Custom printed eclipse glasses are the cheapest branded item most organisations will ever hand out, and the one with the highest chance of being kept. Here are the specifications, the minimum quantity, the lead time, and the four artwork mistakes that cost people a week.
The basics
| Item | Spec |
|---|---|
| Minimum order | 5,000 pieces for custom artwork |
| Print process | Four-colour CMYK, full frame, front and back |
| Frame | Food-grade paperboard, die-cut |
| Filter | Same certified filter as our stock models, EN ISO 12312-2:2015(E) |
| Setup and tooling | No charge at or above the custom minimum |
| Pre-production sample | 7 to 10 working days after artwork approval |
| Mass production | 25 to 35 days |
| Optional | Individual transparent sleeve per pair |
Customising the print does not change the product's safety performance. The filter, the lamination and the frame construction are identical to our stock models QW-SOZ1 to QW-SOZ5, which themselves differ from each other only in what is printed on them.
What must stay on the frame
This is the part worth reading twice, because it is a legal constraint rather than a house preference. Under EU Regulation 2016/425 the product has to carry certain markings, and artwork that removes them cannot be printed by us at any price.
- The safety warnings and usage instructions
- The CE mark
- The reference to the standard
- Manufacturer identification
- The lot or batch identifier
In practice this occupies the inner face of the frame and the arms. The entire outer face, which is the part anyone actually looks at, is yours. When we send you the die-cut template these zones are already marked, so the constraint costs you nothing if you design inside the template from the start.
Artwork requirements
- Work on our template. Ask for it before you start designing. It carries the cut line, the fold lines, the bleed and the reserved zones.
- Send vector. AI, EPS or a press-ready PDF. Convert all fonts to outlines, or send the font files.
- CMYK, not RGB. If you send RGB we convert it, and the conversion will not match what you saw on screen. Bright oranges, deep blues and any neon are the usual casualties.
- Raster images at 300 dpi at final size. A logo pulled from a website will look like a logo pulled from a website.
- Keep text clear of the fold and cut lines. The template shows the safe area. Small type sitting on a fold reads as a smudge.
- Give us the Pantone reference if a brand colour has to be exact. We print CMYK, so we will tell you honestly how close we can get rather than promising a match we cannot hit.
Multilingual instructions
Safety instructions can be printed in the languages of the markets you are shipping to, and for EU sale they have to be in the official language of each member state where the product is sold. If you are supplying five countries, tell us which five at the quotation stage rather than after the sample. Adding a language after artwork approval restarts the sample cycle.
Four mistakes that cost a week
1. Printing the eclipse date
"2 August 2027" across the frame turns unsold stock into waste paper on 3 August 2027. The filter material has a 3-year shelf life and there is a total eclipse over Australia on 22 July 2028. Print the brand, keep the stock sellable.
2. Designing before asking for the template
Every time. A finished design that ignores the reserved zones has to be redrawn, and the redraw always takes longer than the original because someone now has to defend the layout to a marketing director.
3. Approving the PDF instead of the sample
The pre-production sample exists so you can see the real ink on the real board with the real filter in it. Screens lie about colour and nothing on screen shows you how the frame folds. Approve the physical sample.
4. Leaving artwork until the deposit is paid
The sample cycle sits before production, not in parallel with it. A deposit paid on a day when artwork is still being argued over buys nothing but a place in a queue you are not ready to enter.
Realistic sequence for a custom job: artwork to us, sample in 7 to 10 working days, your approval, production in 25 to 35 days, then freight. From first artwork to goods leaving the factory, budget six to eight weeks with nothing going wrong, and add the sea freight transit on top.
Who orders these
Distributors and promotional agencies are the volume, but the interesting orders come from elsewhere: science museums and planetariums, telescope and optics retailers, universities running public viewing events, tour operators bundling glasses into eclipse travel packages, and national newspapers giving them away with an edition. Municipalities in the path of totality have started buying them for residents. All of those want their own name on the frame, and at these unit costs they can have it.
Send us your artwork or ask for the die-cut template, and tell us the quantity and destination port for a firm FOB price.
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