How Long Does It Take to Make a Custom Pin? (Real Timeline)

Most of our custom pin orders reach your door 10 to 15 business days after you approve the design and pay the invoice. That's the whole trip: production plus shipping. If that's too slow, our offset printed pins can usually be delivered within 72 hours with a rush fee, and soft enamel or die struck pins can be made faster than hard enamel.

So that's the short answer to how long it takes to make a custom pin. The longer answer matters more, because the date on your calendar depends on things that happen before the factory ever sees your design.

The simple answer: 10 to 15 business days from approval to your door

Once you approve your proof and pay, most custom pin orders arrive within 10 to 15 business days, which works out to roughly two to three calendar weeks. Shipping inside the US is included in our price. Need pins in days, not weeks? Our in-house offset printed pins can usually be delivered within 72 hours with a rush fee.

One phrase in there does a lot of work: from approval. The 10 to 15 days don't start when you send your first email. They start when you say "yes" to the final proof and the invoice is paid.

That's also where most of the confusion around pin timelines comes from. A lot of pin websites quote production time (how long it takes to make the pins) and leave out shipping. You read "10 production days," plan around it, and then the box turns up a week after your event. When we quote 10 to 15 business days, we mean the pins are at your door.

The custom pin timeline, stage by stage

Here's what actually happens between "I need pins" and a box on your desk:

1. Request a quote. Send your idea through the free quote form. We email a price back, often within a few minutes.
2. Get your free proof. Our designers turn your sketch, logo or rough idea into a production-ready digital proof, usually within 4 hours. See what a custom lapel pin art proof shows you.
3. Approve and pay. This step is the only one on your side of the table, and it's the one that stretches the most. The production clock starts here.
4. Production and shipping. Most orders arrive within 10 to 15 business days of approval. Most packages ship straight from our factory overseas to you; some ship from our office in Utah.
5. Tracking. You should get an email with your tracking number within 24 hours of your order shipping.

Stages 1 and 2 can both happen on the same day. Step 3 has no fixed length. If your design needs a sign-off from a committee, a principal or a board that only meets once a month, that wait sits in front of the 10 to 15 days, not inside them.

One customer put it well in a review on our homepage: "The whole process was very fast. Received the proof and the order all in the same week." That's the fast end, and it happens when approval is quick and the pin type suits the deadline.

What changes how long it takes to make a custom pin

The type of pin

This is the biggest lever you control.

• Offset printed pins are printed rather than filled with enamel by hand, then sealed under a clear epoxy dome. Less handwork means they're our fastest option. That speed also matters on very large orders. If you need 5,000 to 10,000 pieces on a tight deadline, printed pins are worth a look.
• Soft enamel and die struck pins can usually be made faster than hard enamel. Soft enamel is left to air dry in the recessed areas; die struck pins have no color fill at all.
• Hard enamel pins go through extra steps. The enamel is baked at high temperature to cure it, then polished until it sits flush with the metal lines. That polish is what gives hard enamel its smooth, jewelry-quality finish, and it takes time. (More on the trade-off in soft enamel vs. hard enamel.)
• Die cast pins start with a custom mold that molten zinc alloy is injected into. They're the choice for cut-outs and 3D shapes that stamping can't reach.

How many colors you use

Four colors or fewer is standard and doesn't really move the date. Past eight, it gets interesting. Enamel colors can't all go in at once: a couple of colors are added, left to dry, then the next couple, then more drying. More colors, more rounds, more dry time.

Detail and complexity

Each enamel pin is stamped, plated and colored, and a very detailed design takes longer to get right at every one of those steps. If your deadline is tight, simplifying a design (fewer tiny color areas, fewer thin lines) is one of the few changes that genuinely saves time.

Quantity

Orders of 100, 200, 500, even 1,000 pieces fit comfortably inside a standard timeline. Very large runs are different. An order of 5,000 pins can stretch toward four weeks from order to delivery. Our minimum is 50 pieces.

