CustomPatches.net has the enormous privilege of supplying Mil-Spec Monkey with his patches. These patches generate massive amounts of buzz and excitement around the office, from the sales department that originally takes his orders to the art department that sets them up for production. I haven’t gotten our production department’s opinion, but I wonder what they think of them as they load his digitized designs into the embroidery machines. Then there is that most anticipated moment when the patches come in from production and some of the staff members rush downstairs to the shipping department to check them out. This of course mostly happens when Mil-Spec Monkey orders a fresh design for the first time.

Mil-Spec Monkey was originally known as DJ MonkeyBoy, since he used to be a DJ. The monkey part came from the fact that, according to him, he is “pretty short and wiley.” After his DJ gig ended, he decided to combine two of his passions—art/design and all things tactical—to create a service that would provide members of the military with the gear, equipment, and weapons they required. His patches provide humor and comfort; he describes them as bringing “a smile to the faces of folks in military, law enforcement, and other uniformed services who often find themselves in crappy situations.”

Since the staff here is so enthralled by his patches, we decided we’d like to know a little more about the Monkey himself. Concluding that so would many of you, we thought an interview would be the best route.

An Insight Into the Monkey: The Interview

Custom Patches: The patches you design and sell on MilSpecMonkey.com cause much excitement around our headquarters as well as the Internet. Your background as a DJ, artist, designer, and Department of Defense contractor is a unique skill set. Did you see yourself in this position ten years ago?

Mil-Spec Monkey: Back then being semi fresh out of school I probably saw myself being in the video game industry for quite some time.

CP: That’s interesting. So then, did you have any intentions when you started Mil Spec Monkey?

MSM: It started as a hobby doing military request patches, so one could say it was not exactly planned with a certain goal or intention, but [I am] very pleased in what it has become, with intent [to] raise morale all around the world.

CP: It seems to have succeeded. What has been the most surprising aspect of the Mil-Spec Monkey store?

MSM: Although small surprises come and go, I’m most surprised MSM was able to go from a seemingly silly hobby into an actual business.

CP: Which military branch is the most enthusiastic when it comes to patches?

MSM: Can’t say one certain branch sticks out on enthusiasm offhand; everyone tends to be quite enthusiastic when they have a cool idea they want to get made.

CP: True. Did you expect your patch designs to be as wildly popular as they are?

MSM: Definitely not; I feel very fortunate everyday I was able to apply my design to a niche medium of the best type of customers in the world.

Do you know the significance of this date? Stay tuned for the answer.

CP: What’s your favorite patch of yours? Would you be OK with people knowing?

MSM: Out of so many it is hard to have a favorite as I take more of a ‘different patches for different occasions’ approach. That said, I liked how the 5-01-11 patch turned out being a morale patch that was still done tasteful enough to wear to work.

CP: It’s true that many of them are not work-appropriate! What does your mother think of the content of your patches?

MSM: I suppose I haven’t asked outright, but I think she sees the fun [and] silliness in most. Some are of course more mom-friendly than others.

CP: It’s difficult to nail down where inspiration comes from. Do awesome designs hit you without warning or does inspiration come from your loyal followers?

MSM: Every now and then I’ll come up with a fun idea out of the blue, but the vast majority of ideas come from fan suggestions. I try [to] make a balance of creating stuff with obvious demand and things no one asked for, but I think is cool to keep things new.

CP: Speaking of cool designs, the Monkey Mobile is pretty sweet. Is it a West Coast thing or are you a car guy too?

MSM: I mostly just wanted to make it clear it was [a] business vehicle come tax time, but I did have fun getting carried away with designing the exterior extras. Wouldn’t say I’m a car guy offhand; [I] chose the Scion XD since had good gas mileage, price, and unique body shape for the time. Getting a surplus Hummer was tempting, just not so much practical for daily city use.

CP: Into which branch of the Military did you want to go?

MSM: I was mostly interested in the Army, highly likely due to my work on the America’s Army project.

CP: What is your favorite MRE (Meal, Ready-to-Eat)?

MSM: It has been a while, but at the time, Roast w/ Vegetables hit the spot.

CP: How did you find and choose CustomPatches.net to produce your patches?

MSM: Starting from no experience I simply did a Google search for custom patches and of course custompatches.net came up. I browsed other site[s] as well, but liked how CP had their pricing and services all viewable online rather than making me call for a quote like I’m buying a used car.

CP: What’s next for Mil-Spec and Monkeyboy?

MSM: We plan to keep expanding the MSM line into more tactical items and hopefully will get more civilians hooked on the fun of patches with Velcro.

CP: Sounds like a good plan. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us!

Patch Favorites, Other Merchandise, and Such

Since writing this article got me revisiting all the Mil-Spec designs, I decided to share my three personal favorites: Haterade, Fun and Suck Meters, and Your Mom Sends Me Care Packages.

So where are all these so-called inappropriate designs? Well, this is a family site. You can view them on the Mil-Spec Monkey website. Make sure to also like our Facebook page, since we are starting an album featuring his patches, and our Facebook environment tends to be a little more adult.

