'Chintzy' Specialty badges

Nilsog · April 16, 2011, 03:14:43 PM

I've been wondering for a while, why do our specialty badges look so chintzy/cheap? Take for example the GT badge:

Compared to USAF civil engineer:

Not only is the embroidery terrible (I've bought several emt badges that looked worse than that GT badge) But even the metal badges lack the fine detail that make them look nice.

I didn't make this thread just to complain, but didn't know if anyone actually knew how these were designed and why they don't really match up to the quality of military badges.

Eclipse · April 16, 2011, 04:03:19 PM

The bright GT badges have been somewhat "less" since they went from the dull finish to the bright, but they really haven't changed in 10+ years.

One thing I will grant the now shuttered alternate vendor made beautiful embroidered badges.

manfredvonrichthofen · April 16, 2011, 04:52:53 PM

Simply put, it is Vanguard's fault. They make crap, not professional items.

Pylon · April 16, 2011, 05:04:08 PM

Quote from: manfredvonrichthofen on April 16, 2011, 04:52:53 PM
Simply put, it is Vanguard's fault. They make crap, not professional items.

Clarification: Vanguard makes crap for us and really nice stuff for the military.

Nilsog · April 16, 2011, 05:08:56 PM

Thats kind of what I don't understand though, they are obviously capable of making high quality items. Are they subbing our items out to cheaper manufacturers, or is it just not giving a hoot because we don't have as much clout as the military, or both?

I take pride in my work at CAP, but its hard to take pride in my uniform when the things I display on it are subpar. I think I'm going to write a letter, because honestly, you can see the vast difference in quality just by looking at the pictures on their own website. Its just not right.

MIKE · April 16, 2011, 05:14:47 PM

Guess who makes these: http://stores.homestead.com/ShopAuxiliary/Categories.bok?category=NEW+Sew+On+Insignia

Nilsog · April 16, 2011, 05:23:26 PM

Yeah... Looks like the CG Aux even rates over us. I didn't see anything there that looked bad.

Eclipse · April 16, 2011, 05:37:38 PM

CAP, NHQ sets the specifications and decides if the product's quality is acceptable within the parameters of our
contracts.

Writing to VG is probably misdirected.

Nilsog · April 16, 2011, 06:28:30 PM

Emailed vanguard@capnhq.gov, the address given when you click contact us in eservices. Got a postmaster notification that delivery failed. So who should I send it to now?

SARDOC · April 17, 2011, 12:59:05 AM

I ordered a few embroidered insignia from Vanguard and the quality is terrible...They put some of my items on Backorder so when I called them to find out how long it will take to get the item...I was told over two weeks because vanguard outsourced the embroidered rank insignia I ordered because I was told that large volume embroidery is not done in house.

manfredvonrichthofen · April 17, 2011, 02:31:30 AM

I want to know who to send a letter to as well. I have never been a fan of their work. I have had the excuse of "oh it is just because white thread can't make that kind of detail." That is a load.

That is some pretty dang good detail if you ask me. I paid about $1.50 for each of those. I am sure if I were to send the medal GT badge to the manufacturer of those badges that I could get one of the same detail from them for a really decent price. That is unless they know about the cease and desist threats from VG and NHQ.

All that NHQ is doing with this company is ensuring that we get sub par items. I say everyone order from VG at the same time and send the badges back saying that they are not up to our standards, and keep sending them back until they come back with a good looking product.

The CyBorg is destroyed · April 17, 2011, 03:29:07 AM

Quote from: Nilsog on April 16, 2011, 05:23:26 PM
Yeah... Looks like the CG Aux even rates over us. I didn't see anything there that looked bad.

CGAUX has good blingage, even though it's pricey if you get it from Lighthouse.

http://catalog.lighthouseuniform.com/coastguard/#top

Nilsog · April 17, 2011, 06:52:21 AM

I think this image shows the level of detail that would make me happy in an embroidered version.

MIKE · April 17, 2011, 01:28:05 PM

Quote from: CyBorg on April 17, 2011, 03:29:07 AMCGAUX has good blingage, even though it's pricey if you get it from Lighthouse.

http://catalog.lighthouseuniform.com/coastguard/#top

I wouldn't buy insignia from there. The quality is much better through AUXCEN and CGEX which is the official source and produced to CG specfications.

N Harmon · April 17, 2011, 01:50:08 PM

One of these badges is from Vanguard, the other is not. Can you guess which one? Hint: One of them is no longer available for purchase.

manfredvonrichthofen · April 17, 2011, 02:27:59 PM

Quote from: N Harmon on April 17, 2011, 01:50:08 PM

One of these badges is from Vanguard, the other is not. Can you guess which one? Hint: One of them is no longer available for purchase.

The one on the right was from the hock shop. I miss their work.

JC004 · April 17, 2011, 02:52:48 PM

Quote from: Eclipse on April 16, 2011, 05:37:38 PM
CAP, NHQ sets the specifications and decides if the product's quality is acceptable within the parameters of our
contracts.

Writing to VG is probably misdirected.

That's about it. The stuff looks like NHQ just says "produce something like this or whatever." The contract management is the key since Vanguard clearly CAN make better insignia. Some of the stuff that I got was HORRIBLE. The epaulet sleeves were all bunched up under the embroidery. I got branch tapes on which CAP was slanted (God forbid we use a quality vendor which already exists for those and have the option of fabric strip). Some crappy officer insignia, obviously the crappy badges... I wish the Vanguard tapes were half the quality of the fabric strip tapes to which I switched... The polo shirt's CAP seal was WAY off-center. I've seen other polos with the same issue. If the polos that I ordered for my organization looked like that, I would have flipped at the vendor. The cheapish polo that I ordered for my web site was far better than Vanguard's work...

A uniform shouldn't look like hell because the ONLY vendor produces crap and when someone produces something better, they get shut down.

commando1 · April 17, 2011, 09:43:01 PM

I cried when the ~~Hock Shop~~ that unauthorized vendor went out of business. They made much better embroidery items and for cheaper. All my uniforms have Hock patches on them, thank goodness. I hate seeing cadets walk around with sloppy patches, but half the time the cadet can't help it! Vanguard is more than capable of making better quality products. P.S I never ever buy nametapes from Vanguard, I always use uniformnametape.com and have always received fast well made products.

Hawk200 · April 18, 2011, 03:13:36 AM

Quote from: SARDOC on April 17, 2011, 12:59:05 AMI was told over two weeks because vanguard outsourced the embroidered rank insignia I ordered because I was told that large volume embroidery is not done in house.

There's a huge irony for ya. Cease and desist letters sent to other vendors and makers, but Vanguard doesn't even produce what they sell us. Yeesh.

Hawk200 · April 18, 2011, 03:14:57 AM

Quote from: manfredvonrichthofen on April 17, 2011, 02:31:30 AM
I want to know who to send a letter to as well. I have never been a fan of their work. I have had the excuse of "oh it is just because white thread can't make that kind of detail." That is a load.

Yeah, and funny considering I've had white on olive Army badges in my collection that had far better detail than what they offer.