OUR MOST FREQUENTY ASKED QUESTION:
Why use your company when I could go directly to China?
Going factory direct is a growing trend in the pin maker community. With the alleged promise of lower prices, this route can be tempting, but is it worth it? Here are the top reasons you’re better off with us.
Stress-Free
Finding a trusted manufacturer is the hardest part about making pins. We have already tested and vetted countless factories and established relationships with the best, resulting in a network of trusted sources. Unlike most overseas factories, we'll correct issues and remake your pins for free if you are not satisfied.
Price
Our prices are on par with many overseas factories, but without hidden fees for setup or shipping. We handle the headache of taxes, duties, and tariffs imposed on imported goods. While the cost of shipping from China ranges from $35-$70, your pins will ship from our NY office for only $16.50.
Flexibility
There is no one-size-fits-all pin factory. We know exactly which of our factories will do the best job on your specific pins, and we put care into our decision. We have been in the pin industry for over 40 years, so you’ll have experienced pin-makers to recommend the best specs based on your design.
Involvement
We’d love to follow your Instagram and support your Kickstarter. We have artists on staff who make and collect their own pins, so we understand what it's like in your shoes. We participate in pin cons and love meeting our customers face-to-face. You’re not just another number on an invoice.
Additional Commonly Asked Questions
How is your quality is so high, considering how low your prices are? Is quality really as high as you claim?
It's common for a US-based pin company have a single factory they work closely with. While convenient for the company, it doesn’t always equate to the best experience or final product for you. We're different because we have a network of factories that we work with, and we are well acquainted with each of their strengths. For example, we may choose to send a glitter pin to one factory and a rainbow plated pin to another. If you have a specific date you need your pins by, some of our factories are much better at meeting those deadlines than others. With that knowledge, we send your order to the factory that will fulfill your unique order the most effectively.
How are you able to offer pricing that is similar to many overseas factories?
Trying to find factories that suit your needs can be a truly overwhelming process. Over the course of many years, we’ve put our blood, sweat, and tears into the process of vetting factories, placing test orders with one factory after another, trying to find the best of the best. During our extensive research process we were able to find some true gems that have an amazing balance of price and quality.
I’m against worker exploitation and only want to use factories who treat their employees fairly.
We’re against it too! We only use factories that go through vigorous auditing and inspection processes. Our factories are required to provide detailed SMETA and SEDEX reports ensuring fair treatment of employees regarding ethical and safe working conditions and exposure to hazardous chemicals. This audit also enforces overtime caps for workers. We also require SGS reports from our factories certifying that their raw materials are below the legal limits for lead, mercury, and other hazardous materials.
Error Rate Information
During the process of establishing relationships with our factories, we chose not to pursue a relationship with many whose error rates were too high for our standards. We have also terminated our relationship with factories when their quality declined and they were unable to correct it after being given ample opportunity. This means we have a far below average error rate because we are currently working with a network of factories that all produce the highest quality we could find.
Enamel pins are hand-made. Each pin is handled by several different workers completing different parts of the process. This means that having some flawed pins is common with every factory. The most common flaws are very minor. Although we have a lower error rate than most competitors, certain special options such as rainbow, glitter, and antique metal tend to be more prone to errors in general.
Intellectual Property and Fan Art Policy
We take intellectual property law and art theft very seriously. This means we will not reproduce any image that is not your original design. Just as we would not produce a pin for a counterfeit pin designer who stole your artwork, we will not produce a pin for you that came directly from Disney, Fox, or any other organization that you do not own the rights to.
We often make use of Google reverse image search to find the sources of images if we are unsure whether an image belongs to someone else. Many counterfeit designs are obvious, but we also like to ensure art isn’t taken from smaller artists.
Fan art is accepted at our own discretion based on how original the concept is and how far the drawing deviates from any existing iteration of the character. If based on an existing character, the artwork provided to us must be your original drawing.
Shown here is a character that resembles an existing comic book character, but is clearly in a different form than the actual character.
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