The GSJJ Blog

What are Enamel Pins? An enamel pin is a type of pin made by carving grooves into the metal surface and then filling it with different colored enamel pigments. Finally, it is baked at high temperatures to create a brightly colored, wear-resistant, and fade-resistant surface.

Enamel pins are divided into two types: soft enamel and hard enamel. The most fundamental difference between the two types of pins is the surface of the pin. The surface of soft enamel is uneven and has a sense of lines, while the surface of hard enamel is the opposite and has a flat surface.

GSJJ has long supported community events by providing customized products that help organizations create memorable experiences for participants and supporters. Beyond manufacturing custom promotional products, GSJJ uses custom merchandise to help organizations create stronger connections with their audiences.

GSJJ is a proud sponsor of Central Florida Face-Off (CFFO) 2025, a competitive gaming event in 2025 that brought together players and fans through a shared love of esports and gaming culture. GSJJ enhanced the event experience by providing product donations and discounted sponsorships.

About CFFO 2025 and the Gaming Community Behind the Event

Organized by Quest, LLC and managed through Start.gg, Central Florida Face-Off 2025 was an esports community event that connected fighting game and trading card game enthusiasts in Central Florida. For this event, GSJJ provided a range of customized products, including custom medals, custom lanyards, pins, keychains, and stickers, designed to support player recognition, event organization, and community engagement.

Through this collaboration, GSJJ contributed custom merchandise while receiving event partnership recognition, including brand visibility on the tournament platform and social media channels.                     

As a custom merchandise manufacturer, GS-JJ believes custom products can help nonprofits involve supporters, recognize donations, and improve community events.

As a custom merchandise manufacturer, GS-JJ believes custom products can help nonprofits involve supporters, recognize donations, and improve community events.

Nonprofit organizations often rely on memorable merchandise to strengthen fundraising campaigns and encourage supporter engagement. Through its sponsorship program, GSJJ recently partnered with Horses of Tir Na Nog to provide custom enamel pins for the organization’s “Golfing Fore! Goats” fundraising event.

If you are wondering how do you get challenge coins, custom pins, and medals on a strict deadline, the turnaround time is dictated by artwork confirmation, manufacturing processes, factory scheduling, and shipping choices. This guide specifically covers custom metallic recognition items, including lapel pins, challenge coins, and event medals—helping you calculate your precise cutoff date so these custom items arrive on time and within budget.

This guide looks at GS-JJ and nine other leading pin manufacturers, including Wizard Pins, PinMart, Vivipins, and Vograce, examining factors such as factory-direct pricing, flexibility with minimum order quantities, production cycles, and general service quality in order to assist you in choosing the best manufacturing partner for your custom pin.

Want to easily order custom lapel pins? This custom pin ordering guide provides a streamlined 5-step roadmap for 2026. Below, we walk through selecting core styles and upgrades, submitting artwork, approving proofs, and tracking production. 

When creating a custom lapel pin, the choice and design of the pin backs and locking pins are equally important. A suitable pin back makes the lapel pin more secure, reduces the chance of it falling off, and protects clothing. While some display pieces use unbacked (flat-backed) lapel pins for easy attachment to display boxes or crafts, a sturdy and suitable backing is usually essential for everyday wear.

To help you choose the right backing for your needs, GS-JJ has compiled this guide, introducing 14 types of lapel pin backings, their characteristics, and suitable applications.

Choosing the right custom pin size isn't just about picking 'a little bigger' or 'a little smaller'—it’s about balancing design details, wearing comfort, and overall visual impact. When the size is too small, intricate patterns, fine printing, or brand logos may be hard to see; but if the size is too large, it will add to the weight and thus make it more probable that the fabric will sag or tilt when worn on thin fabrics like silk or cotton. To help you avoid unnecessary costly trial and error, GS-JJ has created this comprehensive pin sizing guide, which provides a detailed analysis of various lapel pin sizes, production process limitations, and design considerations, ensuring that your custom pins are not only aesthetically pleasing, professional, and exquisite but also sturdy and durable.

Whether for corporate uniforms, military challenge coins, or premium collectibles, keeping enamel pins and custom coins shiny requires protecting them from sweat, UV rays, and everyday wear. True merchandise longevity begins at the manufacturing stage—not as a reactive afterthought. Choosing weather-resistant materials and electroplating at the outset eliminates 90% of future maintenance work. This guide covers everything from making wise material choices to proper cleaning and scientific storage, helping you maintain the pristine condition of your custom pins and challenge coins for the long term.
If you want to make sure that your custom lapel pins and custom coins remain in good condition for decades without rusting or fading, GS-JJ achieves this by using high-quality metals (such as Brass and Stainless Steel), applying advanced plating methods, and providing free professional design services so that your pins and coins are built to last from the very first day.

The production of custom pins involves a careful balance between visual art, the tactile aspect, and the production budget;  whether it is corporate hard enamel (or a durable hard pin), which keeps its shine for many decades, or highly realistic 3D die cast lapel pins, as well as printed and acrylic pins capable of achieving complex gradients, various methods have a direct impact on whether the design can be perfectly reproduced.

This guide explores all major custom lapel pin types, providing a one-stop, tailored selection reference based on material characteristics, core process comparisons, and advanced special effects.

This annual conference, a key event for the National Guard community, brings together military leadership from across the country to determine defense priorities and establish strategic partnerships.

The 148th NGAUS General Conference & Exhibition took place from August 28–31, 2026, in Indianapolis, Indiana, hosted at the Indiana Convention Center. Organized by the National Guard Association of the United States (NGAUS), this annual event serves as the association's official business meeting.

Bringing together over 4,000 attendees—including Army and Air National Guard officers, senior defense leaders, and industry experts representing all 50 U.S. states, three U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia—the conference addresses key defense priorities, operational readiness, and legislative policy updates. 

If you want to see the full event program, the list of speakers, and the legislative updates, please visit the official page for the 148th General Conference & Exhibition.