Seeing how Mil-Spec Monkey has been a regular, consistent customer of ours for several years, we occasionally decide to have specialty items made for him and surprise him. First, we had a twelve-inch monkey-head patch made and had it framed. About a year later, we had a bobble-head made, which we surprised him with. We’ve recently introduced challenge coins into our catalogue of products, and we decided the first challenge coin we would make should be for him. So, we sent him a double-sided, die-cast, zinc-alloy challenge coin in silver and gold. The gold side contained his Pork Eating Crusader design and the silver side contained the famous monkey head logo.

We’ve reached the end of our post. Thanks for sticking around. What’s your favorite Mil-Spec Monkey design? Leave your answer in the comments below.

Regarding the 5-01-11 patch: it’s the date of Bin Laden’s death.

Patches can be seen around the office wherever you look. Many employees have cubicles plastered with their favorite custom patches. A cubicle has only so much surface area; therefore, only the coolest designs become worthy of cubicle wall space. Some employees tend to stick to a theme for their cubicles, while others adorn them with a wide variety of custom patches of all types—whatever they find that looks cool.

Military patches are a favorite because of their witty sayings and sometimes objectionable content. Among the military patches, the most popular are morale patches designed by MilSpecMonkey.

But doesn’t the Custom Patches staff get tired of looking at patches day in and day out? Not Jenny, one of our enthusiastic sales reps. Jenny holds the title of most patch-plastered cubicle.  She is the only employee so far, who, about a month ago, actually ran out of wall space. So what does she do about this dilemma? “When a new awesome patch comes in, I replace a slightly less awesome patch already on the wall with the new one, so it’s always changing,” she reveals. “I love patches! There’re always so many great designs coming through; when the new patches come in from production, it’s like Christmas at least once a week!”

There you go, folks. When you order your custom patches from us, make sure you only send us awesome designs or awesome ideas for designs so Jenny’s cubicle can keep getting better and better!

Here is Jenny’s cubicle from a couple more angles. If she wants to get really crazy, I see a big empty metal space that could be filled with patches that have a magnetic backing. We don’t do many of those, but we’ve certainly done enough to fill that space.

Most of the patches affixed to the cubicle wall already have Velcro backing, so they stick rather easily. Since tacks don’t stay pinned to the walls of the cubicles, I asked her: “What happens if you come across a truly awesome patch that doesn’t have Velcro backing?”

“If it’s that awesome, I’ll make it work,” she answers. “I’ll reshape a staple or a paperclip and poke it through the patch and then through the wall. That’s not always easy to do, considering how sturdy and durable the patches we make are, but if I’m determined enough, I’ll make it happen.”

What should Jenny do next? Tape patches to her printer? Stick them to the back of her chair? Maybe chill out with the patches? Let us know what you think.

CustomPatches.net Velcro Backing

Velcro is the most popular option for our Military patches. The difference in how CustomPatches.net applies the backing is in the stitching.

Military customers will consistently subject their patches to the harshest conditions available on earth. Many embroidered patch companies choose to glue the backing to the twill, but with repeated placement and removal, the backing can often separate itself from the patch and eventually fail. Ideally, the best option (the option that we employ) is to sew the Velcro backing to the twill, which yields a much stronger bond that gives longer life to the embroidered patch.

Our process also allows the Velcro to follow the shape of the patch. The image to the left shows the hook side of the Velcro backing; the same process can be applied to the loop side or ordered with both sides of Velcro. As you can see from the picture to the left, the stitching also follows the shape of the embroidered patch, so there is no fraying at the edges.

Velcro, Twill and Thread make up the layers of this embroidered patch

Velcro backings also give the embroidered patch some added stiffness. The picture below shows there are three layers to the patch created by CustomPatches.net. The gray layer is that of the Velcro backing; the white layer is the twill the design is embroidered to; and the tan/green is the embroidered thread. Another perk of ordering with us: Velcro in different colors to complement your patch design.

At CustomPatches.net, we never offer our customers an inferior product. All of our Velcro custom patches contain Velcro that is sewn on, not glued. The best part? We don’t charge extra.

Have a patch design in mind and need a quote? CustomPatches.net offers the fastest quotes in the industry no matter what backing you choose. Fill out or quote form on our homepage and get your quote within five minutes!

What Inspired This Patch:
Recently, Jonathan has been into Native American designs, especially the classic Navajo blankets and geometric designs. As a child, he used to go to Indian pow-pows, since he had an aunt who was obsessed with the culture.

The “Zamforia” custom patch is 2.5 inches, with eight embroidery thread colors and a white merrowed border.

The “Love” custom patch is also 2.5 inches, with three embroidery thread colors and a yellow-gold merrowed border.

Neither patch has a backing, allowing for greater flexibility for when they are sewn onto a garment. The folks at ZAMFORIA have big plans for these patches: they will be sewn onto knit hats, sweatshirts, as well as a new line of baby hoodies that they have in the works!

