Category Archives: Elastic

Elastic Hang Tag Merchandising Trends

The humble elastic hang tag has become far more than a merchandising afterthought reserved for the price. It’s valuable, tangible real estate in a cluttered marketing world. More than just a small plot for your best graphic designers to flash your brand image, it’s also a place to link customers from the product in their hands to the bigger world of other products your company sells. Whether you need bulk elastic hang tag loops for clothing merchandising, food packaging, personal products or boutique items, consider incorporating the following on your next hang tag design:

Simplicity Rules—Retro, black and white and simple color schemes are in right now. Keep an eye on the Pantone Colors of the Year and branch out with tag colors that evoke desire. (Pro tip: orange makes people hungry – try it on food product hang tags!)

The Tech Connection—Make elastic hang tag QR codes mean something to the customer. If it’s a tag for a shirt, that specific QR code can bring up coordinating wardrobe pieces on the consumer’s phone to suggest outfit ideas (and sell more product). QR codes on food item hang tags can suggest recipes or food and wine pairing ideas.

Laser and Die Cut Creativity—Make your hang tag stick out by using die and laser cuts in different shapes or even for layering. The cooler and sturdier the tag, the more likely a customer is to keep it and use it as bookmark. This keeps your brand identity continually popping up on the customer’s mental radar.

You don’t need to stick with the standard white elastic loops for your hang tags either. Elastic Connections can create bulk custom elastic loops for hang tags in a variety of colors and gauges so you can find an exact match for your hang tag merchandising. Contact Elastic Connections today and we can help you get the right elastic hang tag loops for your merchandising projects.

Barbed Elastic Cord for Menus, Booklets and Programs

Bulk barbed elastic cord is an essential element for large print jobs with multiple pages. The elastic gives the printed piece a level of flexibility for the customer while the barbs secure the pages in place.

The important thing to remember about trends in large print jobs these days is a high level of customizability. More than ever, customers are demanding more customization to ensure that their printed pieces are totally unique and stand out. That is because each printed piece is an element of the marketing strategy and must fit within that framework.

As the economy expands, printers need to stock up on varying lengths, widths and colors of barbed elastic to handle incoming print jobs such as:

Menus—As restaurants, pubs and other eateries expand with the improving economy, the need for menus is also expanding. While menu trends vary wildly, many establishments, particularly the higher-end ones, still prefer the classy, go-to menus attached with barbed elastic or twisted rayon cord. Longer, thicker menus require a thicker gauge of cord than thinner, shorter menus.
Theatrical Programs—Barbed elastic or twisted cord is also a great choice for large print runs of programs for plays, musicals and other ongoing cultural programs.
Trade Show Programs and Freebies—Trade show organizers are coming up with all kinds of reasons to ask printers for products with barbed elastic cord elements. Beyond multi-page program spreads, they’re also incorporating barbed elastic pieces as attachments for securing writing implements, identification tags, etc.
Booklets—Aside from menus, programs and trade show pieces, printers need to keep a variety of barbed elastic in stock to handle a wide variety of custom booklet orders.

Elastic connections carries an impressive range of lengths, widths and colors for both bulk twisted rayon cord with barbs and barbed elastic cord. To order bulk barbed elastic for big, multi-page print jobs, contact Elastic Connections at 847-426-6830 today and we can discuss your needs.

Elastic Tying String for Bundling Produce

Real food is a big deal; consumer demand for quality produce has never been bigger as more people are turning away from boxed and packaged foods and back to real, natural foods: fruits, vegetables, herbs, etc. And demand isn’t only growing in the domestic market; a growing world population needs more food annually. If you’re in the agriculture market, you know that getting your produce from farm to table requires more than just growing and hauling. Packaging is essential to safe transport and marketing efforts. Produce such as green onions, parsley, cilantro, carrots and other items that are sold in bunches at the store require elastic tying string for bundling.

Elastic Connections sells a wide variety of bulk elastic tying string options for bundling produce that falls under two categories:

Knotted Individual Pieces of Elastic Tying String for Bundling Produce by Hand

This is a good option for smaller farming operations taking large orders to farmers markets and expanding into bigger markets as well. We produce bulk amounts of the knotted, individual pieces of elastic tying string that make it quick and easy to hand-bundle anything from onions and carrots to chives, rosemary and cilantro (and everything else that needs bunching and bundling).

