Following a custom established in the 14th century, modern-day scholars display their academic achievements by wearing traditional regalia at the commencements and other important ceremonies. All of our university regalia strictly complies with the guidelines set forth by the Committee on Academic Customs and Ceremonies, appointed in 1959 by the American Council on Education.

American Council on Education Committee on Academic Customs & Ceremonies Color Guidelines
Arts, Letters & Humanties	White
Education	Light Blue
Engineering	Orange
Law	Purple
Medicine	Green
Philosophy	Dark Blue
Science	Golden Yellow

In addition to the degree colors, each school generally has its own colors. If you know the colors that you need, be sure to let us know. Otherwise, let us know which school is your alma mater, and we will look up the colors for you.

As each hood is custom-made according to your school colors, degree colors, and type of degree (BA, MA, or PhD), we ask that you give us about 6-8 weeks to process your order, especially during the graduation season. What if you don't have six weeks to wait?

All hoods are priced by quantity. You do not have to purchase every hood the same to receive a the discount. For example, if you are ordering a large quantity of caps, gowns and hoods for faculty use but require your hoods to be in many different colors (as your faculty has graduated from different universities and holds different degrees), you would still receive the quanity discount!

What kind of hood do you need? You should purchase your hood to match the gown you have selected.

Deluxe custom quality Doctoral hoods

The correct velvet for all Ph.D degrees is dark blue, representing the mastery of the discipline of scholarship. On the other hand, the correct velvet color for all non PhD doctoral holders (as well as masters and bachelors) would be that of their particular field. That means that while a Doctor of Education (EdD) would receive light blue velvet, a PhD in English would receive the dark blue velvet. A non-PhD Doctor of Science would receive Gold velvet, but a PhD in Science would receive the dark Blue Velvet. A non PhD Doctor of Engineering would receive Orange Velvet, but a PhD in Engineering would each receive the dark blue velvet. To avoid confusion, it is very important therefore for all doctors ordering hoods to clearly specify whether they are a PhD (and would be receiving the dark blue velvet regardless of their field) or a Doctor of …

Deluxe hoods are available with or without piping.

Piping may be added on PhD hoods for PhD holders wishing to indicate their field of discipline. For example we could add gold piping to hood of a PhD of Science, or Light Blue piping for a PhD of Education to indicate their particular field of study since otherwise one would only be able to recognize that the person has a PhD (from their velvet), but not know what the PhD is in.

The cap and gown are in stock, but the hood takes 6-8 weeks to make. I need to march next month. What do I do?

For customers who are in a rush, Cap and Gowns can often help you out with our "loaner hoods". This means as follows: Let us say that you want a PhD Cap and Gown that we have in stock and can ship the same day. And you need to march in 3 weeks, but the color hood you need takes 6-8 weeks to make. What we can do is send you a substitute hood upon receipt of your payment. While this may not be the exact color you need, it is a lot better than not having a hood at all, and most people don't know the difference anyway. In the meantime, we can begin making your custom color hood. We send out your cap, gown, tassel, and loaner hood right away. You send back the loaner hood as soon as you are done with it, and then we ship you your custom hood for all future events. This arrangement has helped many faculty members who need hoods right away, but would prefer to have their own colors for the future. And we don't charge any extra for it either. Not even extra shipping. If we can help, let us know.