In the military, there are many companies to choose from when trying to update your military ribbons and awards. Some like the traditional slide-on ribbons and others like the look of the thin ribbon racks. But there is a new ribbon rack choice on the market that is sweeping the military community.

The difference between the three choices is that with a traditional slide on ribbon racks it is more like à la carte, where you buy your military awards, attachments, and ribbon bar separately. These types of military ribbons are mostly found and sold in your local Exchange or PX and are readily available for all military members. They are typically made by one or two prominent companies in the industry and distributed around the world to all military bases.

The thin ribbon racks, these are a little different, they are all-in-one piece that is glued together and placed on a clear, thin, Plexiglas as the ribbon bar. The military thin ribbon racks are not easily changed or updated like a traditional slide-on ribbon due to the racks being all one piece. When you need to update a thin ribbon rack you will need to send your entire ribbon rack back to the company you bought it from and they will update it for you. The catch is that in some cases you are not able to update your thin ribbon racks simply by changing one ribbon due to the location or the order of precedence of the ribbon. Unlike the traditional slide on military ribbons and awards where if you have a subsequent award and need a start attachment or an oak leaf cluster you can simply pick it up off the shelf and attach it to your ribbon rack, the companies making military thin ribbons, you have to pay to ship your ribbons back to the company so they can attach the subsequent award and then you will pay for the shipping to get them delivered back to you. In a lot of cases when you want to update a ribbon on your thin ribbon rack, you will more than likely need to purchase an entirely new ribbon rack because it is one piece. This could become very costly as they are not cheap, to begin with. Now, the upside to the thin ribbon racks versus the traditional slide-on racks is that thin ribbon racks offer a more professional look because of how thin the ribbons are. See each ribbon wrapped around and glued onto a thin plastic bar that is then glued to a thin plastic backing. The thickness of a thin ribbon is only about 2 mm whereas the thickness of a traditional ribbon with the ribbon bar is around 5-6mm thick. 

Another key feature of the thin ribbon racks is that, unlike traditional military ribbon bars, thin ribbons come with the option to have a magnetic backing instead of a pin back. This is good for those who want to be able to place the military ribbons onto your shirt via magnets so you can move them around and get them in the correct place as per the uniform manual. If you use a pin backing on your ribbon bar you will have to keep poking holes into your uniform until you get the ribbon bar just right. The likelihood of you getting your ribbon bar placed correctly is very unlikely unless you use a Pin-iT Card which is a stainless steel uniform tool that helps you perfectly measure where your ribbons need to go.

This leads me to our third type of military ribbons which combines the traditional ribbons and the thin ribbons together to give you the ultimate ribbon rack with the flexibility to purchase only the ribbons you need. This ribbon bar is called Magic Rack. It is a magnetic thin ribbon rack made by Pin-iT. The key features of the magnetic thin rack are that not only do you have the option of having a magnetic backer on your ribbon bar versus the pin and clutch but, the entire ribbon rack is made up of individual magnetic military ribbons! That’s correct, each ribbon is wrapped around a super strong magnet and each ribbon can be bought separately just like traditional slide-on ribbons. All the magnetic thin ribbons are then placed on a thin, flat, magnetic metal ribbon bar where you have the option of using the green magnetic backing or the pin and clutch backing to attach it to your military uniform. The MAGIC RACK-Magnetic Thin Ribbons give you the best of both worlds. They are the same thickness as military thin ribbons but they function like a traditional slide-on ribbon. 

When you need to update a ribbon you just go to the Pin-iT website and select the ribbon and attachment you need and then they will ship it to you. You do not need to send the ribbons back to Pin-iT. With this type of magnetic ribbon, it is more cost-effective to have the look and feel of thin ribbons.

We reached out to Arnold Braun, the founder, and inventor of the MAGIC RACK-Magnetic Thin Ribbons and Pin-iT military uniform tools to ask how he came up with this idea. His response “ I knew I wanted to get into the military thin ribbon market but the competition was fierce. No one would buy their thin ribbons from me when there have been other companies on the market for years that the military community knows and trusts.” Arnold then went on to say “I needed an idea that would make our thin ribbons better, so I began to analyze the two kinds of ribbons on the market and thought of a magnetic thin ribbon.” Arnold admits that it took several attempts to get the magnetic thin ribbons just right for the market and he spent over a year trying to perfect it and all the challenges of magnets so that it works properly.

When asked about the magnetic thin ribbons we learned that when you purchase a magnetic thin ribbon rack you actually get two sets of ribbons. This is due to the magnet's polarity. Arnold said, in order to be able to give the customer a superior product and to make it easier for the update we give the customer a pair of ribbons. The north and South poles of the magnets. So essentially, when you order one magnetic thin ribbon rack from Pin-iT you are receiving two military ribbon racks, and for anyone in the military dealing with uniforms, having a second set of ribbons is always a good idea. Arnold also added, that all the customer needs to do is purchase a second ribbon bar and they will have two complete magnetic thin ribbon sets.

So, for those of you out there thinking about updating your military ribbons and awards, a great option that combines traditional military ribbons with the sleek look of thin ribbons would be Pin-iT Military Uniform Tool’s MAGIC RACK, Magnetic Thin Ribbons.