Ships from Smyrna, Georgia
Custom Morale Patches
Hook and loop morale patches made to your artwork, in molded PVC, embroidered thread, woven or full color. Both halves of the Velcro are included. Price it on this page, approve a free mockup, and it goes into production.
✓ 10-piece minimum · ✓ No setup or art fees · ✓ Hook and loop available · ✓ Instant pricing
Four materials, all of them priced on the page
Pick the material, then price your exact size and quantity with the calculator on that product page. Figures below are per patch for a 3" morale patch at 50 pieces.
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PVC
Molded rubber. Waterproof, nothing to fray, and it takes hook and loop cleanly. The default morale patch.
Min 10Up to 4"
Price it →
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Embroidered
Classic stitched thread on twill. The cheapest way to put a patch on a loop panel, and the largest sizes in the range.
Min 10Up to 14"
Price it →
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Woven
Thinner and flatter than embroidered, and it holds the smallest text of anything here.
Min 10Up to 7"
Price it →
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Sublimated
Full-color printing. Photographs, gradients and unlimited colors that thread cannot hold.
Min 25Up to 10"
Price it →
Hook and loop, and the three backings people forget about
A morale patch is defined by coming off again, so hook and loop is what most people want. You get both halves in the box. Here is what each backing actually is and when it is the right call.
| Backing | Cost | What it is | When to pick it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hook & loop (Velcro) | +$0.25 per piece | You get both halves: the hook side bonded to the back of the patch, and a loose loop circle to sew or stick onto whatever you are wearing. Gear that already has a loop panel needs nothing else. | The standard morale patch backing. Pick it if you want to swap patches, or if the patch is going on a plate carrier, pack, hat or jacket with a loop field. |
| Iron-on / heat seal | Included | A heat-activated film on the back that bonds under a press or a household iron. | A patch that stays put on cotton, denim, canvas or twill. Cheaper than hook and loop, but it is permanent. |
| Sew-on | Included | A plain back with no adhesive, stitched down by hand or machine. | Uniforms and workwear that go through industrial laundry, and any shell fabric you should not put a hot iron near. |
| Peel & stick | Included | Pressure-sensitive adhesive with a release liner. | Events, displays, cases and hard surfaces. It is not made for the wash. |
Hook is the stiff, scratchy half and it goes on the back of the patch. Loop is the soft half and it goes on your gear. If your carrier, pack or cap already has a loop panel, the patch alone is all you need.
What a 3" morale patch costs
Per piece, in US dollars, before any backing upgrade. Most patch companies make you fill in a quote form for this. We would rather you could just look.
| Quantity | PVC 2D | PVC 3D | Embroidered | 3D puff | Woven | Full color |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 – 24 | $12.00 | $14.00 | $7.25 | $10.50 | $10.25 | — |
| 25 – 49 | $11.75 | $13.75 | $6.50 | $10.25 | $6.75 | $3.25 |
| 50 – 99 | $7.75 | $9.00 | $5.00 | $5.75 | $4.00 | $2.00 |
| 100 – 199 | $6.00 | $7.00 | $3.25 | $4.00 | $3.00 | $1.50 |
| 200 – 499 | $4.00 | $5.25 | $2.25 | $2.50 | $2.00 | $1.25 |
| 500 – 999 | $2.75 | $4.75 | $1.50 | $1.75 | $1.75 | $1.00 |
| 1,000+ | $2.25 | $4.00 | $1.25 | $1.50 | $1.50 | $0.75 |
Full-color printed patches start at 25 pieces, which is why that column is empty at the first break. Hook and loop adds 25 cents a piece. Other sizes price on each product page.
How big should it be?
Drawn to scale relative to each other. Three inches is the standard and it is what most loop panels are sized around.
- 1.5" Roughly a poker chip Sleeve tab, hat side, name strip
- 2" The short side of a credit card Small unit tab, cap side panel, tag
- 2.5" A little wider than a bottle cap stack Chest tab, small loop field
- 3" About the rim of a coffee mug The standard morale patch. Plate carrier, hat front, chest
- 3.5" Just under a drink coaster Larger loop panel, pack front
- 4" About a drink coaster The largest size PVC comes in. Pack panels, jacket chest
Matching an existing loop field? Measure the field and take about a quarter inch off each side so the patch sits inside it rather than over the stitching.
Which material should you use?
Each one is better at something and worse at something else. The cheapest is not automatically the right answer, and neither is the most expensive.
| Material | Look & feel | Best for | Min | Max size | 3" at 10 | 3" at 50 | 3" at 500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PVC | Smooth molded rubber, 2D or 3D | Anything that lives outdoors or on gear | 10 | 4" | $12.00 | $7.75 | $2.75 |
| Embroidered | Textured, raised thread | Units, teams and clubs on a budget | 10 | 14" | $7.25 | $5.00 | $1.50 |
| Woven | Flat, fine woven thread | Small type, mottos, detailed crests | 10 | 7" | $10.25 | $4.00 | $1.75 |
| Sublimated | Smooth full-color print | Photo art, camo fills, complex gradients | 25 | 10" | — | $2.00 | $1.00 |
How ordering works
No quote form and no sales call. You price it, we proof it, you approve it, it goes into production.
Price it and upload
Pick your material, size, quantity and backing on the product page. The price updates as you go. Upload your artwork with the order.
Approve the mockup
We send a digital proof within one to two business days. Revisions are included and nothing is made until you say go.
Production and delivery
Production runs about 10 to 14 business days after approval. Your order then ships from our Smyrna location, or you can pick it up.
Designing one that actually works at three inches
Most morale patch art that comes to us was drawn at poster size. These are the six things we end up saying on nearly every proof.
