Lanyard Facts, Figures & Trivia

Lanyards, in their simplest form, are strips of material, fabric or rope that are generally used to secure something. There are lots of different types of lanyards but they are most popular as a way of displaying ID cards around the neck.

Historically they were used to secure shields, armour or weapons in a military setting. They can still be found as part of many military uniforms, particularly dress uniforms, often in a ceremonial rather than practical context.

Nowadays lanyards are most commonly found in workplaces where they are used for displaying ID cards or passes, or at conferences or events where they are used to display delegate passes.

Lanyards can also be used as a safety tool - secured to anchor points when working at heights or as cut of switches on engines and machinery.

They also are used in a range of sporting and outdoor activities such as mountaineering, climbing and sailing where they have a number of specialised uses.

Safety and sporting lanyards are manufactured very differently from ID lanyards and they are not interchangeable.

The word lanyard derives from the French word lanière meaning a strap or thong. This word found its way into English following the Norman conquest (1066) and evolved to give us the word lanyard that we use today. The first recorded use of the word in its modern form was back in 1626.

ID lanyards can be made from a wide range of materials including natural fabrics, such as cotton or bamboo, or man-made fibres like polyester including recycled fibres. Wipe clean lanyards made from silicone or PVC can be found in hospitals and labs.

Sunflower Lanyards (and other sunflower products) are used to indicate that the wearer has a hidden disability. They are recognised in shops, supermarkets, the NHS and airports and train stations, where they let staff know that the person may need some additional support or simply a little more time.

The Hidden Disability Sunflower Lanyard was designed by our team in 2016 and can be found of a range of items such as pins, ribbons and wristbands as well as lanyards.

Lanyards are used in schools to help quickly identify staff, students and visitors. Larger schools often have different coloured lanyards for each house or year group and they can also be used to identify those who have DBS approvals or perform a safeguarding role. We offer an extensive range of custom printed school lanyards, and well as plain and pre-printed text lanyards for schools.

Lanyards are normally worn round the neck so that ID cards are easy to see and accessible but they can also be attached to belt loops, bags or pretty much anything that a strap can be secured to.

ID lanyards are most commonly used to display and ID card or door access card, but can also be used to carry fobs for tills, keys, digital devices pens or even whistles. There are a huge range of clips and attachments that you can customise your lanyard with to hold specific items securely.

Lanyards can be interchanged with id badge clips or retractable ski reels or badge reels or a metal chain or pvc lanyard can be substituted for a fabric lanyard.

Lanyards are also known as neck straps and neck cords as well as ID straps, ID lanyards and many more similar terms.

Like any item worn around the neck it is important to be aware of safety issues and exercise common sense. We supply all of our lanyards with a safety break fitted, normally at the back of the neck. This means the lanyard will break in two should it get caught on anything, keeping the wearer safe. For certain workplaces where there might be additional risks, such as around machinery, we can fit multiple safety breaks.

If you attach metal objects such as keys to a lanyard it is advisable to take it off before driving to prevent any injury in the event of the airbag deploying.