Lanyard as a word has been around for centuries where the concise Oxford Dictionary has defined it as ‘a cord that hangs around the neck or around the shoulder particularly with scouts and sailors on which a whistle or a knife etc. can be attached.
Nowadays due to the need for proper identification and heightened security in many places lanyards are not used only by sailors or scouts. In fact most of us may have worn a lanyard around the neck at some time or the other in our lives. Some companies require their employees to wear their identification cards attached to bespoke lanyards around their neck. If this is not the case with you then you definitely may have worn such identification cards while attending a company visit or an exhibition.
Different types of lanyards
Some lanyards are plain either made of woven or plaited material or they may also be beaded ones made of leather. Most of the lanyards nowadays are used to attach a name tag, or ID card in a card holder attached with a clip on the end of the lanyard. These ID cards or name tags are held within card holders. Sometimes the card carries some single word like ‘visitor’ which identifies the person as a visitor. The more sophisticated ID cards however, have the name and designation of the employee along with the address and name of the company that they are working with.
Some of these cards are designed to be swipe cards which are either used to open doors or to mark the presence of an employee at the workplace. These cards contain a metallic strip or codes that help in places where security is very important. These cards may have to be swept regularly inside the building of the office and for this they may be equipped with pull reels which can be easily extracted and retracted.
Lanyards used in the leisure sector
These types of lanyards in the leisure sector are most commonly seen in ski resorts. Other leisure lanyards may have whistles attached for referees, for mobile phones and even for attaching spectacles.
The marketing aware companies use these bespoke lanyards to promote their corporate colors and image at all times in subtle manners. Such lanyards are either woven or braided and are made in the company’s colors matching with uniforms. Company logos can be printed on the lanyards or woven into the fabric of the lanyards. Most utility companies use this type of lanyard for staff ID cards, so that if the householder has a suspicion about the identity of the employee they can contact the company based on the contact information printed on the ID card.
Safety features
Most of the lanyards nowadays come with a safety feature called the safety break. This allows the lanyard to break apart if it gets caught in something and this protects the neck from getting pulled. This safety feature is advisable because ribbon or woven lanyards are quite tough and don’t snap easily.
Lanyards also make excellent promotional gifts as the people can use them to hold mobile phones or their spectacles.
On the whole bespoke lanyards go a long way in identifying a company brand and also provide one way to identify the employees of one particular company.
