Throughout my pin trading and collecting experiences, I’ve learned a great deal about the process of making and creating lapel pins, designing them, and just about everything else related to pins! It’s a fascinating thing and we’ve covered several topics, such as how to design them, where and how they are made, etc. I’ve learned that most pins are actually manufactured off-shore in countries such as China, Taiwan, and India. Not a big surprise, lots of things are made there…just about everything you use on a daily basis has some manufacturing ties to one of these countries. I have also learned that there are some people who only collect or buy pins that are made in the USA, or Union made. I’ve done some research and it seems that there are only a small number of shops in the USA that make pins. This makes for some really unique and fairly hard to come by collectible pins. While there are literally millions of pins out there, the percentage I’ve heard from some of the USA manufacturers is that only about 3-5% of all lapel pins are made right here in the USA. Very cool! I’ve managed to put together a small collection of USA made pins so far, and am actively looking for more. So if you’re looking for a unique route to take on your pin collecting path, check out domestically made pins!