Are you a canine fan? Chance are if you love the furry little guys as much as some people do, you like to collect dog themed trinkets like paperweights, pens, mugs with your favorite pooch’s mug on it, and more.
A great little collectible you may have overlooked are lapel pins… Dog Lapel Pins to be exact!
So what are they? Well, dog lapel pins can be found in a variety of styles, types, colors and sizes. Just about any breed of dog can be found on a lapel pin.
Take a look at this little guy. A German Shepherd themed pin! Into dachsunds? There are tons of Dachsund pins out there to collect. How about poodles? There are more poodle pins available than you might think.
A really neat idea is to have your own dog pins made, and you can even get a collar with a hanging bone that swings from the neck! How cool is that?
All in all, there are a bunch of different ways to collect dog lapel pins, and it’s purely up to your own personal taste. I’ve always had a thing for Golden Retrievers, and I’ve seen a few pins around that I’d like to start a collection with.
Many find that collecting dog lapel pins is a way to pass the time, and engage yourself in something you’re truly passionate about – Man’s best friend!
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USSSA, the United States Specialty Sports Association is an organization that sanctions and holds events for a wide range of sports including youth baseball, fastpitch softball, and more. In the past few years, a popular trend has emerged in the world of youth sports, and that trend is Trading Pins! USSSA trading pins are gaining in popularity, and for good reason. They’re awesome!
USSSA Trading Pins are usually designed by the team who’s logo is displayed on the trading pins, and each player can give their input as to the design of the pin. Team moms and dads, even coaches, band together to come up with a final design for their teams’ pins for that year (the teams usually design a new pin for each season) and have them made by a custom manufacturer. This creates a very unique pin, and to the kids it’s all about tradeability. The cooler the design, the better the pins will trade at the pin trading events, which are held all over the country at baseball and softball fields.
Just from my experience, I’ll include a few pointers if your team is looking to make custom made trading pins.
A very popular use for lapel pins is the Masonic lapel pin. Masonic lapel pins come in a wide variety of designs and finishes and are considered very collectible. Masonic lapel pins have been around for decades and are a big part of Freemasonry.
Masonic pins can be found in just the compass and square symbol, or other designs depending on the individual or lodge that had the pins created. There are many collectors of Masonic pins out there, and they’re a very widely found type of pin if you’ve made your rounds at pin collecting. They’re some of the most readily available on the market. Sites like 
I’ve always thought chrome skulls are pretty neat. I remember a trip to Disney when I was a kid and I got a light-up skull pin that I lost and to this day can’t find another.
I was looking around and came across this trick looking silver skull lapel pin and thought I’d share the find.
You can buy them online too @ 
Gold lapel pins such as this 
A lot of people wonder where and how to wear a lapel pin on a suit. It’s a pretty straightforward thing, but you want to make sure your pin is placed well for a generally appealing appearance. Lapel pins range in size usually from 1/2″ to about 1.0″ (anything larger is more like wearing a dinner plate).
For a 1/2″ to 3/4″ lapel pin, you want to wear it about where the pin in the photo example to the left is shown.
For a 1″ pin, you’ll want it slightly lower to offset the larger size.
Toy around with left-to-right placement until you find a spot that looks best for you. Remember that lapel sizes vary, so no one solution is going to work for every suit. Go on google and look around at “Lapel pins on suit” or “how to wear a lapel pin on a suit” and you’ll find some pictures of guys (and gals) wearing lapel pins.
The type of pin may also affect how you want to work the placement of your lapel pins. For example, American Flag pins are pretty uniform in shape and can be moved up, down but need to be left-right centered most of the time.
For a round pin, the same applies, but for odd-shaped lapel pins, sports lapel pins, company or corporate lapel pins, you might need to adjust the placement of the lapel pins to achieve optimal placement.
Also – some people don’t like the idea of putting a hole through a nice suit, so be sure to try to find a lapel pin that uses a magnetic attachment (magnetic clutch) on the back so that you don’t have to ruin your nice suit just to wear a pin. 
