Choosing bands
Wristband glossary
Updated 2 min read Paper Bands by Adalwin
The words you meet in a wristband quote, each defined in a line: the material (Tyvek, HDPE, gsm), the closure (tamper-evident tab, security slits, release liner), the printing (one colour, full colour, proof, numbering) and the paperwork (MOQ, proforma, HSN code, GST invoice).
Material
- Tyvek
- DuPont’s trade name for sheets of high-density polyethylene fibres. People use it for any paper event band.
- Tyvek-type or Tyvek-style
- A similar synthetic sheet from another maker. Our bands are Tyvek-type synthetic paper (not DuPont).
- HDPE
- High-density polyethylene, the plastic the fibres are made of.
- Synthetic paper
- A plastic sheet that looks and prints like paper but resists tearing and water.
- Grammage (gsm)
- Grams per square metre: how heavy the sheet is. Ours: 70 or 75 gsm.
Closure
- Adhesive tab
- The end of the band with glue under a liner, which fastens it round the wrist.
- Release liner
- The strip peeled off the tab to expose the adhesive.
- Security slits
- Small cuts in the tab that make it tear if someone tries to peel it off.
- Tamper-evident
- Shows damage if removed, so a band cannot be taken off and reused unseen.
- Snap lock
- A one-way plastic stud that closes vinyl bands; it has to be cut to remove.
Printing
- One-colour print
- A single ink, usually matched to a Pantone reference.
- Full-colour print
- Four-colour (CMYK) printing for logos with several colours, gradients or photos.
- Pantone
- A numbered colour reference, so the ink matches your brand.
- Proof
- A picture of the printed band for you to approve before anything is printed. Ours comes back the same day, as a digital proof.
- Print area
- The part of the band that can be printed. Ours: the full length of the band or a centre panel, front only.
- Sequential numbering
- A different number on every band, in order, for counting and matching.
- Variable data
- Anything that changes from band to band: numbers, names or codes.
Codes
- QR code
- A square code a phone camera can read. See QR code wristbands.
- Barcode
- A striped code read by a scanner.
- RFID or NFC
- A chip in the band, read by radio when tapped on a reader; no line of sight needed.
Ordering and paperwork
- MOQ
- Minimum order quantity. Ours: 5,000 printed, or plain stock in cartons of 1,000.
- Carton
- Our pack of 1,000 plain bands in one colour.
- Lead time
- Working days from proof approval to dispatch. Ours: 1 to 2 working days for one colour and 3 to 4 for full colour.
- Proforma invoice
- A pre-invoice for the advance payment, issued before printing.
- GST invoice
- The final tax invoice. A GST-registered business can claim input tax credit on it.
- Input tax credit
- GST paid on purchases, set off against GST collected on sales.
- HSN code
- The tax classification code printed on the invoice.