ToddW

I'm waiting for the Cobra class 26 to get back in inventory, so hopefully I can get there as well..

I have been pricing the lasers and about to pull the trigger on one.. Looking forward to it..

All good points.. I didn't get into this wanting to do high volume stuff. I got into this for the love of leather and to be able to make what I wanted. When the idea came to me that "Hey, I want to do this instead of my day job.", I started to put pen to paper. I started buying better tools.. Now looking to buy bigger tools. I am not looking to get rich but i am looking to live at or around the level I am today and that math says I need to do high volume. When you talk about hiring an employee or two (outside my wife that works for free), you need to do even higher volume. Really didn't mean for this thread to turn into hand sew vs machine sew or low volume vs high volume... This equipment gets pretty expensive and the size of the equipment quickly pushes you out of a hobby room in the house. I thought the Kickstarter topic was interesting to me to see the responses but still curious about the ones that did it. Parker at Stock and Barrel generated 400 wallets and never did another one that I can see. Was it more than he wanted to do? Did they take too much? I did email him and didn't get a response so thought I would post it here.. Anyway.. I appreciate all the responses.. Was happy to see it grow to 2 pages of responses.

No prob! Appreciate taking a look for me..

I did talk to Bob as recommended and the one I was looking at had the bigger bobbin which is what I was looking for as I do sew computer bags as well and like the bigger bobbin.

It is a valid question.. more than half don't get funded. My view is that you get out what you put in. Looking at the ones I referenced, the photography and video work was professional. Kickstarter brings the audience and exposure, your product still has to be good and the prep work to highlight it has to be professional. Crappy pictures often indicates crappy products. Stock and Barrel and Thursday Boots took it serious and the results showed through. At the end of the day, Parker at Stock and Barrel sold wallets which are plentiful and 400 units moved. I would question whether Etsy could move 400 wallets in a short period. With that said, there are a ton of huge failures. Elio Motors tried Indigigo (think) which is another company doing kickstarter funding. They had a 3 wheeled car that claimed to get over 80mph selling at $6,800 and never did anything.. I think they had $17M in orders.. Anyway, my aspirations are not that big.. I would like a 400 unit order when I am ready.. I would hate failing but doesn't seem to be a cost penalty for failing. I would be more afraid of the 4000 unit type of success..

I have one of the chinese ones and it does work.. I do think I get a bit of wobble out of it and probably a balancing issue. I am thinking about going to a dremel attached burnisher so its not fixed horizontally..

cool.. I used Hermes as an extreme but "really" not my style with a few exceptions.. but the point is definitely valid in a very high end wallet or bag at great price. Not in the segment I will be creating or selling but Tecovas and Thursday Boot is what I wanted to strive for. Great quality, Great Leather, Great Style at a Good Price.. They built a brand and got to volume. All started somewhat in a garage or by a few friends and grew the brand into something big. I don't need big, but need some strong volume.. My research has shown all had a Kickstarter when they were ready.. If you google "Thursday Boot", they launched their business on Kickstarter. They targeted $50K in sales and hit over $200K. Boots are made in Leon (as is Tecovas). I don't have that grandiose plans but using it for a model for what I want to do.

hey.. more power to you and looking to do what I love, as you are. I have tried to model out the number of units I need to move to generate the level of income I want in this period of my life. I don't need to make what I make now, but I do need a certain level of income. My modeling keeps pointing to a volume that is higher than selling 1 wallet a day.. Thats just me and clearly you have found a sweet spot for you.. Anyway, I appreciate the variety of responses..

Thanks @JayEhl! Been doing Telecom for over 30 years which is fast paced, high stress on a 24x7 basis. Not that starting a business is easy, I have a lot of experience in building a business, building a brand.. and great at cost control.. Telecom is a low margin business and highly competitive.. My biggest fear is differentiating my stuff from all the Etsy stuff and getting the volume needed to be a business. That was the core reason for the Kickstarter question which feels like an avenue not explored here. Its not for everyone (as mentioned) but seems attractive for what I want to do..

I am in the Dallas / Fort Worth area in Texas..

