Original
article reprinted here with permission of
the author Scott Shenkel, all
rights reserved.
Carabiner keychains are
the quintessential business and personal
promotional item. Modeled after “real”
climbing carabiners, these small carabiner
replicas feature a spring loaded gate for
attaching to straps and loops. Cool shapes,
added functionality (ie flashlight, bottle
opener, whistle etc.) and custom laser
engraving all add up to one thing: big hit
promotional items!
”Load bearing” carabiners are commonly used
in both the sailing and rock climbing
industries. These “real” carabiners are made
from aluminum rod or forged steel shaped
around a spring loaded gate. Traditionally
made in both D and oval shapes, today
carabiners can be found in a variety of
sizes and basic shapes. Their functionality
stems from the gate mechanism which opens
with pressure and springs closed when
released allowing carabiners to hold and be
attached to various objects.
This article is concerned
not with the load bearing variety of
carabiners, but with the much smaller
“replica” or promotional carabiners used
primarily as keychains. Promotional
carabiners are about 1/3 the size of “real”
carabiners and are no load bearing and not
for climbing. They function in a similar way
to their load bearing cousins.
By way of the spring
loaded gate they can be easily clipped to
most straps and loops creating a very
convenient way to carry keys as well as
other small objects. This “clipping”
function along with the ability to customize
them with a name, logo or message is why
carabiner keychains have sky rocketed to the
top of the big hit promotional products
chart.
The carabiner keychain
craze started with the introduction of the
large D replica measuring approx. 3.0” x
1.5”. Initially it was introduced in black
with a silver gate. Additional colors would
come later. These carabiners were typically
sold in outdoor retail stores as accessories
and started to get some notice from rock
climbers. They proudly displayed these
replica carabiners clipped to their belt
loops and back packs identifying themselves
as climbers as well as for the dedication to
their sport.
The first use of
carabiner keychains as a marketing tool
began in the early 90’s when a prominent
company displayed them in their promotional
products catalog in black with a colored
nylon strap and custom imprinted label. The
next step would dramatically increase the
popularity of carabiner keychains
world-wide. In 1995 RMG Accessory Gear a
small promotional products company in
Connecticut developed carabiner keychains
for the college market. They introduced
carabiner keychains at a college store
tradeshow with custom college logos printed
on a white polyester label which was
stitched onto a piece of nylon webbing
attached to the carabiner. The carabiners
were available not only in black, but a
variety of clip/strap color combinations.
The product was a big hit on college
campuses. At the same time both small and
large companies were taking notice and would
soon be using custom imprinted carabiner
keychains as very effective marketing tools.
They were effective because people were
actually using them and not throwing them
out as was the course for the many nonsense
promotional products at the time.
At this point the only
imprint appeared on the label; the clips
were blank solid colors. The next innovation
would send carabiner keychains into the
mainstream promotional products market.
Around 1995 some companies were
experimenting with using lasers to apply
marks directly onto the carabiner surface.
Since the surface color was just a “coating”
the laser could effectively remove this coat
exposing the bright silver color of the
aluminum below. The process of coating
carbabiners with color is known as “anodization”.
In addition to applying color, anodizing the
aluminum surface also protects it from
abrasion and wear. This process known as
“laser engraving” now allowed for the direct
customization of the carabiner clips with
names, logos and messages. Laser engraving
offers several advantages over custom
printed labels; more horizontal space for
text, less expensive than the more labor
intensive printing and stitching labels onto
nylon webbing and the marks don’t rub or
scratch off. Although, due to the height of
its printable surface area (0.50”) the label
offered more possibilities for the
reproduction of logos compared to the narrow
engraving area on a large D carabiner
(0.25”). Other customization methods, such
as, “pad printing” involving ink being
deposited onto the metal surface was being
performed as well. The advantage of pad
printing is that now the imprints can appear
in color. The down side of this method is
that the imprints do not hold up well and
are subject to being scratched and worn off
from constant handling as well as by keys
rubbing against it. Pad printing is still in
use today for customizing carabiners, but
laser engraving is by far the more popular
and desired marking method.
By the late 90’s
custom laser engraved and imprinted
carabiners with straps and labels were being
seen everywhere, from student backpacks to
business brief case handles. During this
time custom shape carabiners started to
appear in the marketplace. These carabiners
with the same spring loaded gate as the
standard large D carabiner keychain were
being manufactured in China in very simple
familiar shapes (I.e. dog bones, footballs,
fish, circles, hearts etc.). These custom
shapes appealed to various businesses,
groups and organizations associated with the
new shapes as new marketing tools. For
example, canine and animal related groups
for the dog bone, marine and fishing
organizations for the fish shape etc. Today,
you can find carabiners in abundance in many
diverse shapes from circles, squares and
diamonds to daisies, butterflies and sea
turtles.
Carabiners have more
recently evolved past the keychain being its
primary use. Overseas companies are now
producing carabiners with built in functions
that are found to be useful on a daily
basis. From led flashlights, whistles, and
watches to pens, water bottle holders,
utility knives, compasses and radios. The
most popular of these new “multi-functional”
carabiner keychains is by far the carabiner
flashlights featuring a twist on-off bright
led light. The latest version of the
carabiner flashlight incorporates a very
loud safety whistle for additional
functionality.
Even as carabiner
keychains continue to evolve and morph into
new shapes and functions it’s still the very
basic standard large D carabiner keychain
with a custom laser engraved name, logo or
message that’s sits on top of the
promotional carabiner roost. From its humble
beginnings in the early 90’s to now, the
carabiner keychain in all its permutations
has proven to be a big hit promotional item.
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