THE FORGE

Need help generating patch ideas? Use our free Hat Patch Designer on ChatGPT — it designs for how patches are actually cut.

Try it free

Design custom hat patches your customers actually buy.

Upload art, trace clean cut lines, pick a material, and see it on a real hat. Then export print-and-cut files.

Start free trial

Drop in the logo. The cut line draws itself.

Upload a PNG or SVG, remove the background right in the browser, and PatchForge traces a clean cut line around the art.

Any shape your customer pictures.

Dome, shield, hexagon, badge, crest, ticket, or a die-cut around the art. Have your own cut line? Upload it.

Engrave into two-tone leatherette and wood.

Two-tone materials engrave to their backing color for a clean tonal look. Pick from 170+ engrave-ready materials, priced by the square inch.

Full color, printed and cut.

UV print full-color art on leather, leatherette, vinyl, or acrylic. Registration marks keep the print and the cut lined up, so every patch comes off the sheet clean.

The cut line is already done.

PatchForge sets the offset around your art, so the file you export is one your laser can run.

See it on the hat before anyone makes it.

Your exact patch at true size, on the hat, so the customer sees what they are buying before anything gets cut.

Richardson 112 in Loden

800+ real hat colorways.

Real product photos, not drawings. Your patch lands on every one, front and back, then goes out as a proof link your customer can approve.

Then fill the sheet.

Pack a full production sheet with registration marks, then export print-ready sheets and DXF cut files for your printer, laser, or cutter.

One tab. Idea to production file.

Start free for 7 days. Cancel anytime.

Start free trial

Design it. See it on the hat. Ship the file.

The three surfaces you will live in: patch builder, hat mockups, and gang sheets.

  1. Patch BuilderLeather, vinyl, or acrylic, with auto cut lines and a live price.
  2. Hat MockupYour patch on 800+ real hat colorways, front and back views.
  3. Gang SheetPack a full production sheet with registration marks that just line up.
The PatchForge patch builder with a leather patch, its cut line, and the material panel
A patch mocked up on a real hat in PatchForge
A PatchForge gang sheet with patches nested and registration marks

From idea to production file in four steps.

Everything happens in one browser tab. No installs, no plugin stack, no re-drawing.

  1. 1

    Upload your art

    Drop in a PNG or SVG. Remove the background right in the browser, with no round-trip to another app.

  2. 2

    Design it

    Auto-generate clean cut lines and contours, choose a shape, pick leather, vinyl, or acrylic, and set UV print or laser engrave.

  3. 3

    Mock it up on a hat

    Drop your patch onto a real hat mockup so the customer sees the finished product before they pay.

  4. 4

    Export production files

    Send a print-ready sheet plus cut files, including DXF, straight to your printer, laser, or cutter.

Everything a patch maker needs. Nothing they don't.

One workspace that covers the whole job, from art to approval to production file.

Start free trial

  1. Auto cut lines and contours

    SVG tracing and one-click contour offset turn any logo into a clean, cuttable outline you can trust.

  2. Materials library

    Leather, leatherette, vinyl, and acrylic swatches with the right look for UV print or laser engrave.

  3. In-browser background remover

    Knock out the background from a customer photo or logo without leaving the builder.

  4. Gang sheet and registration marks

    Pack multiple patches onto one sheet with registration marks made for print-and-cut workflows.

  5. Live hat mockups

    Preview patches on real hat styles so the design decision is made before a single sheet is printed.

  6. Production-ready export

    Print-ready sheets plus cut files including DXF, the formats your laser and cutter already speak.

  7. Send-to-client proofs

    Share a clean proof link so customers approve the exact patch before it goes into production.

  8. Real dimensions

    Design at true size with accurate measurements, so what leaves the machine is what you drew.

Print it or burn it. Same design.

Switch between UV print and laser engrave on the same patch. The cut line and price come along automatically.

The PatchForge design builder printing a full-color school logo patch with the material panel open
UV printed, full colorFull-color art, printed on any patch materialDrop in a logo and print it in full color on leather, leatherette, vinyl, or acrylic. Choose from the material panel and watch the price update by the square inch.
The PatchForge design builder engraving a monochrome patch with the leatherette material panel open
Laser engraved, tonalEngrave into two-tone leatherette and woodTwo-tone materials engrave to their backing color for a clean tonal look. Pick from 170+ engrave-ready materials, and the cut line and price come along automatically.

Most shops are still doing this the hard way.

