This Hat Shop Made $85,000 - I Cloned It With No Machine

About this video

He breaks down a one-person Etsy hat shop with 28 listings, about 3,000 sales and 632 reviews on Etsy’s own page, and an Everbee-estimated $84,000-plus in total sales, which he notes is an estimate rather than Etsy data. He says the shop runs two tiers: roughly half the listings are $9 custom hats where buyers send text or a logo for embroidery, which drives traffic but creates messages, mockups, and approvals on every order; the other half are $25 to $34 hats with ready-made designs that need no back-and-forth. He argues the second tier is the opportunity, especially since Printify now offers embroidery on demand with no machine required, and estimates roughly $14 profit on a $34 hat after Etsy fees and Printify costs — thinner than the machine owner’s margin, but without inventory. He stresses embroidery design rules: bold shapes, clean text, and few colors survive stitching, while gradients and tiny detail do not. From the shop’s data he points to textured blanks such as corduroy and floral styles rising, seasonal listings dipping out of season, and a thin Christmas category as an unbuilt gap heading into Q4. He warns against copying the shop’s designs, urges IP checks and ordering a sample, and discloses affiliate links in the video.

Key takeaways

• He splits the shop into $9 custom hats versus $25-$34 ready-made design hats
• Ready-made hats avoid per-order messages, mockups, and approvals, he argues
• Printify embroidery on demand removes the need to own a machine
• Embroidery needs bold shapes, clean text, and few colors — gradients fail
• Revenue figures are Everbee estimates; sales and reviews are from Etsy’s page

Episode details: published September 21, 2026 · 6:32 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: 5 Low Competition Print on Demand Niches (Only 131 Competitors on This One) · Next: The First New Cat Species in 100 Years Just Became a T-Shirt Niche →

All RJ Martinez videos · RJ Martinez profile · RJ Martinez on YouTube