About Us

With 120 staff and 40 years of name badge printing experience, Name Badges International is your ideal partner for fantastic quality personalised name badges.

Here at Name Badges International, we serve all aspects of business and industry. Our wide and diverse client base includes hospitality, retail, personal / professional services, public bodies, airlines, the financial sector, travel, in fact just about any employee / customer interface.

J&A Group's Social Responsibility

Here at the J&A Group we are committed to embracing and implementing sustainable principles throughout our business, from the way we operate to the products we produce.

Read more about our sustainable principals

A recent article about Name Badges International waspublished in Director-e Professional Clothing magazine. The article can be read below:

The Best Kept Secret in the Badge Industry

The team at director-e were invited to visit Name Badges International (NBi). After discovering the company's fascinating history, we were given a behind the scenes tour of the facilities and we glimpsed where the magic happens.

Name Badges International (NBi) is a division of J&A (International) Ltd, a privately owned company in the heart of rural Lincolnshire employing over 120 people. Since 1979, J&A has continuously provided the highest levels of quality and service in the manufacture of specialist garment decoration to the laundry, sport, and workwear markets.

Simon Holderness, the company's UK Sales & Service Director says: "No other company can offer such a diverse and comprehensive range of products, from industry to fashion, all requirements are manufactured under one roof". Currently the largest supplier in the UK, and with a sister company based in the US, they are arguably the largest specialist decoration company globally.

During the last 36 years J&A (International) has used it's experience in the market place to set up a number of diverse divisions, which include ID Workwear, Creative Transfer Solutions and NBi. Passion, commitment, and business common sense have all been key factors in allowing the development of J&A's future. They are not frightened of change and invest in their staff and technology to ensure they keep evolving, continuously allowing customers' expectations to be met.



Adrian Breckles, their UK Sales & Service Manager, who has been working with the company for 22 years, says: "NBi's service levels and quality of products go hand in hand with J&A. NBi is a separate division but shares knowledge, facilities, and has all the beneficial infrastructure of a larger organisation. This allows it to focus on manufacturing a very high quality product. 26% of our staff have worked with us for more than 20 years and this experience makes NBi the ideal partner for innovative, personalised name badges".

It is quite clear upon entering the company that there is a very professional but understated atmosphere within the organisation. Everyone is genuinely very friendly and says "hello" as we walk around, and yet you get a real sense that there is a singular focus amongst all the staff. Simon explains – "Everyone is empowered to make decisions. All our staff know the importance of looking after the customer. Feedback from our customers is passed on to all our staff, be it from Trustpilot (the online review site), or from customers directly. We all work together to ensure that the product is manufactured correctly, and that it goes out as early as possible. If you follow this simple thought process you have happy customers, it really is as simple as that, and a happy customer means repeat business, and the cycle can start again".

When walking around and talking to the staff you can feel this ethic. They explain that they can all relate to having dealt with a call centre in one way or another, and did not enjoy the experience, and so they all feel they can play a part in making sure that the product will be manufactured to the highest standards right from the start.



Everyone understands that by doing this it alleviates the need for a customer to contact the company and complain. This all takes up valuable time, and can cause frustration – something that neither party want.

It becomes apparent that this is a company that really does take the customer seriously. Regularly throughout the day we are given examples of occasions when the company worked with customers in dire emergencies to ensure deadlines were met, with employees travelling extreme distances in cars or even aircraft to help ensure that the badges arrived at their destination on time.

With internal geographical area based Customer Service Executives, you can clearly see the friendly and professional relationships that have built up over time. If it's more appropriate, NBi are more than happy to visit clients to discuss their individual needs and advise where necessary.

The product itself is inevitably a high quality item. State of the art digital printers are used to re-create your design and name, and the badges themselves come in various sizes and shapes, plastic or metal, and are then offered with a choice of three fitments to allow the customer to choose the most suitable attachment method for their particular clothing. Finally a UV resistant, scratchproof resin is applied to ensure that the badge retains it's quality look and feel for years to come.



After our viewing of the company, we did query whether the set-up was geared to larger orders but Simon commented, "Not at all, our minimum order is one badge, with no set up fee; it's part of our customer commitment. We want to be able to cover the needs of all clients, large or small, everyone is equally important to us".

"We really do understand the importance of our product" adds Adrian. "Although it is usually a very small part of the overall package, without it, the look and presentation of the uniform is not complete". He goes on to say – "It's quite normal for this part of the uniform to be overlooked and so, quite often, it's all last minute and an emergency response is required. The truth is that we quite like these challenges because, although it's a case of ‘all hands on deck', we like the satisfaction it brings when the customer says ‘thank you' for helping them out".

It is clear that technology has a large part to play in the organisation. We asked Simon about this and he said - "For many years our culture has been to have the latest machinery and technology for the job. This enables us to make the badges faster, more efficiently and of a better quality, so why would we not invest accordingly? In this modern digital world, we all expect that everything will arrive in an instant, and we want to be able to meet this demand. It's a little more difficult with our name badges as they are a hand-made, bespoke product. However, having many years experience in this field, and by using the latest equipment, usually all customers' requests are met."

All the badges are manufactured on site in the UK in a purpose built Cleanroom, which aids NBi to have the fastest response times in the industry. Along with varying worldwide shipment options, with even an option for a same day despatch on quantities of up to 50, it would seem that NBi do have all a customer's requirements covered.



An online ordering facility is another good example of how NBi has used technology to it's advantage. "We saw a long time ago that the market was looking for faster lead times, and online ordering was something that was going to allow that" explains Adrian. Showing us the website in detail allowed us to see that a lot of thought and hard work had gone into making the name badge ordering process really easy. "Obviously, by ordering online, you can cut down administration time which, by definition, shortens the lead time on the badge being produced. We wanted to make it simple to use, whilst at the same time giving as many options as possible when it comes to designing your badge. Again, feedback from Trustpilot would show that we have got that about right".

Discussing Trustpilot in further detail reiterated the company's passion to give a first class customer experience. Simon explains – "Review sites are great in keeping you in touch with what people really think about you as a company or organisation but, from my point of view, I wanted to ensure that we could be seen to be genuinely acting upon the feedback given and so, any review of 3 stars or less is personally investigated and a tailored response is given. We are, as a company, more interested in where we could improve, rather than what we are doing right".

Of course, as with any manufacturing process, things do go wrong and so we put this to NBi for their comments. "Yes, inevitably there are many issues that can arise from making a personalised badge that goes through many different processes in order to make the final product, and from time to time things do go wrong. Firstly we are not afraid of putting our hands up if we have got it wrong, it can happen, and we do not want to add frustration to the customer by hiding behind technicalities – if it's wrong put it right, it's that simple. How we conduct ourselves in coming to an amicable solution is what is important to us. Secondly, and equally important, is where it went wrong and what can we do to try and ensure that it doesn't happen again. We are big advocates of change, so if we feel any of our systems can be improved we will do it – as soon as possible! If it doesn't work out, then you can always put it back to how it was, or try something else; it's really important to be very fluid and keep evolving".

It was quite clear that having spent a few hours with this company they have a really clear and yet simple philosophy about business. Very enthusiastic and passionate, they keep everything simple and orderly, and yet one sensed that behind the scenes there was an amazing amount of detail that kept everyone really focused. "We want the customer to feel valued, and when they receive their order they know that they've had very good value for their money" explains Simon. As a lasting impression, he added, "it can take years to find new customers, and only moments to lose them. Look after them and they will keep coming back – it really is that simple"!