- Draw it to be read at three inches
A morale patch is small. Open your artwork, scale it to 3 inches on screen, and step back. If you cannot tell what it is, it needs fewer elements, not smaller ones.
- Keep type above an eighth of an inch
Below that, embroidered thread closes the counters in letters like a, e and o. Woven and full-color hold finer type, so if the motto has to stay, change the material rather than shrinking it further.
- Limit the color count on molded and stitched
PVC and embroidered look their best in flat, separated colors. Gradients are possible on PVC but they soften. If your art is built on gradients, print it full color instead.
- Give it a border
A defined outer edge, a merrow edge on embroidered or a molded lip on PVC, is what makes a patch read as an object rather than a sticker. It also protects the edge from wear.
- Send vector if you have it
AI, EPS, PDF or SVG reproduce exactly. PNG, JPG and PSD are fine at 300 DPI or better. Either way you approve a mockup before anything is made.
- Decide subdued or full color early
Subdued and low-vis versions are a different color build, not a filter. Tell us up front and we will mock both if you want to see them side by side.
Who orders morale patches from us
A ten-piece minimum means a four-person team can order one design. It does not have to be a unit-wide run.
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Military units
Unit and detachment patches, deployment runs, subdued and full-color versions of the same crest. PVC survives sand, sweat and rain, and hook and loop lets it come off for inspection.
Price PVC → -
Law enforcement
Team, task force and callsign patches. Woven holds small text and thin line work at 2 inches better than thread does.
Price woven → -
Fire and EMS
Station, shift and rescue patches. Embroidered on sew-on backing takes the abuse of station laundry.
Price embroidered → -
EDC and outdoor brands
Pack and pouch patches for retail. PVC is the one buyers expect, and at 500 pieces it lands under $3 each.
Price PVC → -
Airsoft, milsim and range
Team patches, event patches and a run of trade fodder. Ten pieces is a legal order here, so a small team can do one design.
Price embroidered → -
Veteran-owned brands
Product patches to sell, plus the ones that go in the box. Full-color printing handles flag fades and camo fills that thread cannot.
Price full color →
A real shop behind your order
Atlanta Vinyl is a real storefront in Smyrna, Georgia, not an order form with nobody behind it. We have been supplying apparel decorators, uniform shops and brands here for years, with 1,200+ Google reviews at 4.8 stars behind it.
That matters on a patch order for one reason: if the proof is wrong, or the colors come back off, there is a person here who will pick up the phone and fix it. You can also walk in, look at samples in your hand and decide between PVC and embroidered without guessing from a screen, and collect your order in person when it lands.
Ordering more than a few hundred, or reordering on a schedule? Email support@atlantavinylstore.com and we will set up volume pricing and priority production.
Morale patch questions
What is a morale patch?
A small patch, usually two to four inches, that carries a unit, team, brand or joke rather than a rank or an official insignia. It is attached with hook and loop so it can be swapped, which is why it turns up on plate carriers, packs, ball caps and jackets. The material is up to you: molded PVC is the modern default, embroidered is the classic, woven holds the finest text, and full-color printing handles anything with a photograph or a gradient.
What size should a morale patch be?
Three inches is the standard and it is what most loop panels are built around. Two inches works for a sleeve tab or a cap side. Four inches is about as large as the format goes before it stops being a morale patch, and it is the largest size PVC comes in. If you are matching an existing loop field on a carrier or a pack, measure the field first and take a quarter inch off each side.
Do morale patches come with Velcro?
Hook and loop is an add-on at 25 cents a piece, and you get both halves: the hook side bonded to the back of the patch and a matching loop circle to sew or stick on. Gear with a loop panel already on it needs only the patch. Iron-on, sew-on and peel and stick backings are all included at no extra charge if you would rather the patch stay where you put it.
Should I order PVC or embroidered?
PVC if it lives on gear. It is waterproof, it will not fray, the edges stay crisp, and it takes hook and loop cleanly. Embroidered if budget is the constraint or the design is large, because at three inches embroidered runs about a third less than PVC at every quantity and it goes up to fourteen inches where PVC stops at four. If the design has small text, woven beats both.
What is the minimum order for morale patches?
Ten pieces per design on PVC, embroidered and woven. Full-color printed patches start at twenty-five. There is no setup fee, no art fee, no digitizing fee and no small-order surcharge, so a ten-piece run is priced the same way a thousand-piece run is, just at the ten-piece rate.
How much do custom morale patches cost?
A three-inch patch at fifty pieces runs $2.00 each printed full color, $4.00 woven, $5.00 embroidered and $7.75 in molded PVC. The same patch at five hundred pieces drops to $1.00, $1.75, $1.50 and $2.75. The table above shows every quantity break, and each product page has a calculator that prices your exact size and count before you order.
Can you make a glow in the dark morale patch?
Yes, in PVC. Glow material is charged by light and reads green in the dark. We do not make infrared or IR-reflective patches, so if that is what the job needs, we are not the right shop and we would rather tell you now than after you have ordered.
Can you reproduce a design I found online?
Only if you own it or have permission to use it. We will not knowingly reproduce someone else’s trademark, copyrighted artwork or official insignia, and we may ask before we run something that looks like it belongs to a third party. Bring us your own art, or a rough idea and we will help you get it production-ready.
How long do morale patches take?
Order processing is one to two business days, then your digital mockup goes out. Production runs about ten to fourteen business days once you approve it. Your order then ships from our Smyrna, Georgia location, or you can pick it up there.
Do you do subdued or low-vis colors?
Yes, in every material. Subdued builds are a different set of colors rather than a filter applied to the full-color version, so tell us in the production notes which one you want. If you are running both, order them as two designs and we will mock them together so the shapes match.
Ready to price yours?
Pick a material and the calculator does the rest. No quote form, no waiting.