 1 side | 400 | 4.99 | 1,996.00 |
| Standard silicone, 1 colour, 1 side | 499 | 4.99 | 2,490.01 |
300 caps with a one-colour crest
Say your club wants 300 caps with the crest in one colour. That's 300 x GBP 4.99, so 1,497.00 including VAT. If the number grows to 400 once the junior squads are counted, it's 1,996.00. Same price per cap, because it's still the same band.
220 caps, or 600
Now say your club needs 220. Or 600. The price per cap for those is in your quote, and I'm not going to pretend I know it. Be wary of anyone who gives you a percentage for a different band without a quote behind it.
If you're sitting just under 300, ask for both figures in one request: your own number and 300. The quote shows each band, and the committee decides with real numbers in front of it. The guide to how many caps to order shows how to get to your own number first.
What changes the price
Six things move a quote away from the published figure. None of them has a published price, so the best I can do is tell you how each one works.
- Quantity band. The GBP 4.99 covers 300 to 499 caps. Below 300 and from 500 up, the price per cap is set in your quote. The smallest order for standard silicone is 50 caps.
- Print colours. One colour is the published price. Up to 6 are possible, subject to artwork, and the extra colours go into the quote. Printing screens are free, subject to sight of your artwork.
- Both sides. The published price is for one side. A second side is a question on our form and the quote prices it.
- Named caps. Individually named caps cost extra. Order them to the exact number, because a cap with somebody's name on it can't be handed to the next new junior.
- Material. Suede, long-hair silicone, latex, polyester, lycra, competition and allover print caps are all priced in the quote. The silicone, latex and suede guide helps you choose before you ask.
- Express. Express and Super Express exist for tight dates. Standard production is 3 weeks from artwork approval, and anything faster is priced in the quote.
So 250 caps in two colours, printed both sides, has no published figure at all. That doesn't mean it's expensive. The number just comes from a quote within 24 hours rather than off a web page.
What the price includes
- VAT at 20%. That's the UK standard rate on most goods and services, according to GOV.UK, and it's already in the GBP 4.99.
- A one-colour print on one side of a standard 50 g silicone cap. One size fits adults and children, and the printer describes the silicone as 100% hypo-allergenic.
- Printing screens, free subject to sight of your artwork. Visuals are available on request, so you see the cap before you approve it.
- Delivery. Standard delivery is free, and UK mainland addresses get free carriage once an order passes a small minimum value. A 300-cap order is well past it.
What it doesn't include
Any of the six settings above, obviously. Beyond those, two things catch clubs out. The free carriage wording says UK mainland, so if your club is on an island or anywhere off the mainland, ask in the request and get the delivery line confirmed in the quote.
The other one is the artwork. If your logo only exists as a blurry JPEG lifted off the club website, somebody has to redraw it before it can be printed, and that costs time even when it doesn't cost money. The cap printer checklist lists what to send so this doesn't hold you up.
When to order
Standard lead time on the printer's product pages is 3 weeks from artwork approval (one page says from approval and payment). The home page also mentions 10-14 days with express options. I'd plan around 3 weeks and treat anything faster as a bonus, or as something you pay for.
Those 3 weeks start when you approve the artwork, not when you send the first email, and the artwork stage is where the time actually goes. A committee that wants to vote on the exact shade of navy. A proof that sits in someone's inbox over half-term. Count backwards from the date the caps need to be on swimmers' heads, not the date they ship.
A realistic plan for a standard order
- 6 weeks before: Send the request: vector logo, Pantone references, quantity, and the date caps must be in swimmers' hands.
- Within 24 hours: The quote comes back, with a reference number.
- 5 weeks before: Visual agreed and artwork approved. Leave a week for this, it's the step that slips.
- 4 weeks before: Payment done. The 3-week production clock is running.
- 1 week before: Caps arrive. You have a week of slack for anything that went wrong.
Short on time? Express does work. A Euro Swim Caps customer review from Lindsay reads:
Silicone hats, 2 colour print, look and feel great. We needed express delivery and they arrived as requested.
Lindsay, a Euro Swim Caps customer review
It does cost more, though. If you're ordering around a gala or a championship, the six-week countdown goes through the plan week by week.
Where clubs spend more than they need to
Colours, mostly. A crest with a thin gold outline looks lovely on the letterhead, and from the pool deck the outline often disappears. If you're torn, ask for one colour and two colours in the same quote. Seeing the difference in pounds usually settles the argument quickly.
The second one is express that nobody needed. Most rush orders I see weren't late because of production. They were late because the artwork sat unapproved for a fortnight. Send the vector logo with the first email and approve the visual the week it arrives, and the standard 3 weeks is usually enough.
Third, names on every cap. They're a nice touch for a squad of twenty, but a named cap is dead stock the moment the swimmer leaves. Most clubs do better with plain club caps for everyone and names only where they really matter.
Which material, I'm leaving to its own guide, but briefly: silicone is what the printer recommends for daily users, and latex is what it suggests for one-off events and giveaways. For a club that trains every week, silicone is the usual answer, and it's the cap the published price is for.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a printed silicone swim cap cost for a UK club?
GBP 4.99 per cap for standard silicone with a one-colour print on one side, at 300 to 499 caps, including 20% VAT. Other quantities, colours, sides and materials are priced in your quote within 24 hours.
What do 300 printed silicone caps cost?
At GBP 4.99 per cap, 300 standard silicone caps printed in one colour on one side come to 1,497.00 including 20% VAT.
Why is there only one published price?
Quantity, print colours, sides, names, material and express all change the sum. Rather than publish guesses, we price the exact order in a quote within 24 hours.
Is delivery to the UK free?
UK mainland addresses get free carriage above a small minimum order value, which a 300-cap order clears easily. For addresses off the mainland, ask in your quote request.
How long does a printed swim cap order take?
The standard lead time is 3 weeks from artwork approval. Express and Super Express options exist at extra cost. Plan for about 6 weeks from first email to caps in hand.