Bulk Elastic Tying String for Bundling Produce by Machine

For farms that own their own automatic produce banding machines, we also do bulk elastic tying string orders that come on spools. Simply tell us the type of machine you have and we can custom produce bulk amounts of elastic tying string you can use to quickly, yet gently bundle lots of produce to get it ready for market.

To order bulk elastic tying string for bundling fruits, vegetables and herbs, contact Elastic Connections at 847-426-6830 today. We can fulfill custom requirements for your produce bundling needs, including different widths, colors and lengths that will fit your branding needs, your bundling machine needs, or your hand-bundling needs.

Elastic Yarn and String for Manufacturing Hair Nets

With the recent spate of food contamination incidents across the country, the demand for bulk orders of protective clothing for food prep workers has increased. No matter which part of the food supply chain is involved, items like hair nets, masks and other protective clothing are essential to the quality of the end product—there’s even an increasing demand for beard nets today.

But it’s not only the food industry that requires these elastic yarn components: medical and research laboratories, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, high-tech manufacturing companies and many other industries where hair, fingerprints and dust are forbidden require bulk orders of hair nets, beard nets, masks, elastic booties that go on over shoes, etc.

Because there are so many different industrial and commercial applications for hair nets and similar protective clothing items, manufacturers usually need to produce hair nets using elastic yarn in different gauges, with different elongation requirements, in a variety of colors, etc. At Elastic Connections, we fulfill bulk orders for custom elastic yarn for hair nets, beard nets, masks, etc.

A custom elastic yarn order starts with a 3-inch sample of the fabric you want to use. Going from this, we can produce bulk elastic yarn orders for your food industry, medical, laboratory or manufacturing hair nets, beard nets, booties, face mask, etc. These are some of the elements we can customize for your project:

Color (From the sample, you provide, we can match the custom elastic yarn to the desired fabric color.)
Rubber gauge (We can create a custom elastic thickness and composition at a gauge perfect for your application.)
Yarn type (There are several types of elastic yarn types that work best in different applications. We can find the one that’s right for your order.)
Elongation requirements (How far does the elastic yarn need to stretch?)

To discuss elastic yarn for hair nets, beard nets, booties or masks, contact Elastic Connections at 847-426-6830 today.

Elastic Lanyard: Freebies, Giveaways, Marketing

Whether you’re fretting over your next trade show tchotchkes or trying to come up with a nice marketing freebie to spread cheer and goodwill amongst customers and leads, there’s one important thing to remember: it’s got to be useful. And that’s where bulk elastic lanyard comes in.

You can take this one simple item and turn it into a hundred different useful items that will make life easier on your target audience while also reminding them about your company. Consider these ideas to hand out at your next trade show, community event or as freebies for loyal customers:

Elastic lanyard phone pouch—Help people keep their phones securely anchored around their necks instead of falling out of their back pockets. For those who don’t like that arrangement, they can loop the lanyard through a belt loop and stow the phone more securely in a pocket (than without the lanyard/pouch). The pouch itself could also be made using elastic thread to fit various phone sizes.
Pens on a tether—Attach a branded pen to a branded elastic lanyard and your customers or prospective customers will be seeing a lot more of your logo whenever they need to scribble something down.
Elastic lanyard for sunglasses—A great idea for tourism marketing or even eye healthcare businesses. A cool, stretchy lanyard will keep your customers glasses handy while reminding them of you.
Trade show badges—We covered great trade show badge designs in a previous blog, but did we mention that elastic lanyard gives them something they can use after the show is over too? Depending on the clips or attachments you decide to add to the end design, you can provide the attendees a branded option they could use to tether their keys, sun glasses, pens, and other items long after the show is over.

Multi-Purpose Lanyards

For bulk elastic lanyard to bring your marketing freebies and trade show giveaways to life, contact Elastic Connections at 847-426-6830 today.

Bulk Elastic for Mask Manufacturing – Not Just for Halloween

Mask manufacturing used to see its biggest push around Halloween, but recent pop culture trends are making mask manufacturing a year-round business opportunity. If your company wants to keep the profits rolling throughout the year by following these mask production trends, make sure you have plenty of mask elastic in stock to meet growing demands.

