If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ve probably seen all the Ace (and sometimes Aro and Demi) pride swag I have. Here’s where I got it from. A lot of it is custom designed, and some of it is even homemade.
A note on custom ordering: Watch out for minimum order sizes, high separate shipping fees, and steep pricing scales. Sometimes a place will charge a $10 shipping fee for each design you order, even though all of them get packed in the same box. Sometimes ordering 10 of something will cost $1 a piece, while ordering 50 will only be 20 cents each. Usually the low-low price they show on the item selection page is actually the price if you order 10000 of the thing. And always look for offer codes, because almost all of these places have some sort of constant “sale”.
And finally, these aren’t necessarily endorsements or the best/cheapest place to go. They’re just the places I’ve found and used. (Although I do really like Rainbow Depot…)
Flags
Most of the flags I have come from Rainbow Depot. They’ve got a ton of different types of flags, most of which come in three sizes: 4″x6″ (small desk flag size), 12″x18″ (I think of these as “classroom size”, they’re a good size for mounting on a wall inside) and 3′x5′ (outdoor flagpole size, also suitable for marching with or wearing as a cape). They seem to be adding new styles and sizes now and then, too.
Rainbow Depot also has a deal where you can get 100 mix-n-match flags (4x6 size) for $80. That’s perfect for fundraisers or giveaways.
Vinyl Stickers
Vinyl stickers are good for bumper stickers, laptop decoration, etc. I ordered mine custom from PSPrint. PSPrint can also print up other things, but I haven’t ordered anything else from them.
Wristbands
I got these from Wrist-Band.com. I think I went with them because they allowed up to six colors per band, while another place only allowed three. You can also get keychains.
Business Cards, Magnets, Pamphlets, Postcards, Pens, and Signs
These are all from VistaPrint. They have tons of things you can get printed up, and I like the quality of all of them, so far. They usually have a promo code, so you should never pay full price for anything here. Blanket ones seem to be something like “SAVE20″, “SALE20″, “20SAVE”, or “20SALE”, but I don’t know if those expire. One danger of VistaPrint is that some of their promo codes are for just one class of item, and you can only use one at a time. So you might use the “50% off Business Cards” promo, but then you’ll pay full price for postcards, where if you used a 20% off code for the entire order, you’d spend less. You can also try splitting into multiple orders and using the best code for each item… There are almost certainly cheaper print houses out there if you just want pamphlets and you don’t care if they’re on thick, glossy stock.
Buttons
I got my buttons custom made at Imprint.com. Imprint also can make a bunch of other stuff. I got some temporary tattoos from them, and while the tattoos were decent quality, they don’t print white (And they say that down in the fine print), so white areas became transparent. That doesn’t work out when you’re trying to get a bunch of flags that include white stripes.
Black Rings
eBay has a ton of sellers that sell lots of black rings in various styles. Some sell a range of sizes in the same lot.
Keychains
I have not found a reasonable keychain supplier. They all either cost too much, have high minimum orders or outrageous setup fees, or they require you submit your design for a quote. If anyone knows of a good place to get keychains, please let me know. In the meantime, I ordered a bunch of acrylic keychain blanks off eBay, and just put a custom printout inside.
PVC Cards
These I printed on my home printer, with the help of a special printer tray. I briefly looked for a supplier/printer that would do these kinds of cards, but like keychains, none of them fit my needs.
Patches
I don’t have any patches! I want to get some patches for my swag collection, but I haven’t found anywhere good that’ll make them. Anyone got any recommendations?