Designing a Woven Wristband

Over the years, a great numbering of variations have appeared in the woven wristband market. Most recently, and most worrying, suppliers are offering ‘printed fabric’ wristbands and trying to make customers believe that they are as secure as a woven wristband. Here is the problem with that: 1. A printed fabric band is just that, a piece of fabric that has been printed on – it is easy to replicate with a bit of material and a screen printer, and 2. A proper woven wristbands has the design of the band physically woven in to the stitching, meaning it is VERY hard to replicate accurately without complex machinery. Do what’s to know when designing a woven wristband?

Whilst the fabric bands are nice as a promotional tool, or for a VIP event with minimal gate security concerns, they are not recommended as a festival or event wristband.

Now that we’re all on the same page, how should you go about designing a woven wristband. The key here is to remember that the design will be stitched in to the band, not digitally transferred, so there are limitations on how complex your design can be. As such, tip number 1 is to keep your artwork simple.

The design needs to take in to account the number of colours used also. Generally we recommend that you stick with 3-4 colours. Each colour used is a new thread, which increases the thickness of the wristband. This can adversely effect how the slide lock works.

Consider this… the reverse side of your woven wristband will actually appear as the main artwork colour used on the front side of the wristband. So, if the front of your wristband is purple with green wording, the reverse side with appear mostly green. As such, be mindful if you also have another green wristband, as the patron may turn their wristband inside out and now be identified differently!

Try to position artwork either at the tail (at the ends of the wristband) or in the centre of the band. Ideally, you want the area where the slide lock is used to be free from artwork.

Due to the nature of the production process, woven wristbands take 2-3 weeks to produce, keep this in mind when your deadlines are getting close and your artwork is not yet confirmed.

Woven bands colour do not confirm exactly to PMS colours. There are several hundred thread colours available, and AAC will match your PMS colours as closely as possible to the thread colours. For this reason, don’t spend too long getting your PMS colours exactly right, as the end product will be a little bit different.

Hopefully these tips to designing your woven wristbands have been useful. If you ever have a doubt or query about your artwork, contact AAC on #1300 797 478 or www.aac.com.au and our in-house design team will always be available to assist. To read more articles like, Designing a Woven Wristband, subscribe to our newsletter.