As a family of teachers, we're proud to offer high-quality teacher lanyards (and other accessories like nurse badge reels) that are handcrafted right here in the USA. And yes, we handmake every lanyard in-house, unlike others who buy premade lanyards and simply add the personalization.

But, how do we do it? Read on to learn about every step we take to ensure we're shipping cute teacher lanyards that will last!

Sourcing the Best Materials

All of our lanyards start by sourcing the best possible materials. Our experience making and shipping thousands of lanyards have helped us find reliable, ethical, and quality suppliers. This includes items like:

• Strong & lightweight cord
• Durable metal findings (the rings and hooks on each lanyard)
• Quality wood
• Food-grade silicone beads
• and more

By making our lanyards in-house, we're able to ensure we're picking the best possible supplier for each component to ensure the product our customers receive is one that they (and we) can be proud of.

Hand Finishing Each Piece of Wood

After we've sourced and received supplies from across the country (and worldwide), we can start making our lanyard. This begins with the personalized wooden disc on every lanyard.

Each of our wooden discs starts as a sheet of wood. Every sheet goes through multiple rounds of sanding, staining, and finishing to bring out the detail of the beautiful wood. This process takes several days since some steps need time to dry/cure before continuing.

Aside from bringing out the beauty of the wood, finishing is a crucial step to ensure the wooden disc is smooth and adequately sealed. An unfinished disc can be rough, which can damage your clothing over time or even result in a splinter! Finishing the disc also ensures it is water-resistant. This means liquids from rain, spills, or cleaning won't damage your lanyard.

Laser Cutting the Disc

Now that our wood is finished and fully cured, we can turn it into the discs we use for our products. To do this, we use a CNC laser that can precisely cut each disc the appropriate size and cut any necessary holes for constructing the teacher lanyard — using a laser yields sharp, clean edges that won't snag or splinter. 

Personalizing the Teacher Lanyard

Our wooden discs are now ready for their personalization! Every teacher lanyard we sell includes free personalization. 

Our personalization is applied using special ink that is cured using ultraviolet light. This results in crisp and readable text that is bonded permanently to our wooden disc. It won't scratch, flake, peel, fade, or discolor over time (unlike vinyl or markers.) Because there are no sharp edges or voids (like with wood that has been engraved), it also won't snag on clothing or collect dust or lint. 

Assembling the Lanyard & Beads

Now that we have our personalized wooden disc, it needs a durable lanyard to call home.

All of our lanyards are made from cord that is rated to hold over 90lbs of weight. We start by measuring the correct length of cord and then cutting and welding the ends of the cord to prevent fraying. 

Once this is done, we then feed the cord through breakaway clasps (your lanyard needs these for safety; many workplaces require them.)

We can now add the beads. Most of our lanyards use food-grade silicone beads, but some also include food-grade wooden beads for additional texture. Using beads made of silicone and wood ensure that your lanyard will hold up over time (they won't crack or break.) 

We have a variety of premade and limited edition designs that we use, but you can also design your own combination from over 50 beads that we have in stock.

Putting it All Together

With our two pieces finished (the wooden disc and the beaded lanyard), we can now attach everything together.

We use stainless steel jump rings to connect all of our various hardware. These rings are hypoallergenic and exceptionally durable. We attach everything by hand and then use a specialized welding process to close the jump rings permanently. This prevents the rings from stretching open over time (which could result in lost keys or IDs, and that's no fun at all!)

Packaging It All Up

Our finished lanyard is now carefully inspected for flaws and packaged in our signature gift bag for safe shipment direct to your door.

In Summary

As you can see, we take great pride in the work that we do, and we've invested heavily in equipment and testing to ensure our customers receive a product that they can be proud to wear for a very long time.