DavidL

Good points. High quality is what I am going for. I personally hate walmart they ruin all the small business in the area just because its 20 cents cheaper to buy bread at walmart then a family own store.

Makes sense. Im not in my element here, doesn't motorized burnishing create better results than hand burnishing as the pressure is more consistent? For integrity of the product it will make a difference, but is the quality better? In the area of quality vs speed/price Motorized burnishing same as manual burnishing - results wise? Hand cutting vs die cutting - do customers want to pay more for hand cutting vs die cutting? Machine stitching vs hand stitching - I think i got a handle on this one. Hand dying with natural dye like fruits or powders vs conventional oil dyes? (This may be influence by the target market) everything by hand have that big of an influence vs most things are done by hand but a few areas are motorized for cost efficiency and consistency.

Yes, your right low end products are a bad decision, I'm going to focus on quality over quantity. As for your edges why not use a motorized tool, if your budget allows for it. Elfita has a wood or metal motorized burnisher for 70 USD.

Shortly I'm going to work this out by my self through some evaluation of the marketplace, but would like some feedback as to where a handmade, hand stitched product will make the biggest impact. This is hypothetical - If I was able to make a perfect wallet every time on both high production or low production If I was able to make 300 percent return on high production. 1500 percent return on low production. Barret Alley - sells at 15-20 times the cost of material. ex. Kangaroo wallet for 195 dollars and cost 15 dollars to make plus there time. - I don't have barret alleys sales figures, but they have sold over 2000 wallets, based on the number count on the wallets, maybe into 3000 area. In your opinion low production or high production for best case scenario? Barret Alley has no direct competitor for handmade - naturalist type wallet that I know of.

id rather start there and build a reputation, even if i break even people will be following my brand. It would be hard starting from no reputation, no reviews, no media press to selling card wallets for 70 dollars. It could be done though. Mostly it is so i can pay off for my debt and make a bit of money to feel out the market. I also currently do not have the skill to makes something of high value yet. I have ocd and won't find it boring (kinda a gift?), most people who do good in fields like this has remarkable genetics and are hardworking. When I used to play basketball on a team everyone would leave the court for 20 minute break and i would be trying out new moves and perfecting a part of my game where I fall short - i don't think I can even take a break unless i passed out from exhaustion or if it was a pick up game and I wanted to take it easy. Over the next week I'm writing up a page analysis each of the competitors business models and their marketing outreach. Find out from there where i can fit in. low cost/ high production, if you can find your place has tremendously high profits. Im still unsure because what you are saying is true the mass volume is hard, but at slightly higher price than made in china and with better quality leather and making process it is more appealing to consumers - you would have to market it well to get this point across. Im going to do a 20 page write up and then I will have more accurate numbers (had to do this in marketing class and it was a pain in the ass- now i see its worth) Thanks for the help macca, stevieboy7, and everyone that wrote in any more feedback would help out - Came in here with a plan that was flawed and realize now that I needed to put it down on paper and plan out every last detail and organize it better. Feedback on the mass marketing vs high end production will help. I also will post a question on the marketing section of this forum and on a different forum.

go onto ebay - find a big sheet of veg leather goodsjapan - buy their starter kit - 60 dollars Find extra thread. Some say buy the art of hand sewing by stohlman but you can find the info on the book in this forum or even through trial and error. If you find out later you don't want to play around with leather it was only $100 spent. Do not pay for tandy tools, they are made in china and worth nearly nothing for resale. A side note if you buy high end tools, they have a 60-70 percent resale value on most items after a few months - 1 year. Some tools are more valuable now then they were 10-30 years ago.

Very good for a first belt, I'm impressed. Not sure if I'm down with the masonic symbol on the belt.

shipping is the only problem it is 220 to Canada. Shipping by boat or pallet will knock it down to 50- 100 bucks id imagine. If only someone had a company where they contact people who are visiting those places for a few days and they live in your country. They could bring it back in their luggage and they would probably do it for 50 bucks. Im unfamiliar with a class 2 lever strength. What do you reckon a weaver manual press is ? I may get this in the future if it can cut through 4/5 veg tanned leather. Il ask if they can post a video. They have a few videos on youtube show casing their tools. Maybe they will post one if I tell them there is some interest within this site.

