Looking after your nametags

Sublimated tags are hard-wearing, because the image is inside the surface instead of on top of it, so it cannot be rubbed off. Most of what shortens a tag’s life is mechanical, not chemical.

Cleaning

• A damp cloth, then dry it. That handles almost everything.
• For something greasy, a little washing-up liquid in warm water on the cloth.
• Avoid anything abrasive: no scouring pad, no cream cleaner. Brushed aluminium has a directional grain, and a scourer will leave marks across it.
• Avoid solvents, acetone and bleach, especially on a Tag Armor dome.

The things that actually damage tags

Going through the wash is the most common way a tag is lost. A magnetic tag left on a shirt goes into the machine with it; the tag usually survives, the garment sometimes does not, and the magnet bar disappears. Getting into the habit of taking the tag off with the shirt is worth more than any cleaning advice.

After that it is dropping onto hard floors, which can dent a corner, and prying at the fastener, which can loosen a bar pin over years of use.

Storing magnets

Keep the loose magnet bars together in a drawer or a tin, not loose in a bag. They will find each other anyway, and they will also find anything else magnetic. Keep them away from magnetic-stripe cards, and away from anybody with a pacemaker or implanted defibrillator.

Replacing one

When somebody loses a tag, you do not start again. Your logo and the exact layout of your tag are kept on file, so a replacement comes back identical to the ones already on the wall. Sign in and reorder, or email and say which name you need. Either way it is a two-minute job at our end.

There is also a short code on the back of every tag. Type it into the site and it brings up that exact design, ready to reorder, without anybody having to remember what was ordered three years ago.