Wristbands have been used for events for many years whether it’s wristbands for events or wristbands for waterpark access. It’s been proven time and time again the effectiveness of using wristbands for nearly anything. In this blog we’ll explain the benefits of using custom wristbands and why you should choose custom event wristbands instead of pre-printed wristbands.
Table Of Contents
- History of Custom Wristbands
- Effectiveness of Custom Wristbands
- Custom Wristband Options
- 5 Use-Cases for Custom Wristbands
History of Custom Wristbands
Before we get started on the history of custom wristbands it’s important to understand the history behind wristbands as a whole.
Wristbands have been used since the early egyptians however the wristbands that are far more known and loved started in 1967 by DuPont who made the first variation of Tyvek however, it was not created for the sole purpose of wristbands - it was created for use in house construction or house wrappings. The creation of modern tyvek wristbands became more normalized after the 1980s when the (speculated) first gel wristband was invented and DuPont wanted to follow up to that with the launch of Tyvek wristbands for events and other mediums.
Gel wristbands were not an immediate success - it took until around 2004 for gel wristbands and silicone wristbands to become popular for use in marketing, trade shows, awareness campaigns and much more. The uprising of gel wristbands was so impactful that many companies realized that there could be effectiveness in using wristbands for access to events, security, waterparks, fairs, you name it.
Throughout the years wristbands have changed and many types of wristbands have been invented - whether it’s non-Tyvek plastic or paper wristbands.
Unfortunately the complete history of the custom wristband is unknown as general printing on material has been around for years. If we had to guess, we’d speculate that the popularity of custom wristbands started around the boom of gel wristbands.
Effectiveness of Custom Wristbands
Wristbands that have the ability to be customized have been proven to be highly effective for a wide variety of uses. Whether it’s to increase sales, offer special perks or just allow single-point entry to locations custom wristbands have proven their effectiveness.
Increase of Event Sales
For some, custom wristbands that are branded with the event they’re attending sounds like a great keepsake to preserve the awesome memory. It doesn’t just stop at memories for the increase of sales. By offering custom wristbands with unique perks, the visual aspect of the very obvious wristband on the wrist of the customer opens the visual door for others to see the perks in real time and associate the customization with the color or style of the custom wristband thus encouraging others to upgrade.
More Eco-Friendly = More Sales
It’s true that the result of paper comes mostly from trees which can be taken from all over the world whether that’s local to the US soil or as far out as the rainforest. Traditional paper wristbands are cheaper than plastic and just get thrown away for the most part after the event.
Plastic custom wristbands can (and have typically been) proven to not be thrown away as often simply for what we’ve said earlier - they’re awesome keepsakes and many want to treasure that memory.
Easy Area Access Management
When you’re running a large event with hundreds if not thousands of people and you try to manage access to specific areas with only the look you can remember or the color of the wristband - it can be very hard to do so.
When you use custom wristbands for events you’re able to print directly onto the wristband with the text you wish - whether it’s to say yes, they can drink and access the bar area with their over 21 wristbands or yes they can access the VIP area - colors sometimes are just not enough.
Custom Wristband Options
As we’ve mentioned before there are a few kinds of wristbands to choose from:
With the selection of wristbands comes with the different customization options to choose from - whether you want X amount of tabs, no tabs or tear offer. In this section we’ll explain all of the custom wristband options you should know before ordering.
Before we get started on the custom wristband options you should know that all wristbands that can be customized for color and imprint colors.
Custom Tyvek Wristband Options
There are a few options for Tyvek wristbands you should know before you start your customization journey.
Size
Tyvek wristbands are available in ¾” and 1” size options. The ¾” is smaller than the 1” and is found more commonly used than 1”.
Wristband & Imprint Colors
Tyvek is slightly different from other forms of wristbands in that it resembles paper but it’s actually plastic - a very unique synthetic plastic at that. Tyvek wristbands can have custom colors for both the actual wristband and for the text you wish to print onto them. With Tyvek being a synthetic plastic with paper-like properties, it can be printed in any color within the RGB spectrum which really means you don’t have color limits or style limitations. If you want to print half blue and half red you totally can. If you want gradient based text, so long as the printing company can do it, you can theoretically do it.
Custom Plastic Wristband Options
Plastic wristbands are slightly more expensive to customize than tyvek and paper wristbands. Plastic wristbands offer a lot of unique customization properties that the others do not.
Tabs or Tab Free
Tabs are removable pieces of plastic that can be used for a wide variety of applications. If you wish to print dates on the tabs, you can and then you could remove them on that date of the event to allow for the customer to return on the next date until there are no more tabs. Another option is to use them as prepaid cash rewards that your customer can tear off to pay for an item. Truthfully, the options are endless and up to your own imagination.
With the tab approach, you can choose up to 10 tabs and as few as none.
More Customization Options
With custom plastic wristbands you can customize several aspects of them. Some of which are completely unique to only plastic wristbands.
- Images
- Clip art
- Text
- Font selection
- Color options
One of the best parts of the customization aspects is the quality of the prints that you can get. If you want to add an image to your plastic wristband you’ll see higher quality than paper and other wristbands. If you wish to add text, you’ll also see higher quality. The simple truth is that the customization options are for the most part going to be higher quality than the others.
Custom Vinyl Wristband Options
Vinyl wristbands are very similar to plastic with their customization options however, they’re used in favor of comfort instead of design quality.
Truthfully, you can do the same depth of customization as plastic, just without the print quality being as 1:1 as you’d imagine. Vinyl is much better suited for non-custom options and far better for single color with single color imprints.
5 Use-Cases for Custom Wristbands
There are so many unique applications for custom wristbands. In this section we’ll share our top 5 use-cases for using custom wristbands.
1. Custom Wristbands for Events
Events have been around for ages and entry has always been limited to tickets and hoping that your customers follow your designated seating plan. By using custom wristbands for events you can easily set colors per seating row or number your seats in accordance to the wristband number allotment you created.
2. Custom Wristbands for Day/Week/Time Access
Trying to manage attendees by name or face is impossible when you’re talking about scale - not to mention allowing dedicated access per location is also very tough to do without wristbands. If you’re operating a day/week or time based event, there is no better way to manage customers' access than with these custom wristbands.
3. Custom Wristbands for Any Weather Condition
The great part about custom wristbands is the flexibility in your configurations. If you use plastic wristbands you’re opening the door for weather such as rain or waterparks. If you go with Tyvek you also get some water resistance. If you go with a non-custom approach and use pre-printed paper wristbands you’re limited to inside or dry conditions.
4. Expressive Memories
A great wristband goes a long way with some. If you customize your wristbands to be branded and totally unique from pre-printed designs, you’ll increase returns unlike any you’ve ever seen. These wristbands are great little treasure troves for memories.
5. Cost is Not Much More
With Event Wristbands, customizing your wristbands doesn’t add a ton of extra cost to your order. In fact, ordering in larger quantities can even be cheaper!
Order Custom Wristbands Today!
Order your custom wristbands from Event Wristbands today!
