In order for me to answer that question, we must first tell you how we got to the paper wristbands era. See the notion of having a paper wristband is the same as having a wristband in general.
It is a form of membership almost. It links the wearer to the event or causes they are participating in. This is backed up by the family that paper wristbands come from. It shares the same space as silicone wristbands, magnetic wristbands, smart wristbands, RFID wristbands, vinyl wristbands, fabric wristbands.
Now you're probably thinking, I know they came from wristbands duh!
Whilst you're not wrong, that's not what we're about to reveal to you. Wristbands transcend from many ages ago. I'm talking decades upon decades.
The paper wristband you see before you is an evolved state of the wristband. All that time ago, it all started with bracelets, in ancient times bracelets were regarded as objects that would serve spiritual and religious activities.
That being said you can already see that the statement in the opening of this blog is starting to align, the bracelet linked the one who equipped it the power and passage to said spiritual and religious activities.
There are findings of some bracelets that date back as old as 5000 BCE. These bracelets are from the ancient Egyptian period all that time ago. You can already envision the solid gold mixed with the red patterns of those ages, can't you...
They are not all the same, made out of a wide variety of objects such as stones, wood, and even bones! Imagine the rituals!
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Culturally there are many differences but they all relate to the same indefinite meaning of a link to a certain organization, group or activity. Whether that maybe by religion, race, size or wealth.
There is a tradition carried out by people that reside in Greece called Martis. They use the hand-woven bracelets made from white and red string to protect them from the harsh weather in their summertime starting from the first day of March.
This tradition and "protection" allows the wearer's skin to be kept from harm so that the Greek sun cannot damage it.
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Wristbands or bracelets came in different forms such as Bangles, Charms, Links, and Penannular.
These types of wristwear all serve different purposes.
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Bangles are commonly known to be worn in traditional settings. These bangles are used to compliment an outfit worn. Usually made from glass, metal, wood or plastic.
In Indian culture, bracelets have several uses, one, in particular, is that it is very common that young children will be given gold bangles by their mother to wear on their ankles and hands.
Each bracelet will come with some kind of coloured gem which is said to help guide the child:
• Energy, life and joy •
• Wisdom •
• Independence •
• Luck for fertility and marriage •
• Happiness •
• Success •
• New beginnings •
• Power •
• Strength •
• Fortune •
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Now, these are undoubtedly my favourite of them all. Charms are blessed with something spiritual and personal that the wearer can carry around with themselves all their lives if they choose to keep wearing it for that period of time.
It will always have that connection with the person or people who gave it to you or wear ones just like it.
It brings you to real togetherness and that is what I absolutely adore because regardless of the material, whether it is made from gold or string, it remains encapsulated with a bond with other individuals you have a connection with.
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Links are bracelets made from similar components that attach together until they come around full circle and link together.
These are commonly found with a wide variety of metals and gemstones being the main anchors for the links to attach around to.
Just like the bangles, they are embedded with such materials that seem to always have a purpose and meaning. This allows each and every single one to be special and unique.
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Last but not least, a penannular. The direct meaning for a penannular is that it is constructed as an incompleted circle.
Usually coming in the most flexible types of plastics and metals, a penannular can be twisted so there will be enough spaces to slot onto your wrist.
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Now that you know all the styles bangles come from you will be able to understand how we eventually came to the common paper wristband.
They all had a significant purpose just like the paper wristband does today. If you really think about your day to day life you can think of at least one way a wristband could improve the way you carry out operations.
The paper wristband allows many forms of use, such as; wristbands for events - festival wristbands, educational wristbands, trade show wristbands, conference wristbands, night club wristbands etc, record authentication, plant-tagging, suitcase ID and much more.
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When talking about the usage of a paper wristband we must highlight the durability of one. If you've ever worn a paper or Tyvek wristband of good quality you will know how impressively strong it is.
Waterproof, stretch-proof, because it is also printable on and tearproof it allows for a personalised wristband that the distributor can be at ease knowing that it is non-transferable, meaning that one person cannot use it and give it to another to get the same use out of it without paying for it.
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We really hope you enjoyed reading this blog post that will help you understand what paper wristbands are and maybe identify a purpose and use that could make something you do in your life a lot simpler and a lot easier.
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