Enamel pins are affordable fashion accessories that have resurfaced as a trend and have blown up in recent years.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, designer, or artist, enamel pins might be the perfect canvas to monetize your creativity. Enamel pins serve as an extension of people’s personalities and allow them to personalize their jackets, shirts, hats, backpacks, and more.
In this guide, we tell you everything to know about starting your print-on-demand enamel pins business.
Why Make and Sell Enamel Pins?
Enamel pins are highly in demand by consumers. These products can be customized in many ways, including the shape, size, colors, and design used.
As a result, the pins can tailor to specific interests and passions. Selling pins that appeal to a particular audience is an excellent way to connect with your business.
Generally, these products are inexpensive to produce, especially when buying them in bulk. As a result, you can enjoy higher-than-normal profit margins. Once you’ve designed and made your enamel pins, they will continually generate sales without much ongoing effort, making them an ideal passive income business model.
Types of Enamel Pins
Enamel pins come in all shapes and sizes. We’ll cover the five most affordable and common types of enamel pins you can create.
Soft Enamel
Soft enamel pins have a slightly raised metal outline around the enamel. They have a textured feel and look, with colors indented below the metal lines.
Soft enamel pins are the most popular choice for beginners since they offer the most color options, with more vibrant colors available.
With enamel paint, you can easily customize the pins to your heart’s desire, designing a pin with more textured detail, including edges and borders. However, they tend to be much less durable.
Hard Enamel
Hard enamel pins have a flat surface and a more polished look. The enamel colors are level with metal outlines to create a glossy and smooth finish.
Hard enamel is more rugged and durable than soft enamel, which can be more expensive. Also, they have a less vivid and more subdued appearance.
That said, hard enamel pins are perfect for withstanding outdoor elements or long-term durability.
Die Struck
Die-struck pins are a type of custom metal pin made using die or metal mold to stamp a design onto the metal base. The die is made with the desired design and is stamped into the metal, creating a recessed and raised texture. Then, the pins are plated with a metal finish such as copper, iron, or gold to create a polished look.
Offset Printing with Epoxy Coating
Offset epoxy pins have a clear plastic coating applied to a soft enamel pin, adding shine and protecting your design from damage. The epoxy coating can prevent the offset printed designs for silk screen print from scratching or fading. Also, the coating is waterproof, making it ideal for outdoor settings where the pin may expose to rain or water.
3D Mold
3D mold pins are made with metal and created using a mold with a three-dimensional design. By carving the design into a metal block, they create a three-dimensional pin with raised and recessed texture. 3D mold pins are more classic and elegant – constructed from pewter or zinc.
How to Make Your Own Enamel Pins Using Print on Demand
With the right help, you can create awe-inspiring pins sure to capture the hearts of many customers. Here’s how to do it.
Choose a Niche
Always keep the customer in your mind before creating your pin. Do research and validate your niche ahead of time. The more specific you are with your niche, the less competition there is, making it easy to build a brand for yourself.
However, you want to validate your niche to ensure there’s interest in your designs. Look at platforms like Etsy and Amazon Handmade to see whether they sell pins in a specific niche.
Design and Create Your Custom Enamel Pins
Once you’ve decided who to sell to, you can determine what your pins will look like. Even if you don’t have design skills, you can find talented designers on freelance marketplaces to create an original design for you. If you’ve got design skills, tools like Adobe Photoshop, Pixlr, and Sumopaint can craft your design.
A reliable manufacturer of enamel pins, like The/Studio, can take your design to bring it to life. Consider factors such as the following:
- Quantity of your order
- The complexity of your design
- Pin size
- Number of colors
- Add-ons like glitter, backing types, glow-in-the-dark, etc.
The/Studio allows you to build enamel pins to fit your customer’s wants and needs. We offer a variety of colors, materials, finishes, and backing colors. You can even upgrade the pin with rhinestones, custom engraving, epoxy coating, and more. Choosing a manufacturer that can personalize the pin and help you stand out from your competitors is vitally important.
Get started with your design today!
How to Sell Enamel Pins Online
As a pins seller, you can sell anywhere online. There are platforms you can list your products on, giving you access to a wide customer base, or you can create an online store and have full control. Here are the best places to sell your pins online.
Etsy
Etsy is often the most common place to buy and sell handmade or vintage items. It’s widely popular and has an extensive global reach of customers looking for custom products like yours.
Also, Etsy allows shoppers to ask questions about products before buying and leave positive reviews. It’s an excellent way to engage with your buyers so they can confidently place an order with you.
Amazon Handmade
Amazon Handmade is an artisan-based community where creatives can sell their custom-made products. While they’ve waived sellers’ monthly account fees, they deduct a 15% referral fee for each order.
An advantage to selling your pins on Amazon is that your products may appear in regular search results, even if the person isn’t specifically searching for homemade products.
With Amazon Handmade, you can access an enormous customer base and only look to grow. Amazon also offers a streamlined process for tracking sales, managing orders, and communicating with customers.
Build Your Own Store
If you want full control over your business, such as how your store looks, customer service, and the little fees involved, creating your own online store is the best option.
It takes extra work to set up a store and design it to your liking, but e-commerce platforms like Shopify have pre-built templates to make your job easier.
Shopify allows you to create a unique shopping experience for customers, meaning you get control over your store policies, what your store looks like, and what it says. You even collect customer emails and upsell customers directly, creating a long-lasting relationship.
Tips on Attracting Customers to Your Enamel Pin Store
Once you’ve created your pins and built your store or created a seller account on eCommerce platforms, follow these tips to attract customers:
Take Great Pin Photos
Taking crisp pin photos isn’t just about sticking a camera in front. Your pictures need to stand out from the crowd by highlighting their best features and putting them in the center of an interesting background, making them more appealing to buyers.
Provide a variety of angles to give customers a comprehensive view of the pin. This helps customers see the craftsmanship and design quality. Close-up shots are a great way to show off the intricate details, design elements, textures, or special features like glow-in-the-dark or glitter effects.
Offer Competitive Bundle Deals
Bundle deals can increase your average order value while helping customers save money on a per-pin cost basis, creating a win-win situation for both parties.
For example, a buy one, get one free offer is enticing enough to encourage more customer purchases. If you sell other fashion accessories, you can bundle them with others. Or if you sell a sports pin, you can also customize sports socks or hats. Not only does it sell more products, but it also means you save on shipping and order fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
You may still be wondering if creating and selling enamel pins through print-on-demand is a viable business venture. Here’s a short FAQ guide to help.
Is It Expensive To Make Enamel Pins?
The cost of producing enamel pins varies depending on the materials, design, and quantity used. You can reduce the cost per pin by purchasing it in bulk. With a discount on high-volume orders, you can lower your production costs.
Is Selling Enamel Pins Online Profitable?
Yes, selling enamel pins can be a lucrative business opportunity since the profit margins are high and easy to make. Since they’re small, you don’t need a large warehouse to store pins. Also, they’re versatile, allowing you to make them for any niche, so it’s not easily saturated.
Need Help Making and Selling Enamel Pins? Work With Us!
Enamel pins have been around for over two centuries, and with such staying power, it’s safe to say that they’re not going anywhere.
With new passions, hobbies, and interests, the demand to sell to different groups of people is greater than ever. They’re easier to produce and less costly with a reputable manufacturer like The/Studio.
We help you design pins to match your vision with unlimited color options, glitter, glow-in-the-dark enamel, and custom engraving. The beauty of working with us is that you have all the creative freedom in design, so you get the perfect enamel pin to attract customers.
Work with The/Studio today and get your bulk order of enamel pins from a trusted partner to meet your print-on-demand needs.
