Custom Lapel Pins Have Multiple Styles, Varied Uses

Custom lapel pins are versatile enough to fit just about any custom pin need you can imagine. They are available in multiple styles, shapes, colors and graphics, and are an outstanding means of identifying group members, rewarding outstanding performance or promoting social causes.

Many organizations and businesses use custom lapel pins for a variety of purposes. The versatility of custom lapel pins makes them popular among factory workers, store personnel, sports enthusiasts and campaign workers, among others. They can be customized for many specific uses.

Trading pins are a vast part of the market for custom lapel pins. Especially in Little League baseball and softball, trading pins are a cherished aspect of youth sports today. Graphic artists at many providers of custom lapel pins supply millions of trading pins every year that thousands of children and adults happily trade throughout the Little League season each year.

Ribbon custom lapel pins are another common usage. From their beginnings in the early 1990s, ribbon pins have evolved into an outstanding method to promote awareness of social causes. Although small, ribbon custom lapel pins are well-known enough that they send a powerful message against world hunger, discrimination, and many different health conditions worldwide. The trend began in 1991 with red ribbon custom lapel pins to showcase AIDS awareness and have since become a way to increase awareness of and show support for victims of virtually any medical condition in existence.

Civic organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, Rotary and Civitan often use custom lapel pins to identify their members in public. Each organization has its own unique design for its custom lapel pins.

Similarly, fraternities and sororities across the nation indicate membership through the use of custom lapel pins. Members consider getting their pins a major part of membership in these organizations.

Several different styles of custom lapel pins are available to meet specific needs, and there’s sure to be one that’s perfect for just about any organization, group or cause. Die-struck pins, for example, are perfect for military and military-style organizations. These pins have no color added. The pin is stamped from a die, and recessed areas are sandblasted to give them a grainy appearance. Raised areas of the pin are polished to a high shine.

Cloisonne pins are the highest quality custom lapel pins available. These pins are die-struck, then filled with a glass-like mixture of hard enamel and individually fired at high temperatures. These fine jewelry-quality custom lapel pins are exceptionally durable. Because the manufacturing process is so complex, cloisonne is the most expensive lapel pin style. This style is only rarely used for sports trading pins.

Soft enamel custom lapel pins look like cloisonné pins. But they are more affordable, because the colors are made from soft enamel and are fired at a lower temperature. The lower cost and attractive appearance and durable finish make them the most popular choice for sports trading pin. An epoxy coating can be added to soft enamel custom to increase durability.

For reproducing photos, gradients and drop shadows on custom lapel pins, the choice is offset digital printed pins. Unlike the raised and recessed areas common to die-struck style pins, these print a photo-quality image directly onto the flat metal surface of the pins.

Silk screened custom lapel pins are perfect for accurately reproducing corporate logos or images. These feature colors printed one at a time in a process similar to that used to print T-shirts. Like offset digital pins, these will have no raised and recessed areas.

If you’re shopping for custom lapel pins on a tight budget, photo etched custom lapel pins are the most economical style. Because they are made of thinner metal however, they are less durable than other pin types. These custom lapel pins are made by etching the design into the surface of the pin using a chemical process similar to that used to develop photographic film negatives.