who's the King or Queen of the Town and County Fairs?

[rdb]

Alright, who's the King or Queen of the Town and County Fairs?

I'll bet most leather workers start off selling to friends and neighbors, then possibly a small word of mouth gets going. It's at that point, you start thinking about doing small shows, and street fairs.

A long time ago, in a land far away, there were a lot of leather stalls at the shows...at least on the East Coast, now, they are few and far between. Is the lack of competition good? Or is it a sign the work isn't appreciated as much nowadays?

In Canada, and the wild and wooly West, things appear to be different...at least from the info on this board.

Between the Rodeos, and Western Days, it looks like its still possible to eke a living.

The trendy art at the shows I've been too include pottery, glass, metal, wood, but hardly a leather stall. The ones I have seen, are the old stamped belt, and trucker's wallet kind of guy in a leather hat, lots of keys, cowboy boots, and biker denims.

Motorcyle Goods, and Renaissance Fair work seems to be doing okay.

What have You been selling at these shows? What's the best selling article You make?

Are You sizing your belts, or just cutting them to fit right then and there?

What kind of orders for custom are you getting during the fair days? Is everyone specializing nowadays, like every other business seems to be?

Just in general, if You are doing shows, give us all a quick glimpse at how much inventory to carry. What kind of product sells best? What's the best price points?

Over the past decades, I've sold my pottery, my woodwork, some hypertufa container gardens, etc. But I haven't done a leather show since the butterflies on belts days. What's the lowdown?????

[Jordan]

I found that at the street fair/farmers market in Ogden only 1 in 10 knew what they were looking at, the rest think it's the same stuff they buy at walmart. I sold alot of wristbands to those types, a couple of belts, wallets, watchbands, cell cases, dog collars and a set of saddlebags designed for a custom bicycle to the other type. Not very profitable but a good experience for someone who has to hone their sales and personal contact skills. And Yes, I will most likely do it again next summer as it was an enjoyable way to spend a saturday.

[rdb]

Sounds like a nice day.

Ogden doesn't seem like a rich town by any means, so what you saw is probably equal to the rest of the country. Sure would like to see a pic of the bicycle bag. That's kinda clever of you. Saddlebags in town might not work, but bike bags...hmmmm.

Do you make one kind of cell phone case, or several to match the many kinds of phones?

[Jordan]

Here is a pic of the bags kinda hard to see but all I did was reduce the patterns fron the tandy pack of motorcycle accessories and I made some phone cases by modifying the tandy kit to suit other phones the one I like best fits my razr flat & skinny

[rdb]

If you weren't in the West, I'ld say "That's Yankee Ingenuity".

The bags...They look nice from that pic.

How did you attach the bag onto the fender, and keep it from the spokes?

I'm drooling for the pickup!double exclamation!

See, that's what I'm trying to fathom. What is selling out there at the street fairs, and what price break.

Is any of the fancy stuff moving, or is it all basic belts, and items.

It's not everyone who can afford to set up a shop, considering the rent nowadays. And for sure we aren't all saddle caliber, but just about everyone on this board has the skill to make nice things. I can't believe there isn't a whole bunch of street vendors here, with a wealth of experience....

[Jordan]

Velcro on the fender and "D" rings sewn to inside bottoms of the bags tied to the frame with a peice of leather. I made the bags (3) saddle and a tool bag for the guy who makes the bikes, $100.00, worth more but I was'nt thinking when I quoted him as all of it was hand sewn. The bikes were on display along with a bunch of older vehicles at a ford dealer about two weeks after I sold the bags to him. I had hoped for some more orders but he was not happy when I told him I had to raise my prices

[rdb]

A hundred bucks for handsewn leather is Cheap!!!! Even if you figure only $15 an hour...4 or 5 hrs into the project, plus material, adds up quick!

That guy know his market, so he was hoping to be at the price break he needed, I guess. That's where a sewing machine comes in for us guys.....The prototypes, and custom stuff is one thing. When you have to manufacture, it's another.

[Jordan]

Yup, now that I have a machine I will probably contact him again in the spring. A machine opens all kinds of avenues that would be way to time consuming by hand. I'll save that for prototypes and custom jobs.

[bcurrier]

That's a very unusual table setup for a cylinder bed. Did you buy it that way?

