The neck lanyard has become extremely popular in recent years and many employees and students regularly wear them. They can be a very popular item to give away at trade fairs or as promotional items mainly because they are practical and useful as well as fashionable, and you can very easily print any promotional message you like on them.
Typical uses for lanyards are to hold ID cards, keys, USB pen drives, glasses, membership cards and cell phones. Employees working at desk jobs or as salespeople, students and members of clubs or organizations usually wear the standard style that slips easily over the neck and does not have any buckles. However employees who work around heavy duty machinery or conveyor belts, such as factory workers, usually have to wear a safety lanyard.
A safety lanyard is specially designed so that it will snap open if pressure is placed on it or if there is a tugging motion. Typically, the snaps are made from Velcro or soft plastic that pulls apart easily. Occasionally buckles made from hard plastic are used as well.
There are four main standard styles of lanyards available, and there is a great deal of variety amongst these styles. The main variation in style depends on the material they are made from and the way the material is used. You can choose between a polyester, woven, tubular and nylon lanyard. The most popular and most frequently used style is the polyester. They can be produced in just about any solid color and they can also have either images or text screen printed onto the actual material. While this is not the cheapest available, it is fairly cost effective to produce and the material is durable and long-lasting.
If price is an issue for you, you can choose the tubular style. They resemble a shoelace and are also made from a polyester material. As with the regular polyester lanyard, text or images can be silk screened onto the material. Generally, these are a little narrower than the other types and images or text may not be as easy to read.
There can be one problem with silk screening text or words onto items, and that is that it is fairly easy for the text to rub off over time. This is especially true if the item gets a lot of regular use; soon you may see letters or pieces of letters coming away from the material. If you want to avoid this happening, your best choice would be to purchase woven lanyards. These are also made from polyester, similar to the regular polyesters ones, however in this case the words or designs are actually woven into the material with a contrasting colored thread. These work best for bold text and words, but it is difficult to weave a logo or other picture design into it.
For a really professional look, try the nylon lanyard. This is the nicest looking and most professional style available. It is often used in the sports world and at other high-end functions as it not only looks great, but it is very comfortable to wear. Again, text or images can be screened onto it and it offers the best sharpness and readability.
If you are interested in using customized lanyards for promotional purposes, to give away at a trade fair or with purchases people make from you, you will most likely be looking for something that looks good and where your logo or company name is legible, yet is not too expensive. In this case, you may want to go for the simple polyester or tubular style.