Your Ultimate Guide to Sublimated or Printed Keychains

Vibrant and colorful, accurate in the depiction of whatever art you choose—that’s sublimation patches in a nutshell. Also known as printed custom patches, these are very popular as logo patches on uniforms, for graphic tees, sweatshirts, and hoodies, and also, keychains. Where embroidered keychains once dominated the non-metal keychain realm, sublimated or printed keychains are the Latest trend, loved due to the fact that you can print anything from photographs to vector graphics.

If you've been considering getting sublimated patches but are not sure what these are and how they work on keychains, this guide to printed keychains is perfect for you.

Sublimation patches are quite suited to accessories, especially keychains. These are a great way to showcase a personal piece of art, use it as a means of promoting your brand, and even create fan merch for supporting a team or club. You can get a few custom-printed patches or order in bulk. Ask for the keychain attachment, and you get ready to use printed keychains you can proudly show off to the world.

Sublimated patches which make up sublimated or printed keychains are patches that feature ink transferred onto special sublimation paper. The process involves putting the paper through a sublimation printer (also referred to as a heat press), which takes input from the computer software where the process digital art is stored.

The printer uses heat transfer technology to seamlessly create a replication of the digital art with ink on the sheet. The final result is visually appealing and true to the original artwork—so it’s no wonder why there are so many awesome uses of custom-made sublimation patches!

As for the quality, it’s as great as the quality of the image, the equipment involved, and of course, the skill set of the patch artist converting your art into keychains.

Are Sublimated Keychains Always On Sublimation Paper? When it comes to printed keychains, you can choose from a variety of materials. In addition to traditional sublimation patches attached to a twill backing, you can also go for faux leather, plastic, acrylic, and neoprene options. The variety depends on what patch manufacturer you’re going for.

With the magic of dye sublimation via the heat press, you get your artwork on the blank you prefer. The printing technique uses extreme heat and pressure to accomplish this, creating keychains that are nothing less than stunning works of art. The colors pop on nearly every type of substrate and have superb durability as well. Once the design is set onto your chosen material, it does not fade or crack with easily, even with daily use.

Moving on in this guide to printed keychains, let’s discuss why you should select these over any other kind of patch keychain. We’ve covered everything you need to know about ordering printed patches, so let's dive into the perks of ordering these.

Sublimation patches have a long-standing reputation as one of the creative patches, loved by everyone from individual artists, to small-scale clothing brands, to large corporations!

Here are a few reasons why you should choose sublimated keychains:

Accuracy is the highlight feature of sublimation patches, which makes it stand out among different types of custom patches. Say you need patches products that show pictures of your significant other or a loved pet. You may need a custom patch that features a complex brand logo design.

In this case, the more traditional patches such as embroidered or chenille patches simply can’t showcase your image in a ‘natural’ way. That’s why these patches are best for vector graphics—whereas the sublimation orienting technique fares very, very well for converting photographs and complex graphics into custom patches.

So, if you’re thinking intricate patch keychains, printed patches are your answer!

Want the colors on your keychain to pop? Moreover, do you want these lively colors to stand the test of time, and look just as amazing down the road as they do when you get them freshly crafted and delivered to your doorstep?

Enter: sublimated keychains. There’s absolutely no doubt that these printed patches have great vibrancy. By choosing printed keychains, you get items that endure elemental effects (water, dirt, etc.) and are relatively easy to maintain as well. It’s crucial to consider these benefits when you are creating custom patch keychains in bulk that you want to distribute…and impress anyone who sees them.

While we’re discussing a guide to sublimated keychains, let’s take a look at what the ‘sublimation’ process is capable of. The fact is that sublimation coating can be applied to a wide range of items. From a metal license plate to ceramic ornaments, there’s a lot that sublimation coating works on. Needless to say, sublimation is perfect for keychains—a robust coating with a great pop of color!

As for the sublimated keychains themselves, you can choose from a large variety of shapes and sizes. Use your laptop or tablet for your design work; Photoshop or Illustrator are easy enough to creat basic and advanced graphics. You can also download an image from the internet. However, for the best results, do make sure the quality is top-notch!

The type and quality of image you choose matters. Remember that an embroidered or chenille patch features threads weaved to create graphics, which means the design is not going to be crisp—and neither does the image file have to be 100% perfect. However, with sublimated keychains, patch creation works like printing a picture on paper. And image quality you provide, the more awesome it looks your keychains!

And don’t worry too much about the cost. Sublimation printing services are actually relatively affordable noew due to increasing popularity.

It’s safe to say that sublimation printing is a great choice for creating keychains! Venturing into the world of custom patch keychains to market your brand? Or are you dabbling in unique ideas for personalized gifts?

Either way, sublimation printing is the way to go. And if you’re looking for the best in the business, make ThePatchio your choice!

Our team is highly skilled in creating high-quality sublimation patches. We strive for excellence and carefully inspect every material used in the sublimation printing process. Contact us today and we will begin making your printed keychains!