Raise your brand awareness with personalized wings for your flight crew. Options are plenty and wings will add a perfect final touch to your pilot uniform.
Wing It In Style
To wing it may refer to an English idiom meaning to improvise.
Quite the opposite is true for pilot wings; they need your full attention.
They can be magical.
The New York Times touched upon the value of wings in the article ´When Pilots Were Stars and Airlines Glamorous´, with the author noting:
“There was nothing more exciting for a child passenger than to be presented with a pair of souvenir pilot's wings”.
They are special. They represent decades of tradition and add to the mystical character of airline pilots.
Getting it right, however, is more complex than it may sound.
Pitfalls need to be avoided, and to learn how. Keep reading.
Single or double
On the cap? On the jacket? Or both?
KLM, American Airlines and others are moving away from the use of pilot caps (sad development as the pilot cap represents decades of tradition and values), meaning commercial pilot wings only feature on uniform jackets at these carriers.
In contrast, Icelandair stay true to tradition and feature flight pins on caps and jackets, highlighting a classic, professional look.
Pins vary in size, however, with the cap featuring a slightly larger wing than the jacket.
A chest pin will be too small to feature on the cap, and vice versa.
Keep it professional
Similar to embroideries, the detail level will have the creative mind working overtime.
Less is more might be taking it too far, but the most successful pilot pins boast a clean, sharp design with a few carefully chosen details to make it stand out.
Too many details will make brand message hard to decode – or result in an unproportionally large wing.
We recommend incorporating your company logo or company name, and maybe one or two insignia if fitting.
However, on occasion the company name can be too long to feature on custom wings. Abbreviated names or a logo is the way to go if you face that conundrum.
You should also carefully consider your color combinations.
Pilot wings should convey professionalism and boast of authority; they should not look cheap.
We recommend our clients opt for metal pins with a gold or silver finish.
To develop new customized pilot wings, you need to order minimum 200 pcs.
Contact us at olino@olino.dk for more information.
Make it fit
A perfect result requires more than a great design. You also need to take a close look at the shape of the wing and match it to the cap.
The pin should follow the contours of the cap and bend slightly inward.
For cap wings, in our view, there is only one right way of attaching it; with crews. You rarely, if ever, need to take it off and the screws will hold it firmly in place. Only small catch is that the cap must have holes in the right positions unless you want to pierce wholes to fit the wing.
Now, attaching the jacket wing is not quite as straightforward as the cap wing. Generally, you will see wings with three types of attaching: two pins with butterfly clasps, a safety pin and various types of screws sometimes with a back plate.
What works and what doesn’t work?
Safety pin
Naturally, there are pros and cons for each one. However, in our experience you should not even consider the safety pin option.
Here is why: It is quite difficult to stick the pin through the lapel, lock it on the backside and, at the same time, place the wing straight on the pocket. Even worse, the wing will not sit neat and firmly, it will tend to lean forward.
Butterfly clasps
The most commonly used type of attachment is the pins with the butterfly clasps on the inside. It easy to attach in the right position, which you will appreciate if you often take it off and put it back on, e.g. before cleaning of the jacket. Moreover, this device hold the wing quite tightly to the pocket but still the tips of the wings stick out a bit and may get caught by outerwear etc.
Screwing
The third option, actual screwing the wing onto the jacket, has pros and cons as well. It is more trouble mounting it on the jacket as you have to pierce a hole for the bolt in the middle of the pocket lapel. Once the bolt is through the fabric, you need tighten the back plate with the nut on the inside. The idea is that the back plate holds the wing tightly to the pocket from tip to tip. Not only does it look neat but it also prevents the wing tips from getting caught.
Custom pilot wings allow you to focus on the details. Don´t miss the opportunity to create the perfect look by discarding the small details.
They matter – so too the weight.
If the wing is too heavy, it might point slightly toward the ground.
The same may happen if the locking mechanism is of poor quality.
Remember to test and test again to ensure your custom pilot wing fits perfectly and highlights a professional pilot appearance.
Uniform pins for cabin crew
Flight pins are not limited to pilots.
Pins will also add a unique look to cabin crew uniforms, whether they feature on flight attendant hats or on the jacket or dress.
Jazeera Airways complement their crew look by adding a custom pin. They have gone for a different color to their pilot pins, as well as opted for a half wing, to differentiate the functions.
Several other carriers have also added half wings to uniform jackets and dresses, while Qatar Airways and others use custom pins as a signature feature.
The design of the Pilot wings for Titan Airways was inspired by the look of their aircrafts and brand colors.
Flight pins offer a great addition to any brand look and will make your flight and cabin crews stand out as they are easily recognizable to passengers.
Reach out if you want to boost your airline uniforms with custom solutions.
Ready made pilot wings
For you that do not need customized pilot wings, but still want to get the perfect airline uniform look, we have designed 2 pilot wings in the colors silver and gold.
You are able to purshase them in our Webshop or by contacting our customer service at olino@olino.dk