Add-ons and packaging

Custom backing cards look great, but on rush pins they can add 2 to 3 days for packaging. Belt buckles and other larger items can take an extra 5 to 10 days on top of the usual window. Shipping to several addresses instead of one is possible too, but it adds cost and coordination, so flag it early.

Holidays at the factory

Most enamel pins, ours included, are made overseas, and factories close for holidays. The big one is Chinese New Year, which pushes deliveries back by 1 to 2 weeks every year somewhere between February and March. If you need pins for a spring event, order in January.

How to get custom pins fast

If you're working backward from a date that's close, this is the order we'd try things in:

1. Tell us the deadline in your first message. It changes which pin type and factory we recommend. Our FAQ says it plainly: "Let us know your deadline and we'll let you know what we can do."
2. Consider offset printed pins. Our in-house offset printed (photodome) pins can usually be delivered within 72 hours with a rush fee. They reproduce photos, gradients and small text that enamel can't. See our offset printed pins page.
3. Choose soft enamel or die struck over hard enamel when you want the look of a metal enamel pin but can't wait for polishing.
4. Approve quickly. Every day your proof sits unapproved is a day added to the end.
5. Skip the extras you don't need this time. Backing cards, gift boxes and multiple ship-to addresses can all come on a reorder.
6. Ask about expedited shipping. Depending on your timeline and where the pins are going, we have faster shipping options. Give your sales rep the date and we'll talk through them.

A few limits on rush orders, so nothing surprises you:

• Rush orders under 10 days are made domestically. Other rush products are made and shipped from overseas.
• Under 10 days, we're usually limited to the stock shapes we carry in our USA office: square, rectangle, circle and oval.
• Our under-10-day printed pins don't come with a magnetic backing option.

The rush fee depends on the order, so ask for it on your quote. Is it worth paying? For an event you found out about last week, often yes. If you have the time, though, ordering early is the cheaper way to get pins on a deadline: no rush fee, no faster shipping, and the full choice of pin types and shapes.

What slows pin orders down (and how to avoid it)

Reading production time as delivery time. Covered above, but it's the single most common planning mistake we see. Always ask whether a quoted number includes shipping. Ours does.

Changing the design after approval. We can adjust artwork right up until final approval. Once production starts, we can't make changes, and restarting means a new timeline.

Waiting on sign-off. Get the person who approves the design on the first email. If you'd like to compare a few versions first, we can mock up variations. For more than two or three designs we usually ask for a 10% deposit, which is credited to your order.

Deciding on packaging late. Backer cards and boxes are easy to include at the proof stage and awkward to bolt on after.

Forgetting the calendar. Chinese New Year doesn't move, and neither does your event.

Our guide on how to order custom pins walks through the ordering side in more detail.

Custom pin turnaround FAQ

Does the 10 to 15 business days include shipping?

Yes. Our 10 to 15 business days is the time until most orders arrive at your door, and shipping to one US address is included in the price. Our pricing includes everything except taxes, expedited shipping included.

When does the clock start?

When you approve the final proof and your invoice is paid. Quotes and proofs come first and are usually quick: a quote in minutes, a proof within 4 hours.

What's the fastest way to get custom pins?

Offset printed pins. They can usually be delivered within 72 hours with a rush fee, in square, rectangle, circle or oval shapes.

Are reorders faster?

We keep your artwork on file for 10 years, so a reorder skips the design work. We'll still send the proof back for you to approve before production.

Do you ship internationally?

Yes. International shipping is calculated from the weight and size of the package, plus any taxes or fees in the destination country. Add that transit time on top of the production window, and leave some slack: a package crossing borders can sit in customs for a while, and nobody can predict exactly how long.

Plan backward from your date

Count back 15 business days from the day you need pins in hand, then add a few days for proofing and approval. If that date has already passed, don't give up on the order: tell us the deadline and we'll tell you honestly which pin type can make it.

Get a free quote and proof, or check prices on our pricing page first. If budget is the next question, here's how much it costs to make enamel pins.