'Chintzy' Specialty badges

[Nilsog]

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]

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]

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

[Pylon]

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]

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]

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

[Nilsog]

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

[Eclipse]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[MIKE]

CGAUX 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

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.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

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.

I had a really interesting full color CIB on olive, it was very very nicely done. The blue field was so thick that you could hardly see any needle marks from the embroidery and the silver, yes silver, not white, rifle border and wreath were very well done, the whole thing was embroidered so thick it stood about a sixth of an inch high from the patch.

[JC004]

They look flattened, really.  Maybe they smash the badges with a hammer of disdain for CAP members as part of the production process. 

[manfredvonrichthofen]

Marking finish of production for our badges by beating them with the ugly stick.

[SoCalMarine]

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.

Yep. And this is why I routinely take the survey on Vanguard's site nailing them in the select an answer section, and then explaining why in the comment section.

[SoCalMarine]

I agree wholeheartedly. Let me make a couple points.

1. The size of the badges we get from Vanguard aren't full size. They are medium size. If you go into an exchange you'll see that the USAF stocks Full, Medium and Small sizes badges. Vanguard only stocks medium size badges. My GT badge is smaller than a Marine Corps Combat Diver bubble. That's SMALL!

2. Wearing CAP badges with prior service badges looks funny because you're mixing and matching sizes. Yes all badges are different sizes, but they are still relative to each other so as to not look out of proportion to someone viewing them on a uniform. Imagine wearing USAF pilot wings (which are just ridiculously huge compared to the other four branch's wings) and then the GT badge. It would just look retarded as the USAF wings are at least five times the size.

3. I have recommended a change in the badges and the rating/occupational badges, but too many people here have shot that down because they don't like the idea or don't want to spend the money. This is my opinion, but I would think that people join CAP to be part of excellence, but the willingness to accept subpar insignia without even firing off comments/suggestions up the chain is sad. I'd be willing to compromise by saying we don't have to change the design, lets just increase the quality of what we have.

4. ***The biggest one I think. Look at the sew-ons for the CGAUX on Vanguard and compare the quality between those and the CAP sew-ons. The CAP sew-ons are horrible quality in comparison, but why? OK, look at the price difference. A CGAUX Past Officer device (which is about the same size as a GT badge) is more than three times then price, and it comes on ripstop. Now, if CAP members were willing to pay $2.90 for a GT sew-on versus the current $0.85 than I'm sure the quality would be the same. I think that's where people are missing what's happening. The quality sucks, but you're also paying almost nothing for a sew-on. You get what you pay for. Now, personally, I'd be willing to pay the $2.90 for a professional looking insignia to go on my uniform. CAP can do so much better than what Vanguard is giving us, but this is what happens when you give some exclusive rights. No competition means lower quality and/or higher prices. Fortunately for CAP its just lower quality without higher prices.

5. There are vendors out there they still do CAP insignia. The greatest majority of that will be embroidery. I can name a vendor or two that you can supply a picture of the item through email, they will digitize it and give you the design before they embroider it for your verification. I have a couple insignia like that, and then I have some that were made either by Vanguard or by another company right outside of MacDill in Tampa.

Just to show you an example of what I'm talking about by going with a smaller vendor increases the quality...

For the CGAUX you can go with whatever vendor you look for your insignia. The district material centers and uniformnametape.com in Tampa does the bulk of the work though. Look at the quality on link #1 and than how much better it is on link #2. From persona experience I can tell you that the items from #2 look EXACTLY like they do on the page when you receive AND they are already cut and embroidered to the correct sizing.

#1:  http://www.uniformnametape.com/rankinsignia_3.aspx
(I mean, just look at the poor quality of the Dept Chief insignia on the top right with the red "A" bleeding into the eagle.)

#2: http://www.mcssl.com/store/the-bent-needle-inc/uscg-auxiliary

#3: http://www.vanguardmil.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2028_2059_2060&products_id=14470
(Now VG's stuff is pretty good for the CGAUX. Why the quality is so poor for CAP I don't know. My thinking is, based on comments I've overheard from others in my chain in supply have said that the USCG has demanded the same quality for both the USCG as the CGAUX because Auxiliarists wear the same uniform and the USCG wants the same look of professionalism across the board. The USAF seems a little too hands off with CAP to make those demands.)