The Complete Handbook of Brooches & Lapel Pins
A practical reference for professionals, collectors, and businesses who buy, wear, sell, or service brooches and lapel pins
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
The practical reference for professionals, collectors, and businesses who need to understand brooches and lapel pins—from specifications and selection to maintenance and market opportunities.
About this book
Brooches and lapel pins serve as functional fasteners in corporate uniforms, military dress, law enforcement, aviation, hospitality, and ceremonial contexts. Yet most buyers and wearers treat them as an afterthought, unaware of the material specifications, attachment methods, and durability factors that distinguish quality from poor performance.
This handbook provides professionals, businesses, collectors, and serious enthusiasts with practical, specification-focused guidance. You'll learn how brooch and lapel pin fastening systems actually work, which materials and construction methods deliver durability under real-world wear, how to select the right type for your specific use case, and how to maintain and troubleshoot common problems. Chapters on brands and market positioning help retailers and resellers make inventory decisions, while a dedicated section explores genuine business opportunities—from reselling and customization to private labeling and servicing.
Whether you're evaluating a supplier, outfitting a team, building a collection, or considering entry into this market, this handbook replaces scattered manufacturer documentation and retail guesswork with concrete specifications and real-world context.
Reader Reviews
Kevin Clark
★★★★★I work in corporate procurement, and this handbook saved me weeks of back-and-forth with suppliers who couldn't articulate why their clutch-back pins were different from the competition. Chapter 1 alone clarified how fastening systems actually work and what happens to a garment when you use the wrong attachment. I've already recommended it to our uniform vendor and used the brand positioning section to renegotiate pricing. Exactly what a reference should be.
Joshua Williams
★★★★★As a collector who's been buying brooches for five years without really understanding what I was buying, this book genuinely changed how I evaluate condition and value. The material specifications and fastener chapters gave me a language for what I was seeing in person. I particularly appreciated the honesty about what 'vintage' actually means and the maintenance section—I've already prevented damage to two pieces I almost cleaned incorrectly. It's conversational but serious, which is rare.
Shirley Moore
★★★★★The handbook is thorough and well-organized, especially the market chapter and business opportunities section. However, I found some of the technical material in Chapter 2 dense without more visual examples, and the FAQ section felt a bit short—I was hoping for more edge-case troubleshooting. Good reference, but could use more illustrations and a few more real-world examples in places.