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​Perhaps one of the most popular uses for button badges has been within the music industry. Bands throughout the 60’s saw the opportunity and began producing badges as an affordable and versatile form of promotional merchandise, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s and the Punk explosion that badges and their musical connections would be cemented forever.

London was the hub of the Punk movement in the UK, home to infamous venues and establishments such as The Roundhouse, The 100 Club and the NO.TOM guitar shop on tin pan alley. One of the most recognised areas being Portobello road, widely regarded as the epicentre for the punk movement in 70’s London. Here, ‘Better Badges’ was formed. Another punk landmark famous for their affiliation with such bands as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.

Yes badges and zine’s – often manufactured and printed under the same roof – were essential, customary for Punk and its many sub genres. As we shuttled through the 20th century badges really came into their own, increasingly adopted by an array of acts from Joy Division, Elvis Costello to Blur – crafted with increasing intelligence and detail.

​Perhaps one of the most popular uses for button badges has been within the music industry. Bands throughout the 60’s saw the opportunity and began producing badges as an affordable and versatile form of promotional merchandise, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s and the Punk explosion that badges and their musical connections would be cemented forever.

London was the hub of the Punk movement in the UK, home to infamous venues and establishments such as The Roundhouse, The 100 Club and the NO.TOM guitar shop on tin pan alley. One of the most recognised areas being Portobello road, widely regarded as the epicentre for the punk movement in 70’s London. Here, ‘Better Badges’ was formed. Another punk landmark famous for their affiliation with such bands as the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.

Yes badges and zine’s – often manufactured and printed under the same roof – were essential, customary for Punk and its many sub genres. As we shuttled through the 20th century badges really came into their own, increasingly adopted by an array of acts from Joy Division, Elvis Costello to Blur – crafted with increasing intelligence and detail.

​From the ancient Greeks and Romans to the late medieval period and Celts, brooches became more expressive, closer to jewellery. A great example of how decorative brooches became is the Dunstable Swan Jewel, dated to around the 1400’s.

At a similar time, processes began to allow for bulk production of simpler designs made from cheap base metals. These simpler brooches would have been issued to mark completion of a pilgrimage or as livery or heraldic insignia, stating your allegiance to your chosen house.

In the renaissance period, the wealthy elite across Europe started a trend creating ‘personal devices’ which took developed countries by storm. They served as a means of expressing yourself, typically containing an image with a combinations of words that best described your personality.

So brooches moved from function to form and became a means of making a statement. Whether that meant belonging as one part of a group, as a belief in a faith, a statement of wealth or in your earned position within an organisation – such as the army – lapel pins and ceremonial brooches have been a part of military insignia for hundreds of years.

It was this shift to wearing pins and brooches regularly to express yourself, and the increasing ease of which they could be produced that defines the term badge. But who actually coined the phrase ‘button badge’?

​Back in 1892, two businessmen local to New Jersey, NY joined forces to create a manufacturing business specialising in promotional and advertising novelties. Benjamin Whitehead, who was a printer by trade and Chester Hoag, who was a paper and twine merchant.

Together, they formed Whitehead & Hoag Co. which was the first ever button manufacturer (or button badge as the British would call it) and remained the foremost throughout the early years of the industry.

The Americans still refer to pin badges as buttons and ‘button badge’ is an amalgam of the two terms. Initially printing images and slogans on to cloth or paper and stretching the design over a tin back, the company would then use a revolutionary new material known as celluloid, stretched over the button to protect the design.

Their patented designs – clearly recognisable to the button badge that we all know, saw the business go from strength to strength. It was only the departing of first Hoag and then Whitehead that forced their families to sell to one of their main competitors, who eventually phased out the trading name by the mid 1960’s.

They say good things come in small packages – well, never was this truer than with humble badge. They are so easily customised and when you get the right balance between simplicity, detail and message – the result is a striking product that people will want to pin to their jackets, bags and hats.

​Almost every aspect of the badge can be adapted to suit your requirements: colour, shape, size, material and finish, so you know you can achieve a product that reflects your company, organisation or brand perfectly.

Here at Badgebase, we produce all manner of badges from hard and soft enamel pin badges to die-struck badges, from PVC badges to the classic button badge. Whilst our range of pin badges differ in lead time, price and minimum order quantity – their generally low unit cost make badges perfect as promotional hand out at events or to include within another product purchase.

​Alternatively, if intended as a retail product rather than purely for promotional purposes, their affordability lends itself well to creating profit – especially useful for charities raising awareness as well as money.

Badges are timeless and unflinchingly popular

Any questions? Get in touch with us today

Here at Badgebase we specialise in producing high quality, custom made badges that surpass our client’s expectations. Our badge products range from hard and soft enamel pin badges to die struck pin badges, from resin dome badges to the humble button badge. With a wide variety of design types, serving customers across multiple industries – Badgebase have the experience to make your custom made badge designs a reality.

​We pride ourselves on the services we provide; from meeting our clients design specifications with an end product as close to their design as possible, to offering and in-house design service to help customers realise their design regardless of how developed an idea is. Clients need not worry if a design is simply a sketch or photograph and needs completely designing from scratch, or whether you have a complete digital file that transfers perfectly for the desired process.

Whether you are an individual designer or artist looking to use custom enamel pin badges as an outlet for your creativity, whether you are a club or service requiring polished pin badges as insignia or whether you are an organisation looking for employee name badges, we pride ourselves on the comprehensive range of products we offer and are confident in our superior product quality.

Our custom made badges range in expense and complexity, starting with our highly popular button badges synonymous with bands and charities the world over, through to our extremely detailed 3D die cast badges with their multiple finishes, colours and shapes. Different processes and badges require different lead times and minimum quantities. This is something to keep in mind depending on the timescale you have in mind for your badges.

You can view all of our different variations of custom made badges from the drop-down ‘badges’ section of our website, where you will find information regarding minimum orders, lead times, fastening and finishing options. Here at Badgebase we go above and beyond for our customers and always try to accommodate your requirements wherever possible. If you’re stuck on a lead time or not sure you need the full minimum order amount, get in touch via our contact page and we can go through your options.

Request a quote using our easy-to-use quotation form, including all of your specifications and artwork. We’ll come back to you with a price and you can decide whether you’re ready to place an order for the custom made badges of your choice. We’ll prepare the artwork proof for you to sign-off and once your order is confirmed by payment, we’ll set a date and dispatch on the given date.

​So if you have any other questions not answered in this article, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team via our contact page.

Our Personalised Badge Service

These Pin Badges – a tribute to the Emergency Services, are now being sold to raise funds for Air Ambulance as their work supports all three emergency services. You can find this unique design as an Offset Print Pin Badge for sale at https://www.pixearl.com/charity where £2.00 from every badge sold is donated to Air Ambulance, a service which relies entirely upon the generosity of public donations to fund their work.

Do drop by there and have a look.