Elastic for Masquerade Masks

Masquerade balls and parties are becoming more popular all around the year. Any of these styles would fly at Halloween as well as any other holiday masked ball:

Filigree masks—Like layering skin-hugging lace across the face, these elegant masks are truly hot for any occasion where masks are in demand. Most commonly appearing in black, but also in other colors, bulk mask elastic is available in many colors to fit the style you’re manufacturing.
Classic Venetian Mardi Gras Masks—Mardi Gras or Carnival masks are obviously in demand long after Halloween, as well as on cruise ships. These solid design masks come in every color under the sun, as do our options for mask elastic.

Elastic for Cosplay Masks

The cosplay trend has exploded with every kind of con(vention) you can imagine where thousands of fans of different types of movie, comic book and anime genres come together to dress up and pretend to be their favorite characters. Masks are a huge part of the trend and an essential part of the many disguises and costumes that people are willing to shell out the big bucks to wear. Mask manufacturers can get in on the trend by designing and producing more masks depicting trending characters at these conventions. Just make sure not to run out of mask elastic at the factory.

If you’re mass producing masks at your facility and need the elastic to affix them securely and carefully to the wide range of head shapes and hairstyles of the end customers, contact Elastic Connections today at 847-426-6830. We stock mask elastic string as small as .040″ diameter or spooled elastic up to 2.4mm diameter.

Attention Hair Accessory Manufacturers: Stock Up On Bulk Elastic Now!

Dear hair accessory manufacturers,

We’re sure you’ve heard the news from Paris, London, Milan and New York by now that plain, old naked hair is out. No matter what length the ladies are wearing it this season, hair accessories are the latest IT thing. So you will need to stock up on spools of elastic thread in bulk so you can get some amazing hair adornments to market ASAP. The top three trends this season include:

Stretchy Headbands—No two coifs or noggins are alike, so if you are manufacturing blingy headbands for market, knitted elastic to make them stretchy and comfortable is going to be essential. The top fashion houses are displaying a lovely assortment of bejeweled, floral, sparkly and minimalist satin stretchy headbands to keep hair up and out of the eyes.
Stretchy Hair Bows—If it’s not a band, it’s a bow; and it’s being worn in creative new ways to spark the imagination. Some bows stretch across the entire coif in a dramatic sweep that can clearly only be accomplished with elastic thread to hold the design. Still others use elastic to attach bows to a variety of styles that bring color and bling to every woman’s head.
Wild Adornments—This season, there is an “anything goes” feel to the hair on the catwalks. We’ve seen everything from wild floral and patterned head scarves with a distinct gypsy flair to shiny elastic ribbons woven into a variety of braids, buns and twists. Sparkles, leather, floral, feathers, beaded and bejeweled elements are all on display, and it’s a lot of fun!

2016 Trends in Elastic Hair Accessories

So if you’re a hair accessory manufacturer and you need to get some hair bling to market this season, contact Elastic Connections today at 847-426-6830. We can recommend anything from spooled elastic ranging from 0.5 mm to 2.4 mm or larger, including stretch satin and stretchy rayon cord and so much more!

Elastic for Surgical Mask Manufacturing

There is an increasing demand for surgical masks around the world. In fact, the U.S. government is concerned right now that there aren’t enough domestic surgical mask manufacturers to meet a potential demand in case there is a pandemic of some kind. Although most of the Ebola epidemic happened an ocean away—and surgical masks are just one piece of the entire protective gear needed for that particular pathogen—there is a clear need for surgical mask manufacturers to stock up on the elastic that go on the masks.

There are several styles of masks used across the medical field (including family practice, hospitals, dental offices, laboratories, EMS, etc.) for the purpose of preventing the spread of airborne pathogens or contaminants. In addition to medical usage, masks made for the medical field are also being used as protection against dust and pollution by people world-wide. There are three key essentials to consider when procuring bulk elastic cord for surgical mask manufacturing:

Comfort—Medical personnel, emergency workers and people who need to protect themselves from dust and pollution need masks that have comfortable, fabric-covered elastic loops that do not chafe around the head, ears or twist in the hair.
Durability—While surgical masks used in hospitals or other medical facilities are often one-time-use items, the elastic still needs to be heavy-duty for long-term wear. Emergency workers protecting their mouths and noses from dust and pollution especially need durability for difficult conditions.
Effectiveness—Also, the cords needs to maintain their elasticity without overstretching so the mask maintains its protectiveness.

