As the founder of Strike Gently Co, I deal in pins and patches on a daily basis. The Creators Project asked me to pull together a weekly roundup of the best newly-released pins. Most of these will probably sell out. If you like them, smash that “add to cart” button below. Every Wednesday, you can head to the bottom of this column for an exclusive 20% discount code so you can keep your pin game sharp.  

Punk’s not dead; it’ll always have a future in commodity fetishism. It’s fun as hell to blow $8 on PayPal a few times a day supporting small businesses selling cool shit, right? Minus the Peter Thiel part, that’s how people used to support scenes whose ideologies they valued, anyway: with money. Ian Mackaye glued the first Minor Threat 7”s together by hand, sure, but he still sold them. All in all, selling things is OK.

Thousands of recently-created small companies are carrying this torch and selling limited-edition enamel pins and embroidered patches. I happened upon the “pin game” while working in a coffee shop a few months after graduating college. One day, a dude named Morgan Watt came in and gave me a few pins. I started asking questions. Morgan is the creator of @innerdecay. He’s at the forefront of this community; perhaps more importantly, he’s a small business owner, taking advantage of free-reign social media platforms to create cool stuff and support his family without having to answer to a boss or pay for ads in the back of magazines or local cable TV stations. Morgan told me about @patchgame, a guy on instagram with a more than a hundred thousand followers who essentially dictates which pins and patches people should buy.

I’ve been obsessed with pins and patches ever since. I started my own company, Strike Gently Co, in October, releasing one pin. Since then, I’ve made more than 50 products and have become addicted to finding new pins and patches I like. I’ve also learned of strange lost traditions—the specialized DEA patches for different drug squads, the bootleg biker crew and Vietnam War squadron pins that continue to circulate eBay, the bizarre cartoon bootleg pins that could sail 1,000 cease-and-desist letters from Viacom and Fox. Like we said, it’s the same collective compulsion that made Pokémon cards and pogs fly off the shelves—except this is dissipated among thousands of tiny companies.

Cold Toes

Cold Toes’ releases are infrequent but always make me open my wallet. Last week, they put out this triple-pack series of pins inspired by the Russian prison tattoos of Danzig Baldaev. You can get the set here for $20.

Inner Decay

 

The aforementioned trailblazer just released four new patches, all of which are worth checking out. One is part of the Art History Series, a collection of printed patches of famous old macabre paintings. Buy them here.

Penelope Gazin

So original that they fill me with envious rage. Recently released, this sick Barf Girls pin emerges alongside bizarre trophies. Spend a few hours poring over her endless Etsy store here.  

Matt Darling

Darling is one of many tattoo artists who also sells pins and patches for fun and, presumably, supplemental income. He just released this sick new pin, which I imagine will sell out soon. Wait and weep… Or buy it here.

Suspectltd

This is another one of my favorite companies. They just released an occult-inspired “Magick & Novelties” set of pins with corresponding patches. There’s a sparkly version in limited supply. I bought all of them here.

This week’s special discount code: 696969

Good for 20% off any order from http://www.strikegently.co/  Stay tuned for a new roundup and a new discount code next week.

Related:

Enamel Pins Are Taking the Internet by Storm

Rotoscoped Music Video Weaves a Story Out of Yarn and Pins

(Nearly) Functional Artist Objects Appear Online