Most patch tooling was built for engineers, not makers. So a five-minute design turns into an afternoon of tracing, exporting, guessing, and redoing.

  • Redrawing cut lines by hand in software that fights you every step.
  • Guessing whether the file will actually cut clean, until the machine proves you wrong.
  • Emailing flat JPEGs and hoping the client can picture it on a hat.
  • Paying for four different tools to do one patch.
The old wayWith PatchForge
Redraw cut lines by hand in complex softwareAuto-traced cut lines and contours in one click
Bounce between four different appsArt, materials, mockup, and export in one place
Guess how it will look on the hatLive hat mockups before you print anything
Email a flat JPEG and hopeShareable proof links customers approve
Wrestle files into the right formatPrint-ready sheets and DXF cut files, done
Hundreds of dollars in tooling$12/mo, or $199 once, forever

If you put a patch on a hat, this is for you.

Built for the people who make patches: hat makers, patch and embroidery shops, laser engravers, UV print shops, and Etsy and Shopify sellers.

Real shops. Real hats. Real reorders.

Hat bars, laser shops, and sellers who stopped fighting their design tools.

“We run a hat bar at weekend markets, customer picks a blank, picks a design, and I mock the patch on their exact hat while they watch. Add-on patch sales roughly doubled the first month.”
JessHat Bar Owner · Nashville, TN
“The cut file just runs. I export for my laser, drop it in, and the cut follows the patch exactly, no re-tracing, no test cuts, no scrap pile of leatherette.”
MikeLaser Store Owner · Boise, ID
“Listing photos used to mean a whole afternoon with a camera. Now I mock one design across a dozen hat colors and my Etsy listings are up the same day.”
SarahEtsy Hat Seller · Waco, TX
“Gang sheets with registration marks made print-and-cut boring, in the best way. We batch a full sheet of patches and everything lines up on the first pass.”
TonyUV Print Shop Owner · Phoenix, AZ
“I send the proof link, the customer taps approve on their phone, and production starts. No more 'wait, I pictured it bigger' after the patch is already cut.”
RachelCustom Hat Boutique · Charleston, SC
“I replaced Illustrator, Photoshop, and two plugins with one browser tab. My part-timer learned the whole flow in an afternoon, that alone paid for the year.”
DanCustom Patch Shop Owner · Columbus, OH

One honest price. Start free for 7 days.

Every plan unlocks the full builder. No per-export fees, no seat games.

Monthly

Full builder, no commitment.

$12/month

  • Every builder and material
  • Live hat mockups
  • Gang sheets and DXF export
  • Client proof links
Most popular

Yearly

Two months free compared with monthly.

$120/year

  • Everything in Monthly
  • Save $24 a year
  • Priority updates
  • Cancel anytime

Lifetime

Pay once. Use it forever.

$199once

  • Everything, permanently
  • No recurring bill
  • All future V1 updates
  • One-time payment, charged today, final sale

7-day free trial on monthly and yearly. No card charged until day 8. Cancel in one click. Lifetime is a one-time payment, charged today, and a final sale, so try the free trial first.

Try it free. Zero risk.

Use the full builder for 7 days before you pay a cent. If it is not saving you time, cancel in one click. No emails, no phone calls, no hard feelings.

Questions before you start?

What materials can I design for?

Leather and leatherette, vinyl, and acrylic. Pick the material and PatchForge sets up the right look for either UV printing or laser engraving.

What is the difference between laser and UV?

Laser engraving burns the design into materials like leather for a classic, tonal look. UV printing lays down full-color art on top. PatchForge lets you switch between the two on the same design.

Do I need design skills or Illustrator?

No. Upload a logo, remove the background, and let auto-tracing build your cut lines. If you can drag a file into a browser, you can make a patch.

What cut files and formats do I get?

Print-ready sheets for UV, plus vector cut files including DXF for lasers and cutters, with registration marks for print-and-cut jobs.

Can I cancel or get a refund?

Your first 7 days are free. Cancel any time before then and you are never charged. After that you can cancel in one click from your account and keep access through the period you paid for. Lifetime is a final sale.

Is my artwork private?

Yes. Your uploads and designs are yours. We do not sell your art or use it to train anything, and background removal runs right in your browser.

All questions

Forge your first patch today.

Start free, design a real patch in minutes, and send a proof your customer can approve before lunch.

Start free trial

7-day free trial · Cancel anytime · Sign in with Google

— more from PatchForge

Everything else this app gives you.

Free tools, libraries and guides — most of it works before you pay for anything.