The end of the truly British button badge?

There is nothing complicated about a traditional button badge. It consists of two metal components, a circular paper disc for the artwork, and a thin piece of clear acetate film to protect the face. A metal press mashes them together to give you the finished badge and then all you need is a pin to go in the back so that the badge can be fastened to clothing.

Over the years, the humble button badge has changed very little, but today you do find badge makers who use plastic backs with safety pins attached to them, for example, or even plastic clips, but we still use exactly the same pin that we have been using since we began making badges over 25 years ago: the humble D pin.

The metal D pin is so-called because it is the shape of a D. It fits neatly into the back of the badge and ensures that the badge stays where it is meant to. As simple as it is ingenious, we wouldn't dream of sending our badges out with anything less attached.

Something else you might like to know about our D pins.

Like all of our components, they are manufactured right here in Great Britain. That's increasingly unusual because the vast majority of badges are now made from components shipped in from the Far East, most notably China.

As you might imagine, D pins are a specialist item that aren't in great demand. In fact, there is only one company in the UK that still makes them, but earlier this year we nearly lost that company after it went into liquidation. That would have spelled the end of the truly British button badge and we certainly had one or two sleepless nights, wondering if we would finally have to give in and buy imported pins.

Fortunately a new investor was found and, together with the existing management team, the business was saved and is now trading again. Crucially for us, they are still manufacturing D pins and so the British button badge lives on!

Let's hope that continues to be the case for many years to come!

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