The punches were 200 bucks and I'm planning to use a punching hammer(25) to punch out the patterns. 5000 products multiplied by 19(25selling-6 overhead/fixed) = 95 grand. If i can make that in 2 years il be a happy man. I plan to utilize some online marketing. My brother has a web design company and knows the ins and outs of online marketing and can get me started on a website and marketing my product. I don't believe I missed much in the list (I just didn't elaborate on it) I made 10+ prototypes and came up with those two as the design. The front pocket of the black wallet can be used to make a different card holder, using two overlapped and two larger pieces together to make a 3 pocket card holder. It can also be interchanged to make a foldable card holder with 2 pockets or an iPhone wallet, granted that I design them. Many bifolds out there which are handmade have a bit of hand stitching or none at all, that could be a possibility when I design, or a fully stitched wallet. I agree they are used a lot but simplicity is what people look for now a days, but I will come up with some more designs that would work. (i've seen some pretty creative ones) Most important thing about selling your product is to create a plan before you sell the product. If you go from making a product to then planning it will be a losing plan. So before I make more products I will need to first go apprenticeship if i can find one or go contact the people personally and go for 2-4 weeks and intensively train, preferably with at least two workers who had several decades of experience. Next I will consult with my father and brother, whom both are familiar with marketing as to things i should tweak and which avenues I should take. As to how long it takes I haven't timed it but I have a good sense of timing. 10 minutes is too quick, unless it is pre dyed and unfinished edges. I would say under 20 minutes if the leather was dyed the day before for a card wallet with 4 inches of stitching at 7 spi. Starting after the leather is cut and dyed from the day before. buffing and adding a finish 3 minutes. Buff out finish and dye edges 3 minutes. Use a scratch compass to mark out stitches and prick the holes - 5 minutes. Saddle stitch 4 inches of leather at 7 spi 5-8 minutes. Optional - finish the edge 5 minutes. 24 minutes for the longest time it would take and 16 minutes for the shortest time. To keep up this pace for 20 a day will be difficult. Appreciate the comment! helped me hone in on a few areas that needed some touch up. Would need to factor in all costs of the supplies and get an exact number. After I perfect my technique I will write up a business plan and have my father critique it and il share it with this community, seeing as it has help me so much and it can be beneficial to me and to people reading.

is casting thread and throwing the loop the same thing? I've seen his vids. the thread does not go into the loop it goes above the loop so the thread aims down wards. Also he goes right needle left needle i go left needle first. I find when i go from front side first the back side has the angle and the front is straight

i read on their homepage that the spools are the professional versions of the smaller one. they didn't go in detail if it was better linen or repackaged.

It was just a prototype that was slightly too nice to throw out. I should give it to a friend to test it out for feedback. Pricing for this wallet will be mid 20. Stitches will be in 7 spi to save time, linen or tiger thread not fil au chinois to cut don't cost. Die cutters will be used and leather will be dyed and finished. Start to finish 10 minutes for a single piece. $20- 30 will get a good number of sales once I become established as a proper etsy seller. Market audience for etsy look for handmade good at a store price, not boutique price so its a good number. A card wallet with more pockets will command a larger price tag. Id imagine that selling from a website rather than etsy will be able to create a buffer between your competitors because there prices are low and everyone is roughly priced the same. On a website selling higher end goods - like vegetable tanned goat leather card holders and horween bifolds a higher price can be asked, but still in the same range as competitors. Am i right or wrong? Last thought to throw out there - creating two brands? One for low end goods that are mass produced and another that are high end goods that have a lot of time and care put into them. Would you think having both low end and mass produced (still hand stitched) leather goods under the same brand could hurt the brand identity or has it been done right before? I still have to work hard to perfect my skills and am looking into apprenticeships so that my items will look professional and exact. Any more critiques will help me out a bunch.

awl - 30mm quite small - my 50mm awl makes the front side stitches more spaced. The backside looks identical to the ones in the picture. leather - stiff 3/4 oz veg. On 1.5 ounce veg the back looks off, much better on the 3/4 oz, but still not great.

1200 total for vergez blanchard tools, dixon pricking iron, die cutters, supplies and leathers. Planning to spend 2-4 grand on an apprenticeship and work for someone for a few months to work off my debt and earn enough to live on. I plan to make a small web business selling leather goods and maintain another job until it gets off the ground. Worst that can happen is I make a side business that makes a few bucks on the side.

My technique seems fine to me. I go left needle priority, right needle on top of the hole and pull straight parallel to the floor. Im looking to get something like this for the back side

Holes look all the same distance before i stitch looking at the backside. Holes are made by dixon pricking iron pricked through the leather then an awl is pierced 45 degree angle straight through.

Has any one who uses .8mm tiger thread for 7spi find that the front and the back look very different. The back side of the leather the stitches are very straight and bunched together, like its one continuous line with no spaces, but the front is slanted and spaced out. Is it because tiger thread is too thick and .6mm should be used? My Awl i use is very thin at 3mm. I used a 5mm awl and the stitches don't change. Why is the backside not angled at all? I understand the front and back are suppose to look different but the back is not spaced out.

trace out the pattern on cloth and tweak it slightly by marking areas that need to be large and areas that need to be tighter and stitch it on a machine. Provides a good prototype and you won't waste leather if its no good

knip knife is on the way to my house. At 75 bucks for a custom knife it is a good deal, should last for years.

yes, I commented on the picture too .

smaller spool and the thread is waxed. The threads should be better quality too, but it could be that the only difference is that the chinois in the spool is waxed. How does the 432 look on 10 SPI? When i get the fund I'm getting the 432 for 7spi.

abbey england

Thats right. I believe ritza which is the same company as tiger sells .4mm poly which is used for machine sewing, but can also be used for hand sewing. The thread should still be flat like the tiger thread i believe.

your fil au chinois looks really similar to the tiger thread stitches I put out at 7spi. Really flat and 3 times less in price. My opinion is to not buy fil au chinois unless you have deep pockets or sell your goods at 4x the cost of leather and supplies. 3 or 4 colours for one size will set you back 100-140.

i believe i seen it online. Il go check some sources. thanks