You beat me to that.. 5% doesn't seem crazy and the exposure is pretty good. For me personally, I want to ultimately transition this from a hobby to something I can make money at. if you look at Etsy, there are a TON of leather goods which is hard to hammer through. Looking at the ones that have moved out of low volume to a real business, a brand and following was created. SaddleBack is a good example of that. That is not for everyone, but .. for me.. I want to ultimately be able to do this full time which requires volume. I follow some on Youtube, (Stock and Barrel and Little King Goods) that I "believe" make more on their Youtube channels than they make doing Leather goods. I am not a YouTube kinda of guy so need to get volume on my goods. I am no where near that today but trying to lay the groundwork to get there.. I don't believe I can do the volume hand cutting and hand sewing everything (my hands already hurt) so moving to lasers, clickers and sewing machines which I have already seen is not for a lot here. I love this site for the honest feedback so don't want to step on toes. My questions on machines, patents, lasers, kickstarter all have an angle towards making higher volume goods. I am laying all that groundwork now.. My goal is to do R&D myself and work on the design, style, packaging, branding, etc... and have the volume built by employees or other channels of help. Does that take the craft out it?? I guess some could argue so, but I believe that a great quality product at a great price has a place. Do I want to be a walmart.. no.. Do I want to be Hermes...no..I want to be in the middle with great quality leather, great quality hardware, great designs, great consistent quality on sewing and cutting.. Sorry for the long story.. As mentioned, not everyone will agree but at the heart of this, I want my love of leather and my current hobby to evolve into a business that can support my family. I am a telecom guy professionally and want to roll into something that I love doing as I get into the latter part of my career. Working in Tech has become a young mans game..

I have bought a few things on Kickstarter and the experience was pretty good as a buyer. As I said, I bought a home Steak Ager and a Home Pizza oven and received both of them. Both companies have gone on to do well. I also think it reaches buyers that might not find you normally so its also an exposure thing which has some value. As said in previous post, it might not be for everyone.. The Kickstart take is 5% + Credit Card processing of 3% so you are talking around 8% which does not seem that bad. The work to create videos and photography is a lot of work, but for the volume.. you probably need that anyway. The unknow volume is the big challenge for me personally but it where I want to go anyway.. I am trying to work on a product targeted at Kickstarter which will probably be a wallet as I could not imagine making 400 bags.. Wallets would be a challenge as it is, but bags would be tough without help.

I thought the leather was very nice.. Had a bit of leather envy.

" "Our last shipment of the CB341's sold out & the next shipment won't arrive until approx the end of March". From Bob... Trying to spend some money but finding it difficult. I wanted the GlowForge and was talked out of it towards a Chinese Laser.. The options there are huge and find myself buying bigger and bigger and struggling to find the right model for me. I wanted a Sewing machine and they seem to be all sold out. Crazy.. I'll get there..

If you click the balloon font'd K in the top left corner of the video, it was take you to the kickstarter project for the history..

The volume can be huge.. A boot company I follow sold 1200 pairs in few weeks... 400 wallets would have to involve help and long hours.. They would need to get built and shipped in a reasonable time or the returns would start happening and the opposite effect would happen. I was just curious if anyone here had experience.. I emailed Parker at Stock and Barrel and he didn't respond.. Just curious if it worked out and what the experience was like.

Its a place where startups go to fund projects. Its "kinda like" a go fund me but really project driven. I bought a steak dry ager as well as a pizza oven. Usually, its an early stage product that might need some refinement. The project either funds and the person builds it or it does not and no money is collected. It is a bit expensive as Kickstart takes a lot as well as the credit card processing. Typically the product is deeply discounted making it a great deal and people buy. Here is a wallet Parker did at Stock and Barallel.

I hand cut today and hand sew today, but definitely looking to get easier and more consistent.

email sent to Bob.. I had mentally gotten sold on the Cobra so reading up on the cowboy..

definitely going to require more than 1 wallet a day as well as some help sewing.. clicker them out, skive them and lots of sewing..

My question on it being a good channel to start. One of the Youtube leather guys looks like he did a Kickstarter in 2016 and sold over 400 wallets that way but doesn't look like he has done one since. I know you typically discount and Kickstarter takes their piece as well as the Credit Card take. I am sure it whittles you down significantly on margin but moving 400+ wallets in a few weeks sounds like a decent volume.. no worse than selling wholesale.

any idea which ones are the better priced ones?

Just curious if anyone has any experience with KickStarter. Just wanting opinions of it.. Todd

The Cobras are back ordered.. What other machines are like the Class 26? I had thought they were all somewhat copies of the Juki or something. Cowboy, Consew, Teksew, etc.. Anyway, I think the Class 26 is going to be my first machine but since its backordered, looking for something that is close to it.. Todd