(Newswire.net — May 30, 2019) — Every once in a while, something comes out and disrupt the way we used to do things. The world of fashion has evolved over the past centuries. Nowadays, people pay more attention to their fashion. Your appearance says a lot about your personality. Thus, people who invested in the fashion industry are making a lot of money nowadays.
According to a report, the global fashion industry market has a value of $385.7 billion. Every year, an average American household spends about $1,700 on fashion related products and services. But this spending is increasing among Millennial.
No doubt, top fashion brands are making more money than they can handle every year. Think of Adidas, Gucci, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Versace, Louis Vuitton, and Hermes. All these brands are making millions. Unfortunately, breaking into the fashion industry is really hard unless you are able to be among the first to adopt a new fashion trend.
Enter enamel lapel pins – the latest fashion trend in the world now!
Since enamel pins, which is also known as lapel pins begin trending a couple of months ago, entrepreneurs all over the world are running up and down looking for a way to enter into this new business and enjoy the huge revenue that comes from the fashion industry. No doubt, these small pins are going to be the next big thing in the fashion industry. Even major retailers such as Urban Outfitters are already making lots of money simply by transforming their unique design ideas into enamel lapel pins. You too can leverage this opportunity as well. In this article, you will learn everything you need about making enamel lapel pins.
This guide has everything you need from coming up with unique ideas to marketing your own enamel lapel pins. Keep on reading to find out more.
What is Enamel Lapel Pin?
Enamel lapel pins are those small pins that are usually worn at the lapel of a jacket. Some people also attach these small pins to their purses, backpack, and even on other items like their iPhone cover. The great thing with these pins is that they can be used in a number of ways.
Perhaps, two reasons why enamel pins are becoming popular in recent years is because they are highly customizable and thanks to big social media like Instagram and Tumblr, it is easy to promote these designs. You can see hundreds of thousands of unique designs of enamel pins on Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
Making enamel pins don’t have to be a long and complicated process. Unlike most people think, this is actually a very easy and straightforward process. Below, you will learn in step by step how to make your own lapel pins starting from today.
Guide To Making Your Own Enamel Lapel Pins: 10 Steps To Become Successful In Making Enamel Pins
1. Find Your Own Unique Niche
When you want to achieve success in life, you must be willing to set yourself apart. If you want to make money by creating enamel pins, you need to find a niche to cater for. Don’t join a niche because your friends are doing the same thing.
Take, for instance, a friend of mine was able to make over $150K in just 3 months designing and selling enamel pins to tourists to the Bahamas. He was able to carve a niche for himself. In so doing, he avoided competitions and easily became an authority in his niche. Today, if you see anyone coming back from the Bahamas with an enamel pin, there is a strong chance he bought his/her enamel pin from this guy.
How Do You Find A Niche?
There is no one cap fits all solution. You may have to do some research to find a profitable niche you can create enamel pins for. Fortunately, it is not as hard as you may think. To find a niche for yourself, you can ask yourself some questions like:
- What do I enjoy doing?
- What type of websites do I like to visit?
- What groups do I belong to?
You can start by designing and creating enamel pins for students in your area. If you are a member of a church or say lawyers association, you can start by designing an enamel pin for church or for lawyers. You can even design enamel pins for tech lovers. You get the idea.
Before you choose a niche, make sure that such niche is active and sustainable. Unless your goal is not to make a profit, you will certainly need a niche that has the potential to buy your enamel pins in big quantities. Thus, we will recommend you look for a niche where you can easily find influencers to help you promote your enamel pins.
2. Come Up With Unique Designs
Perhaps, this is going to be the toughest part of creating your own lapel pins. You will need to come up with your own unique ideas to make you stand out in the competitive marketplace. You don’t need to worry even if you don’t have design skills, it is still possible to create beautiful enamel pins.
Luckily for you, we now live in a world where you can get hundreds of resources online to make any design possible. You are only limited by your ability to do research. Hundreds of these design tools can be found online. Some of these tools include:
- Photoshop
- Pixlr
- SumoPaint
- GIMP
- Paint.Net
There are tutorials online you can use to learn these courses. You can also learn with YouTube videos. You don’t have to be an expert in using these tools. You just need to learn them enough to create your own unique designs using them.
Alternative: If you are too busy to take a tutorial or you don’t trust yourself to create a design that will stand out, you can always hire someone else to do it for you. There are some really good and affordable options out there for finding talented designers. Look for quality but affordable designers in the following freelance marketplace:
- Fiverr
- UpWork
- GraphicRiver
- Creative Market
- Noun Project
- Peopleperhour
Whether you are designing yourself or outsourcing, it is important that you ensure that the resources you are using have a commercial license.
