Yupoong 1501KC vs AS Colour 1120: Beanie Costs

Beanies are the most seasonal product in print on demand and the one sellers plan worst. They sell for roughly eight weeks a year, which means the blank cost has to work at a price buyers accept in November — and the two most available beanies in POD are $3.95 apart at their floors and $7.83 apart at Printify.

	Yupoong 1501KC	AS Colour 1120
Cheapest verified	$12.56 (Gelato)	$16.51 (Printful)
Suppliers we price	3	2
Style	Cuffed knit, classic fit	Cuffed knit, slightly slouchier
Decoration	Embroidery or woven patch	Embroidery or woven patch

Quick verdict

Take the Yupoong 1501KC. It is cheaper at both suppliers stocking each, carried by three suppliers to the AS Colour’s two, and it is the cuffed beanie most buyers picture when they think of the category.

The AS Colour 1120 is only worth it if you are already running an AS Colour line and want the range consistent — and even then, check the Printify price before you commit.

The gap is much wider than the floors suggest

Comparing cheapest-to-cheapest understates this badly:

Supplier	Yupoong 1501KC	AS Colour 1120	Yupoong saves
Printful	$13.05	$16.51	$3.46
Printify	$14.96	$22.79	$7.83
Gelato	$12.56	—	—

At Printify the AS Colour costs $22.79 — 52% more than the Yupoong at the same supplier, and $10.23 more than the Yupoong’s floor at Gelato. A $22.79 blank needs to sell around $48 to make sense, which is not a realistic beanie price outside a premium brand with an established audience.

Gelato is the cheapest source for the 1501KC at $12.56 and does not stock the AS Colour at all.

The eight-week problem

Beanies sell from late October to early January in the northern hemisphere and are close to dead the rest of the year. That compresses everything.

You cannot recover a bad blank choice with volume over twelve months, because you do not have twelve months. If your beanie costs $22.79 and you list it at $38, you are making $15 before fees on a product with an eight-week window. At $12.56 and the same $38, you make $25 — and the difference is the whole reason to bother with the category.

It also means listing early matters more than in any other category. A beanie listing published in November is competing from a standing start against listings that have been accumulating signals since September.

What actually differs

Both are cuffed acrylic knit beanies and both decorate the same way — embroidery or a woven patch on the cuff, since knit fabric does not take direct printing well. That is worth knowing if you are used to DTG apparel: a beanie is a decoration product, not a print product, and design detail has to survive being stitched.

The Yupoong 1501KC is the classic short-cuff fit, close to the head, the shape most people mean by “beanie”. It is the safer choice for a broad audience.

The AS Colour 1120 sits slightly slouchier and reads a little more fashion-forward. If your brand is built around AS Colour’s aesthetic, the consistency has some value — but at Printify’s $22.79 it is an expensive consistency.

What to check before you commit

Headwear coverage in POD is thin. Three suppliers for the Yupoong and two for the AS Colour compares poorly with the nine that carry a Gildan 18000, and thin coverage means little price competition and no fallback if a supplier drops the SKU in October.

If beanies are more than a seasonal add-on, check that your existing supplier carries one at all before designing a line around it. Our supplier directory lists what each one stocks.

Where these sit in the beanie market

Six beanies in our data are carried by two or more suppliers, and the whole category spans less than five dollars:

Beanie	Cheapest verified	Suppliers
Beechfield B426	$12.50	2
Yupoong 1501KC	$12.56	3
Otto Cap 82-480	$14.34	2
Atlantis RIO	$15.27	2
AS Colour 1120	$16.51	2
Atlantis NELSON	$17.26	2

The 1501KC is effectively tied for cheapest — six cents behind a Beechfield B426 that only two suppliers carry — while having the best coverage in the category. The AS Colour sits fifth of six.

The category median floor is $15.27, which tells you something useful: a printed beanie costs around $15 whoever you buy it from, and no blank choice rescues a category with a thin margin and a short season.

What you can actually charge

Beanies list between $32 and $40. Take $36 and Etsy fees of about $3.87:

• Yupoong 1501KC at $12.56 leaves about $19.57
• AS Colour 1120 at $16.51 leaves about $15.62

At Printify, where the AS Colour is $22.79, the same $36 sale leaves $9.34 — less than half the Yupoong’s margin from Gelato.

On an eight-week season, that difference decides whether the category is worth stocking. Check it against your own numbers in our profit calculator.

Bottom line

The 1501KC is cheaper at every supplier carrying both, by $3.46 at Printful and $7.83 at Printify, and reaches $12.56 at Gelato. On a product with an eight-week selling window, that difference is most of the reason to run the category at all.

Compare current prices for both in our product catalogue, or see the Yupoong 1501KC supplier list before you plan a winter line.

Prices are the cost of one printed unit, pulled from each supplier’s own API. See how we source prices.