[Jordan]

Yes bought from Ed on this board, it is not setup completely yet life is getting in the way, there is also a peice that mounts somehow and makes it into a flatbed

[broncobuster]

Im finding that the walmart industry has screwed up the good handmade goods. Id have people look at a handtooled wallet they ask for the price id tell them the the return would be i can get it cheaper at the truck stop. ack frustrating. through the years I learned people are cheap they rather pay a few dollars every year than to get a good one that will last many. those that know quality will pay for it and request it. I do repair and i replace zippers and i get WHAT!! I can buy a new coat for that when i tell them its 20.00. they dont think that the zippers cost 4-8.00 and ya got to take the zipper out and put one back in etc..unfortunately i had to go the junk route just to make money. people will pay 15.00 for a piece work pakistany vest before they pay 100.00 + for one that will last a life time. im in wisconsin i feel your pain. ive had people go out west pay big bucks for a belt. I could make the same thing here but its the nostagia. they bought it out west n was made by a cowboy. ack!!

[Johanna]

We never did much better than break even at craft type shows, even with a full table of already made lower priced items. However, when Jon would pick up his mallet and start tapping, people would stop to watch and talk, and would often take a card. Often times these cards were used to call us weeks, months, years later. So, yeah, I suppose the shows were worth it. It did get us out of the shop and talking to people.

Bonnie- I know what you are saying about people not wanting to pay for the better quality leatherwork from a real leatherworker. Those are also exactly the kind of customers we WANT to shop at WalMart. We need customers who can recognize and appreciate the difference, and aren't hesitant to compensate us for our time and trouble. I quit doing zippers because of the situation you described. If it took me an hour to hunt a replacement zipper, tear out the old one and sew the new one in, $25 was more than fair (because the zipper does cost a few dollars, too!) and the people didn't want to pay that much. Oh well. They can learn to sew zippers themselves. I just started shaking my head, "No." and repeating, "I'm sorry, we don't work on clothing." until they took the hint or starting flashing fifty dollar bills as incentive. (It happened twice!)

Now, who needs a website to market their leatherwork? I can help with that.

Johanna

[broncobuster]

I do need a website. im checking into it anyhow. funds dont allow anything to expensive but studying into it. would appreciate some input on that johanna. to see if its worth it for me or not.

[Jordan]

I also am in need of a web presence, but not until Jan, feb, got alot to do before I get to that step.

[rdb]

Well, this thread goes further and further away from Street Shows! I guess websites are the modern equivalent nowadays.

If you don't have a site, I would suggest getting Johanna to work on it right away. They take time to setup right and judging from her Administration, and Marketing of this Site, You are getting top quality Services.

Make sure you have her setup the ability to shop online, with at least Paypal. Nothing worse than a site you have to call or write to price or buy. Online is IMPULSE.

By themselves they aren't worth the powder to blow them to hell, though. Your website can sit for months and not get a single hit, never mind a customer. After you tell your friends and neighbors to look, what do you do? You have to promote. Business cards and advertisements that have the site on them. You have to join all kinds of forums, and Social Network sites to spread the word.

You have to have a niche. If you spend hours promoting the site, you may start getting lucky with what product you become associated with. Guitar straps, Business cases...it doesn't matter, as long as Google starts bringing you up in the first few pages of searches. Someone searches for credit card cases, and your site comes up ahead of Macy's. That's when the site should start to pay off.

The promotion of your site becomes a full time job. if you do a good enough job, enough orders come in and you are able to let the site sort of run on its own, with maybe just an hour or two now and then.

When my wife and I were making container gardens, I had a simple little html site for purchasing. Nothing happened until I started joining all the garden forums, and yakking it up. Pretty soon afterwards, orders on the site started coming in from far and wide. When I slowed down the web promotions, so it went with the sales.

I've got a fancy Drupal CMS site, that I started to blog my lefty stuff with. Mostly I was concerned about learning the CMS software. I got bored with both the software, and the blogging. The only good thing is the ability to allow joint Book writing. If you all want to write a leather book, I'ld be glad to help out on my site.

I'm going to set up a site for my leather by spring. It will take me that long to rebuild my skill level to somewhere near marketable.