4. Decide On The Color You Want To Use
There are thousands of options to choose when it comes to color. You will have to decide which one will be the best one for your enamel pins. Ideally, you can compare different colors using online resources known as “Pantone Color”. Most designers usually use this resource to compare different colors to find out which one will match their design the best.
Tip: Some colors are associated with some professions or activities. Take, for instance, white colors or green are associated with doctors. If you are creating an enamel pin for an industry that has something to do with the environment, you will need to go with green color. Red is usually the best for sports-related activities. Thus, search for colors that are associated with the activity or industry you are creating your lapel pins for.
5. Manufacture Your Enamels
Now is one of the most important stages in this process. You need to be careful when you reach this stage. Here, you will track down an enamel pin manufacturer who can be able to transform your idea into a finished product.
For most people, especially those without any experiencing of starting their own business, this stage can be utterly frustrating. You need to spend days researching and contacting manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors. While it is true it requires a lot of work, it is also very exciting. In reality, it is a straightforward process and anyone can do it. The secret is to know what you want and how much that you are willing to spend on manufacturing your enamel pins.
However, before you contact enamel pin manufacturers, you need to understand how enamel pin works. Basically, there are two types which include:
- Hard Enamel Pins
- Soft Enamel Pins
Let’s take a look at them one after another:
What are Hard Enamel Pins?
Hard Enamel pins are usually created for professional organizations. If you see a lawyer or a banker wearing an enamel pin, there is a big chance it is hard enamel pin. In most cases, these pins are painted by hand and also polished in order to make them shine by removing the rough edges.
Depending on the manufacturer you are using, your hard enamel pin will be sealed with a protective glossy layer and then baked at high heat to make the surface free of indentations and very smooth. The process of creating hard enamel is usually very expensive. Hence, the finished product is expensive as well. Manufacturers of these type of enamels will usually create a custom mold which they will later fill with dye material.
As you can see, making hard enamel pins is really a very complicated process. Thus, always ensure you have a sophisticated market that is ready to pay for the final products before you start the manufacturing process.
What are Soft Enamel Pins?
As you may have guessed, the process of manufacturing soft enamel pins are often less complicated compared to their counterpart (hard pins). Thus, this makes them a very popular choice for creating enamel pins for beginners.
The production cost of soft enamel pins is low. Usually, the surface of soft enamel pins is not coated with the additional layer. To produce them, the manufacturer will fill an engraved metal with inks and then air-dry them to cling to the metal surface. This process often allows you to get more texture detail into your designs. Nevertheless, they have lower durability and can easily scratch, unlike hard enamel pins. But on the bright side, you will spend less money manufacturing them.
Enamel Manufacturers
Fortunately, you can find manufacturers in North America, Europe, and Asia with a simple Google search. If you want to produce enamel pins with the highest quality, you should focus on North America and Europe. You can also get high-quality enamels at a reduced rate using Alibaba to find some reliable enamel manufacturers most in China.
Some of the known enamel manufacturers you can use include:
- Vivi Pins
- The Studio
- Made by Cooper
- True Metal Works
6. Make Your Enamel Pins Pretty
If you really want to excel as enamel pins designer, learn to keep it pretty and high-quality. This will make it more appealing to your target market. Besides, this will make you look more professional and help you to build trust.
While choosing your enamel pin manufacturer, always go through their portfolios first to ensure they can produce the type of enamel pins you have in mind. Don’t choose any enamel pin manufacturer without first seeing his previous works.
7. Describe Your Pins and Request Samples
When you contact a manufacturer, he will ask you to describe what you have in mind. You will need to describe the type of enamel pins you want, the number of pins you want, dimensions and types. With this information, a manufacturer will be able to send you a quote. You should go ahead and ask the manufacturer for his input. Since they have the experience, they can come up with an input that will improve your design. You should also request a sample. A good sample will be similar spec-wise to what you are looking to produce.
8. Take Delivery of Your Enamel Pins
Ideally, it will take between 2-4 weeks to collect a finished product from your manufacturer. However, this will mostly depend on the manufacturer you are using.
9. Promote Your Enamel Pins
Now that your enamel pins are here, you will need to start promoting them to get customers. Fortunately, there are various ways you can do your promotions today. Consider using channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Tumblr, and even LinkedIn to promote your enamel pins. You should also set a price tag at this stage.
10. Evaluate Your Result
Finally, when the orders start rolling in, you need to evaluate your results. Did you break even? Were you able to make a profit? Don’t feel bad if you don’t succeed at first. You need to evaluate the entire process to see what you did wrong. Improve on areas you did wrong and then emphasize what you did right. This way, you will be a huge success the next time you try.
Final Words
Making enamel pins is without a doubt, very exciting. Always go for good designs and make your enamel pins custom to stand out. Remember that the key to making money with this business is coming up with a good design, finding a reliable manufacturer, and promoting your product like your life depends on it.