How Much Does It Cost To Make Enamel Pins in 2023/2024? The Full Guide And Breakdown!

Have you ever considered producing your very own custom enamel pin badges for your business, charity or brand, but absolutely unsure how, or more importantly asked the question “How much does it cost to make enamel pins?”.

The world moves fast these days huh? We have a lot of emails coming in asking us questions such as “How much does it cost to make enamel pins?”, “Where is the best place to make enamel pin badges?”, “How long does it take to make enamel pin badges?”, “How much do you sell enamel pin badges for?”, “Why are enamel pin badges so expensive?”, “How do I turn my art into enamel pins?”, “Can you make money selling enamel pins?”, “Can I make enamel pins at home?” and “How long do enamel pin badges last?”.

Well, here at Studio Dais, we decided to take some of the most recurring questions and answer them for you in one easily readable blog post. Get a drink, sit back and learn from the best 🙂

How much does it cost to make enamel pins?

There is no quick answer to the question “How much does it cost to make enamel pins?”. But we will try to give you a good idea.

The real answer is , it depends on what you are wanting to make. There are too many ways to customise your pin badges! Take a look at our unique and easy to use custom pin badge product maker, there are an unlimited number of configurations to choose from which gives you an increasing number of possible prices.

QUANTITY IS KEY

The number of enamel pin badges you choose plays one of the most important parts in getting to a final price. Overall, 1000 pin badges will obviously cost a lot more than 100 pins, but the price per individual pin badge will be less when you order more. Take a look at the below screenshots of our custom pin badge maker (available on most of our products).

This is a good example as it clearly demonstrates the cost savings of ordering more pins. If you order 100 pin badges, each pin will cost you £1.63p, if you order 1000 of the same pins each badge will cost you £0.55p, that’s a huge saving! With quantities of 1000+, you will start to see a real return on investment. This leads us on to our next question nicely.

Can you make money selling enamel pins?

You most certainly can make money selling enamel pins! We have a mixed collection of customers. Some are much larger organisations (such as VANS who we work with) who give out enamel lapel pins to raise awareness for their causes, a lot of our clients are smaller start-ups or SMEs (such as BASSMENT CLUB) who sell their pins to make a profit. On average, pin badges can sell from anywhere between £4 and £20 a piece (depending on complexity)!

7 factors that determine price:

• The level of detail you have put into your pin designs.
• Who your end customers are.
• If you have included backing cards with your badges.
• If your pins are limited editions.
• If you have created pin badges with moving parts.
• If your pins are designed to raise money for a good cause or charity.
• The list goes on!

At the end of the day you set the price for your custom pins! You need to work out how much your pins cost you. This includes the manufacturing costs, your research + design costs, any other costs such as your studio if you have one, electricity and other bills as well as a take home wage and as an added bonus net profits after everything has been paid.

100% vs 300%

Working to a 100% profit margin is on the lower end, working to a 300% profit margin is more where you want to be. So if your pin badge costs you £2, and you sell for £6, you are doing very well. As mentioned above, if you order 1000 pin badges and get your pins for £0.50p each and sell for £6, you are making a very healthy profit margin by anyone’s standards, and to bring our answer to a close, yes you will make money selling enamel pins.

How long does it take to make enamel pin badges?

Studio Dais offers a very fast turn around as standard. For our custom made enamel pins we offer 25 days as standard delivery, this is an industry best. We also offer a rush service of 15 days, for an extra 15% on top of the final price. This leads us onto our next question:

Why does it take so long to make enamel pin badges?

Enamel pins are quite complex little beasts. There is a lot that goes into their creation! Here is a brief step by step outline of how lapel pins are made.

Raw metal is sourced from the earth > The metal is smelted into specific types of alloys or metals > The raw metals / alloys are rolled into sheets > The sheets are transported to cutting factories > The cut sheets are transported to our badge manufacturing factories > Molds of your designs are cut, these are CNC’d out on special machines > The mold is then used to di-stamp out your designs on the sheet metals (these machines have up to 20 tonns of force) > The stamped designs are then treated and polishes to make them smooth >

Take a breather…

A pin backing is soldered on to the back of the pin > The stamped designs are then placed by hand in a special holding tray with up to 50 badges at a time > This tray is then either fed through an automated enamel injection machine or if your design is simple enough the enamelling is done by hand > Once all of your badges have been enamelled they then go into a very large oven for baking, which hardens and adheres the enamel to the metal > The badges are then placed in a plating vat, where we make them silver, gold, nickel, bronze, black nickel, antique copper etc > After a final polish and QC check we place all the badges in individual clear packets to protect them during transit.

Are you still asking how much does it cost to make enamel pins? There may be additional steps after or in between all of these steps, but this should give you an idea of why it takes so long to make enamel pin badges. We don’t feel 15/25 days is long considering all of the above steps we have just mentioned.

Why are enamel pin badges so expensive?

This question of “why are enamel pin badges so expensive” is really answered in the above question. This question is assumed to be asked by a business or brand to us (the manufacturer). The process to create them is highly skilled, labour intensive and arduous. We don’t feel that £0.50p for a pin badge is expensive (if you ordered 1000 pins ar 20mm with standard options). Or even £1.63 (if you ordered 100 pins at 20mm with standard options). As far as bang for buck goes, designing, manufacturing and selling (or giving away for free) enamel pins is one of the best ways to garner interest in your brand or business. Everyone loves a well designed pin badge!

How do I turn my art into enamel pins?

Some people are born artists, some have to work hard at it, and some just never get it. That’s fine, we all have different skills! The good thing about working with Studio Dais is we offer free artwork on all of our jobs. When you order with Studio Dais, you will upload your artwork, this could be a finished and polished Adobe Illustrator / AI file, Photoshop PSD file, PDF (see design faq here), a rough sketch on paper or even just a description. We have a solid team of artworkers who can work with anything you send in. Depending on the complexity needed, especially the last option, there may be a small charge but generally we offer free artwork with all jobs. So if you want to know “How to turn your art into enamel pins” look no further. We love challenges!

Can I make enamel pins at home?

You can make anything at home! But when it comes to something as complex as custom made enamel pins, you only have to read the question above (how much does it cost to make enamel pins), to understand why you may not be able to make enamel pins at home, at least not easily or produce enough quantity that would make it worthwhile. You need stamping machines, furnaces, grinding machines, large production units, not to mention skilled craftspeople. We would suggest using a dedicated company like Studio Dais. This will give you the time to focus on marketing, sales, designing and growing your business.

How long do enamel pin badges last?

Enamel pins last a very long time! They are made of metals and enamel. Not only can both of these materials withstand high temperatures of up to 600c but they are also both very hard wearing and abrasive resistant. So, these two qualities combined we might say custom made enamel pin badges will last anywhere in the region of 1000 years to 10,000 years.

To conclude ‘How much does it cost to make enamel pins’

We hope this article has been educational and you now understand how much it costs to make enamel pins! And more importantly why custom made pins cost what they do. Lapel pins are a skilled artform, both on a practical and artistic level. Studio Dais takes both the practical and artistic aspects to pin production very seriously, and somehow we are still very affordable and competitive.

If you are still unsure on some aspects to producing your very own enamel pins, want some guidance on designs or production possibilities, then please get in touch today! Contact us here.

We want to hear from you.

Team Studio Dais!