Round, Square and Shield Shapes Are Just the Beginning
If most of your experience with patches comes from work uniforms or the military, you’d be forgiven for thinking that round, square, shield or diamond shapes were the primary name of the game. But what would you say if we told you the majority of the orders we get in are for patches in custom shapes?
It’s true that a lot of patches with more official uses remain confined to simple and standard shapes. But when you do as much business as we do, you see that custom patches more often come in shapes and sizes that best suit their design and intended uses. As such, we see a lot more custom-shaped patches than we do geometrically-shaped patches. Here’s a quick look at some of our favorite patches with unique and custom shapes in order to show you just what we’re capable of.
Shapes Conveying an Immediate Point
Imagine you’re ordering a set of patches, and the intention for your patches is to have someone see the patch from across a crowded room and immediately know what was intended to be conveyed. A lot of text isn’t going to be the way to go about accomplishing those goals. Instead, why not go with a small but immediately recognizable shape to carry your message?
Animal shapes perfectly exemplify this concept. When you see a patch shaped like a shark or a panda’s face, there’s no denying what you’re seeing. Whether the shark patch is specifically intended to raise awareness about protected shark species, nothing more than a sports’ team mascot, or just a sign that the customer has a fondness for sharks, we can’t be sure. What we are sure of is that anyone who sees it will immediately recognize it as a shark and is, therefore, free to ask any questions about the meaning as they see fit. In this way, these patches are great at sparking conversation.
The four-leaf clover wrapped in a pink ribbon, on the other hand, showcases a way for the message of the patch to be obvious to someone paying a little more attention. The pink ribbon is synonymous with breast cancer research and awareness, while the four-leaf clover is a common symbol of luck. The combination of luck and science needed to overcome a diagnosis like cancer isn’t a secret to anyone, and this patch conveys that message with ease and through nothing more than its custom shape.
Shapes Just for Fun
Not all patches are looking to make such an immediate statement. Sometimes, you might need to rely more on text to send a message, or you’re just looking for a shape that means something only to the people who will be receiving the patches. In either case, we’ve got you covered.
Cherry Capital Comic Con (C4) takes place each year in Michigan. In addition to comic industry insiders and vendors of all kinds, the convention also features photo opportunities with members of the 501st Legion. These patches, with the general outline of Darth Maul’s head, were created for the con. The text steps in to better communicate the purpose of the patch as a whole even though anyone attending the con is sure to recognize the references in it immediately.
Ultimate Upland is an online community of upland hunters. It’s a comprehensive resource for like-minded people to gather and learn all they need to know about the sport of upland hunting. The patches they ordered are a recreation of their company logo. While a lot of uniform patches might end up in standard round or rectangular shapes, even more are created in custom shapes intended to resemble company logos. While these patches might not be for a uniform, they showcase the simple and straightforward way such patches can be created.
In the end, creating patches for a select group of people who are sure to understand your meaning immediately is one of the better aspects of ordering patches. Sports clubs draw on all kinds of things in the creation of their particular brand and select mascots from any number of different places. When your team name is the Blue Jays, and you’re located in Texas, you’re likely to end up with something like the above patch for your team uniforms.
While it’s true that the edge type for your patches will be determined by the overall shape of the patch, that shouldn’t suggest that you can’t create a patch any shape you choose and still get the border you want. All of the patches on this list have a hot cut edge, but that doesn’t mean that custom shaped patches can’t have a merrow border.
If a merrowed edge is important to your patch design, simply let us know and we’ll see how best to create your specific design in a manner that can deliver all the options you’re hoping for. And when you go to start an order for patches, don’t limit your thinking to round and square shapes; instead, find the shape that best conveys whatever message you’re hoping your custom patches will spread and we’ll do the rest.
