Lanyard Printing Methods: Sublimation vs Screen Printing
PrintOnline offers both printing methods for lanyards. Its Lanyards for Office product lists them side by side on one page, and its Full-Colour Custom Lanyards product is sublimation-only at a narrower width. This article explains the real difference so you order the right one.
Full-colour artwork
If your design uses full-colour photography, detailed multi-colour branding, or anything beyond a couple of flat colours, sublimation is the method built for it. On the Lanyards for Office product, sublimation prints up to 4 colours but only on white lanyards. On the Full-Colour Custom Lanyards product, sublimation is the only method, printing CMYK full colour front and back on a 20mm strap.
Gradients
Gradients and colour blends reproduce cleanly with sublimation, since the dye is infused into the fabric rather than laid down as flat blocks of colour. Screen printing isn't suited to gradients, since each colour is applied as a separate, solid layer.
Logos
A detailed, multi-colour logo generally looks best with sublimation. A simple one or two-colour logo, especially one using solid brand colours, works perfectly well with screen printing and can be more cost-effective.
Simple one/two-colour artwork
Screen printing on the Lanyards for Office product supports 1 or 2 colours, on any of twelve stocked lanyard colours: white, black, yellow, orange, red, green, dark green, cyan, blue, purple, pink and maroon. If your logo is a simple wordmark or icon in one or two solid colours, this is usually the cheaper choice, and it is the only route to a design on a coloured strap rather than a white one.
Pantone requirements: neither method will match exactly
It is tempting to assume screen printing hits a Pantone and sublimation doesn't, since screen printing lays down solid ink. On these products, neither does, and both pages say so.
The Full-Colour product states that metallic colours, Pantone colours and other special colours are not available; artwork is reproduced in CMYK. The Lanyards for Office FAQ answers the colour-matching question directly and says screen printing has limitations and colours cannot be matched 100% to a custom requirement.
So if an exact brand colour is non-negotiable, the decision isn't between these two methods. Raise it with PrintOnline before production, while the digital mockup is still in play.
Print quality, stated plainly
The Lanyards for Office product is screen printed manually, and the page is unusually candid about what that means. A deviation of 1 to 2mm in text alignment or colour thickness is possible between pieces in the same order, 100% perfection is not guaranteed, and the product carries a no-refund, no-reprint policy. A digital mockup is always supplied, but a physical pre-production sample generally isn't, though they will try on large bulk orders.
None of that is unusual for manual screen printing. It is worth knowing before you order several hundred for a conference, because the right response is to order a plain sample first (there's an unprinted option for exactly this) and to set internal expectations, not to discover it on delivery day.
Cost implications
Here are the real figures, so you can compare rather than guess. Screen printing on the Lanyards for Office product, 25mm:
| Quantity | 1 colour | 2 colour |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | AED 125 | AED 185 |
| 10 | AED 165 | AED 220 |
| 20 | AED 225 | AED 325 |
| 50 | AED 365 | AED 490 |
| 100 | AED 560 | AED 680 |
| 250 | AED 1,200 | AED 1,500 |
Against that, full-colour sublimation on the 20mm product is AED 1,030 for 100 and AED 2,110 for 230. At 100 pieces, a one-colour screen print is AED 5.60 each against AED 10.30 each for full colour, so the method genuinely is about half the price for a simple logo. The second screen-printed colour costs roughly AED 1.20 extra per lanyard at 100.
The picture inverts at volume. Screen printing here stops at 250 pieces; the full-colour product runs to 5,000 and falls to AED 7.75 each at 1,000. For a large corporate rollout, full colour is the only route anyway.
Quantity
The two products have different limits, which often decides the choice on its own. Lanyards for Office: minimum 5, maximum 250. Full-Colour Custom Lanyards: minimum 1, maximum 5,000. If you need a single lanyard, or more than 250, the full-colour product is the one that can take the order.
Suitability
| Factor | Sublimation | Screen printing |
|---|---|---|
| Colours | Up to 4 colours (full CMYK on the 20mm product) | 1 or 2 colours |
| Lanyard colour | White only | Any of 12 stocked colours |
| Width | 20mm or 25mm | 25mm |
| Order range | 1 to 5,000 on the 20mm product | 5 to 250 |
| Cost at 100 | AED 10.30 each | AED 5.60 each (1 colour) |
| Exact Pantone match | No | No |
| Best for | Detailed, full-colour or gradient designs; large orders | Simple one or two-colour logos; coloured straps; small runs |
Where to order each method
Both sublimation and screen printing are available on PrintOnline's Lanyards for Office product, select your preferred method during ordering. If you specifically want full-colour front and back printing at 20mm width, PrintOnline's separate Full-Colour Custom Lanyards product is built for that.
Related: custom lanyards for companies in Dubai: the complete guide, choosing the right custom lanyard and what to print on employee ID lanyards.
