Branded lanyards: How printing has evolved (and what to choose today)

Lanyards have been around for centuries in one form or another, but over the years their job has evolved completely. Branded lanyards have evolved from being a necessary security feature to carrying personal or access ID to often being of memorable and treasured souvenir value at special events.

Once upon a time they were an afterthought. A narrow strip of fabric with a basic logo so security could see who was who. Today, custom lanyards are part of the overall branding experience. They show up in photos, on social media and video, and around the necks of your team, guests and VIPs. The difference is simple: printing and branding technology has moved on.

So let’s look at how branded lanyards and their printing have evolved. From basic one‑colour strips to full‑colour, photo‑quality designs and premium finishes. More importantly, we’ll look at what it means when you’re choosing custom printed lanyards for your own organisation or event.

Whether you’re sourcing branded lanyards for a conference or exhibition, kitting out staff with everyday ID badge lanyards, or ordering promotional lanyards as part of a wider campaign, the same principles apply.

The early days of branded lanyards

Modern lanyards started out strictly functional. The brief was usually nothing glamorous. Early customised lanyards were generally made from simple polyester webbing that was tough, flat and fairly coarse. The only branding option was a basic screen print which involved applying ink to the surface of the lanyard material. The ink sat on top and did not soak in, so a separate screen could be applied for each extra colour combination.

In practice that meant:

• One, maybe two print colours at most.
• Intricate logos, tonal colours and photographic images were almost impossible to replicate on ribbed polyester.
• Small text tended to fill in or blur, and longer runs often showed variation from batch to batch.

It worked, but it didn’t exactly scream premium brand experience.

Screen printing on lanyards grows up

As expectations rose, screen printing improved. Manufacturers introduced better inks with stronger colour and improved durability, along with softer webbing that took print more cleanly. Registration (the way separate colour layers line up) also became more precise.

That evolution opened the door to more ambitious branding. Two or three logo colours became realistic. Edges on text and icons looked sharper. Event names, dates and sponsor logos started to appear alongside the company name. For many organisations, this was the first real step towards truly lanyards becoming promotional products rather than purely functional ones.

But the underlying limitations of screen printing were still there. Each extra colour meant extra cost and complexity. Gradients and photographs were off the table. Very fine detail was always a risk. If your brand used flat colours and a simple logo, screen print could look perfectly smart. If you had complex colour palettes, imagery or a crowd of sponsors to keep happy, you quickly hit a wall.

These days dye-sublimated lanyards can even be Pantone colour matched to your brand.

The game‑changer: dye sublimation and full‑colour lanyards

The big shift came with dye sublimation lanyards, sometimes referred to as heat transfer. Dye sublimation print is a digital technology that uses full colour artwork on polyester and other polymer‑coated materials. Unique sublimation dyes are transferred to sheets of transfer paper via liquid gel ink.

After the design is printed onto these transfer sheets, it is placed on a heat press along with the lanyard material. To transfer the image from the paper to the lanyard, the process uses a precise combination of time, temperature and pressure.

Under that heat and pressure, the solid dye turns to gas, penetrates the polyester fibres and bonds with them. The result is a virtually permanent, high‑resolution, full‑colour print that is effectively part of the material, not sitting on top of it. As the dyes are infused into the lanyard rather than applied at a topical level, the print will not crack, fade or peel away under normal conditions.

The practical implications were huge. Dye‑sublimated branded lanyards made full‑colour printing standard instead of a luxury. Entire lanyard widths became artwork, not just a strip down the centre. Double‑sided designs meant branding was visible whichever way the lanyard sat. Gradients, photography, textures and complex illustration were suddenly realistic, not wishful thinking.

Sponsors could finally have recognisable logos, not simplified approximations. Brand guidelines could be followed properly instead of being watered down to whatever the print process could cope with. Events could turn lanyards into part of the visual identity, not just a necessary accessory.

Unsurprisingly, dye‑sub replaced screen-printed lanyards and quickly became the go‑to choice for conferences and expos, festivals, product launches, sporting events and any environment where cameras were out and branding mattered.