In the meantime, I was hoping to figure some street shows, to earn enough money to invest in some leather and tools.

As far as the Walmart crowd is concerned... Unless you have the skill level and product to attract the types of customers you want, you need to have the $300 belt as well as the $15 machine embossed blanks bought from TLC and others. That's business. When I had my shop eons ago, I sold anything and everything. From beads and Navajo jewelry to hash pipes. It doesn't matter. If you are paying for rent, you need to have something...anything that someone will part with a buck for.

All the trucker's wallets, and cell phone cases you can produce, won't make enough money to pay the rent, and the doctor's bills. You physically can't produce enough, unless you have a specialty that demands real money, like Saddles, and Equestrian gear, or $650 Motorcycle seats.

I'm ramblin' now. Actually, I've been rambling for at least three or four paragraphs...lol

[Jordan]

I agree, as I said earlier a street fair was not that profitable for me but it was enjoyable each saturday in the summer. I will be doing it again next summer and I will have a better idea of what sells, but then again fairs are impulse also, and I was the only booth with leather. It takes along time to build a presence and in my reaserch of my area the other leather artisans have their niche already. ie saddelry, mountain man rendevous, holsters, motorcycle bling etc. I just need to find mine, fairs and festivals and rodeos around here can get to be a drag, lots of work setting up tearing down, regulations, rules and even vendor bickering over sites etc.

[broncobuster]

I do the shows yet ive been doing them for almost 20 yrs. from doing it this long ive seen the cycles. ive done the craft shows, biker, rodeos, horse shows, music festivals, this year i over did it to promote the store i just opened. so i did 25 shows thats a lot of putting up and tearing down. normally i just do 8-10 shows a year. I stay in about 150-200 mile radius of my shop thats about the farthest anyone will come. shows in this area especially craft shows are getting less profitable. ive moved to the biker rallies cause i take my machines n sew patches on all weekend plus i sell patches. so my craft is custom order only. but another thing is each area is different and each area is in a different cycle. i learned that just cause ya sell 20 belts at one show and ya restock and make more for the next show you might not sell a one till 5 shows later. so like others have said be versatile come up with something unique to you. then you get some sales.most of my income is patches and repairs. a lot of rallies i do im the only sewer. so find your niche.

[rdb]

Good tips broncobuster! What are you selling, when you're not sewing?

Motorcyclists have a wide range of things they like. From Cuffs to Saddlebags. What's the best ones for you? What are they making you slave over most in the shop?

Up there, doing that many shows! You have a limited time frame to put all those together, unless you are setting up indoors, or in the Blizzards...lol

[broncobuster]

well this neck of the woods they are a bit on the cheap side. they go for the premade stuff i sell. i do a few custom things but not a lot. majority of what i do is repair. i get to do a few chaps here n there and accessorize a bike or two with fringe. but its mostly repair. this year was my first to do that many shows. in the long run i lost money. It was for advertising mostly. next year im back to the 8-10 shows. If i had to say what is popular its probably just a basic black leather belt i make from harness leather. people have figured my harness leather belts are better than walmarts lol. I do have other stuff but i dont think its its appropiate for a public forum. lol if ya know what i mean. Im new yet I dont want to get booted.

[freak]

Send Johanna a pm letting her now you would like to see the adult section of the forums.

[broncobuster]

theres an adult area?!!

[MaxxEmpire]

I enjoy all types of leatherwork but I found I just could not compete in the general market. That I needed something truly different to stand out, something Wal-mart just does'nt have and would not bother to ever have. Althogh ironically I made a mask for a wwf wrestler that ended up mass produced and sold in Walmart..that was cool/weird.

I have sold at very high end art shows where I might make a sale to a single collector but I found them not to be worth the steep entry fee.

I have sold at lower end craft fairs where everybody was sticker shocked at my least expensive items. So now I never sell at a venue that carries low end items as the crowd mentality gets in the "we expect it cheap" mode.

I have sold on ebay but found that ebay is best for either mass produced cheap items or collectables. But quality art and craft -not so much...

Where I found success was my own web site and specialty shows where people come to spend money and expect some quality. Sci fi conventions, Renaissance faires (the larger established ones) Mardi Gras in New Orleans..etc

-Maxx