Typically, a thicker, fabric-covered elastic cord loops through the mask material so the wearer can quickly attach the mask over the face by securing the elastic cord behind the ears. Therefore, soft, but durable polyester elastic cord is needed in mask manufacturing. Elastic Connections has several options for thick, soft elastic cord that is perfect for surgical mask production. Contact us for details at 847-426-6830.

Merchandise Tag Designs Using Elastic Loops

If you have an amazing product to sell, whether it’s apparel, cookies, jewelry, tech or cosmetics, you have to compete to grab the attention of your potential customers. That’s where merchandising and design come into play—right down to the branding on the elastic hang tag. This may seem like a small detail, but anything generic, even on this level, can signal inconsistency and poor quality to the customer. So while planning your merchandising scheme, don’t forget the hang tag!

Elastic Loops to Attach Hang Tags

Whether trying to convey a hand-crafted or high-end look, the trend is to attach hang tags to merchandise with elastic loops. Sure, you can use white elastic loops for hang tags, but consider your overall design; a matte color elastic loop, or metallic elastic loop can really pop.

Hang Tag Color

As previously mentioned, color is an important subconscious seller. Use it strategically in the branding on your hang tags in conjunction with all other branding efforts. Design accordingly and order elastic stretch loops for hang tags in a coordinating tonal or complementary colors to draw the customer’s attention:

Yellow—Youth, optimism, attention-grabber
Red—Urgent, energetic, grabs and holds attention, boosts sales
Blue—Security and trust (often used in banking and health products)
Green—Relaxing; associated with money and environmentally-friendly products
Orange—Aggressive, energetic, cutting-edge; stimulates hunger
Pink—Feminine, romantic
Black—Sleek, luxurious
Purple—Calming, yet mysterious; often used in cosmetics and anti-aging
Gold & Silver—Wealth, power, elegance

Tag Shapes

Trendy merchandise tags aren’t just rectangular today. They may be circular, triangular, oblong, ring-shaped, leaf-shaped, book-shaped or die-cut with all kinds of edging effects that say, “We’re different, we’re special.”

Merchandise Hang Tag Designs

Elastic Connections has a wide assortment of colored elastic stretch loops and hang tag string that will accentuate your merchandise tags and other branding efforts. Contact us at 847-426-6830 to learn more.

Elastic Thread for 2015 Fashion Trends

Whether it’s Return to Preppyville or Extreme Denim, only one thing is certain in the world of fashion: apparel manufacturers from Paris to L.A. and everywhere in between need elastic thread. Apparel elastic is essential for prêt a porter because every body is different. The fashion industry is slowly realizing that not everybody is a size -2—and that industry fashion projections of “beauty” are neither realistic, nor healthy. With a tighter focus on helping women feel comfortable in their own skin, apparel choices are becoming more elastic, more forgiving and more fun. Here are 4 hot trends for 2015 that will definitely require spools of elastic thread:

Denim—Vogue is touting the “Extreme Denim” trend from Fashion Week. The new denim trend includes everything from culottes and wide rave jeans to jackets, tuxedos even shoes and handbags designed out of denim reborn in a host of new designs and patterns, all of which require apparel elastic in bulk.
Gingham—Glamour says that from smocked frocks to jackets and skirts are receiving an update from tired old plaid to fresh, springy gingham. But note that colors are tending towards black and white or blue and white this year for some contrasty edge. And designs are being made to fit a wide variety of body types in hot new ways, all with a bit of stretchy thread give.
Kimono & Obi—The Japanese classic Kimono with a wide obi belt will be making an appearance this year with jackets, coats and dresses. A very classy yet modern and forgiving style that apparel manufacturers can market for almost every body type.
One Shoulder—Dresses and tops with one shoulder are also in at the moment, so if you plan on designing and manufacturing these styles, spools of apparel elastic for helping women avoid a wardrobe malfunction is an absolute must.

To stock your apparel manufacturing needs with always-in-vogue apparel elastic, contact Elastic Connections today at 847-426-6830.