A Little More About ZAMFORIA

 
What They Do:
The main feature of ZAMFORIA is creating t-shirts that say “love” in different languages, the intent being to send a message with art. They originally operated out of the back of their Jeep Wrangler on the streets of Boston. They have since grown to have their own physical store that showcases their clothing brand, which people believe in and can become a part of. They now have t-shirts with “love” in over 40 languages—even Zulu, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and Sign Language!

How They Got Started:
A while back, Olivia took a napkin and drew a picture of her family. Jonathan added to the empty space: the word “love” in different languages. Seeing what Jonathan did, Olivia was immediately inspired to start a t-shirt company that incorporated this theme. Jonathan traveled the world, learned to draw, and became an entrepreneur.

How They Got Their Name:
They had already been selling their shirts for quite some time, but they still didn’t have a name. The way they came up with one is quite interesting. According to Jonathan, one day he got into his Jeep and blasted music, pumping himself up. He yelled out “ZAMFORIAAAAA,” and that’s what they called their company—pretty cool.

Their Inspiration:
According to their website, ZAMFORIA is “inspired by the world around us and the one we’ve never seen.”  When you get right down to it, all that’s left is love. It was love that was the foundation of the company; it’s their sense of adventure that continues to build the company.

A Fact Unique to Them:
All the shirts they sell are packaged in potato chip bags!

Visit the Zamforia website view or order ZAMFORIA products

To order a beautiful custom patch of your own, visit CustomPatches.net

CustomPatches.net provides the finest quality challenge coins and military patches at the lowest prices guaranteed!

My GI Life T-Shirt and Woven Patch

I’ve been given a MyGiLife t-shirt and a woven patch:

I’d like to give them to you!

Go to MyGiLife.com, create a profile and friend CustomPatches.net.

When we reach 30 friends, I’ll pick one random winner and ship them the shirt.

With a 1 in 30 chance of winning, the odds are pretty good!

Digital Camo Twill Chart

Using smaller patterns than standard camouflage, digital camouflage ‘blurs’ the edges of color making objects harder to see and more camouflaged. Custom designs can be embroidered over the camouflaged twill providing an enhanced look that can’t be found elsewhere. Digital camouflage twill is available in seven color schemes: forest, acu light, multicam, acu dark, desert, hybrid-arctic, and arid. Embroidered patches using digital camo twill are available in any size, with any backing, and can be used with color or subdued threads

Our commitment to offering the lowest minimums (6 pieces) and prices in the industry makes the new digital camo twill option perfect for paintball teams, air soft, and military morale patches, among others. Digital camo twill is in stock and available for all custom embroidered patches.

My daughter drew a logo, [I] drew some janky stuff around it with a BUNCH of notes, sent it to Custom Patches and the[y] took that and made it into the most amazing family reunion patches!!! I was so scared when I got the patches (in record time I might add!) and the patches were so amazing when [I] opened them I actually cried. Thank you Custom Patches designers and crew!!!

Order your custom patches today!

Affixing embroidered patches to riding gear allows clubs and riders to distinguish themselves and denote affiliations while expressing beliefs, opinions and achievements. Many of these patches have special significance and meanings beyond the design. The time and passion the team at CustomPatches.net sees customers put into designing their patch is a great reminder to the important meanings patches can hold.

The displaying of colors with back and rocker patches is usually about being a part of something that is larger than oneself and goes beyond riding a motorcycle. The outside world may perceive motorcyclists as outlaws but many put energy into raising funds toward the fight against childhood cancer, feeding those who go without food and awareness for animal rights among other worthy causes. The macho outlaw image only goes skin deep, as under it is a deep understanding and regard toward the plight of others.

Remembrance patches also hold special meaning whether it is to honor fallen friends and comrades claimed by the road, battlefield or by the tragic circumstances of life. Holding on to the memory of a friend or loved one passed is important to all walks of life. Memorial patches enable that memory to be included in daily activities and offer the chance to be spoken about to people encountered along the way. Patches worn highlighting time served in battle or other conflict can enable people to make connections before they properly meet each other. Often the significance to a memorial patch can be lost on others who haven’t lived through an experience.

Usually the significance of an embroidered patch boils down to a little of what everyone seeks: respect. Respect towards others, memories of experiences with people gone by and the acceptance of ones individuality within the larger group. The ability to connect different people over a shared experience is in important feature to embroidered patches and one that is highly valued by the people of CustomPatches.net as well as the motorcyclists who choose us.

Custom Patches.net is nestled amongst some of the finest motorcyclist routes in upstate New York. Specializing in embroidered and woven patches, CustomPatches.net is known for their superior customer service, six piece minimums, and the use of onlt the highest quality threads and twills. A 15% lowest price guarantee marries the rare mix of high quality and lower prices. Get your free quote online at CustomPatches.net or via landline at 1-866-4-A-PATCH (427-2824) today!

I just wanted to take a minute to let you know that we have received all 3 patch [orders] now and they look great!
I want to thank you for the excellent customer service and the exceptional quality of the patches. As always, you and your company have come through for us. I can’t wait until next year event, so we can order again.

Thank you
Rick

Secretary
Rat Riders