Custom woven lanyards are a durable and sophisticated way to present your brand.

Beyond ink with woven branded lanyards

Once full‑colour print became the norm, expectations jumped again. For some brands it wasn’t enough for lanyards to be colourful; they had to feel different too. That’s where alternative branding methods come in.

Woven and embroidered logos

Another now popular option for branding lanyards is the weaving process. Instead of printing onto the surface, woven branding builds the logo into the fabric itself. Sometimes it’s just a logo or simple tag line that is embroidered or woven into a soft fabric lanyard; other times the entire neck strap is intricately woven in a myriad of colours.

The result is tactile and durable, and it won’t rub off because it isn’t a print. This is also deployed successfully with woven wristbands. As weaving technology has become more sophisticated, relatively small text, images and designs can be woven into lanyards to create a colourful and impressive end result. The trade‑off is that you still need to respect the limits of thread and loom: very fine lines and tiny type won’t reproduce as cleanly as on a high‑resolution dye‑sub print, and your colour palette will usually be more restricted.

What this evolution means for your branded lanyards today

Nice bit of history. Now the important part: what should you actually choose?

You don’t need to be a print technician, but you do need to be clear about what you’re trying to achieve. A simple way to think about it is to work through three questions.

Start with your artwork

• Simple logo, one or two flat colours, no gradients or photography? Traditional screen print on polyester will usually work very well and keep costs efficient.
• More colours, tonal work, textures, sponsor logos? Dye‑sub becomes the obvious choice because it copes with complexity without the cost multiplying for every extra colour.
• Minimalist logo with a lot of open space? Woven branding or a very restrained dye‑sub design can feel more sophisticated than full‑bleed graphics.

Decide the impression you want to make

Functional and professional, bold and colourful, premium and discreet, playful and collectible. Each of those points to a different approach:

• Functional and professional: clean screen print on soft polyester in strong brand colours.
• Bold and colourful: full‑colour dye‑sub with edge‑to‑edge artwork and strong contrast.
• Premium and discreet: woven lanyards with engraved metal clips and minimal text.
• Playful and collectible: silicone or PVC elements that look and feel different from everything else in the room.

Match print and finish to volume and wear

• Large volumes for a one‑off event tend to favour methods that balance impact and budget, such as single‑colour or two‑colour screen print or standard dye‑sub.
• Daily wear for staff or members puts more emphasis on durability and comfort, where woven branding or high‑quality dye‑sub on good webbing comes into its own.
• Small VIP groups are the perfect place to justify metal hardware or more elaborate finishes, because you’re not multiplying the extra cost by thousands.

Compare your options at a glance

To pull it together, it can help to think of the main routes side by side. Once you know what your artwork looks like, the impression you want to create and how the branded lanyards will be used, the right printing and branding route tends to present itself.

Branding details people forget

Most lanyard disasters don’t happen because someone chose the “wrong” print method. They happen because small details were overlooked.

The usual culprits are:

• Poor contrast – a dark logo on a dark lanyard will never be readable from across a busy hall, and the same applies in reverse. You need enough difference between the background and the key text or symbols for them to be legible in real‑world lighting, not just on a designer’s screen.
• Too much detail on too little width – trying to cram a complex logo and a line of text onto a skinny 10 mm strap is asking for trouble. The narrower the lanyard, the simpler the artwork needs to be. If detail matters, give yourself the space – 15–20 mm is usually the sweet spot for most events.
• Awkward logo repetition – too sparse, and most photos will catch a blank section; too busy, and the whole thing turns into visual noise. A consistent repeating pattern – logo, gap, logo, gap – usually gives the best balance.
• Ignoring how it reads on camera – tiny supporting text will never be legible in photos or video. Sponsor logos crammed into one end can disappear behind a badge wallet. Colours can shift under indoor lighting, outdoor sun or stage spots.

A quick mock‑up on a template, or even a printed proof, can save you a lot of pain later.

From its origins of being a necessary, but basic, security accessory, today’s lanyard has come a long way.