Christmas Show Reports

[UKRay]

This time of year a lot of folk are taking their leatherwork to Christmas Fairs in the hope of raising a few more dollars for the festive season.

Obviously we have a huge amount of show experience between us and I thought it might be good to share this. I'll gladly start the ball rolling, hopefully others will follow with their experiences:

I've just got back from a fairly big 2 day outdoor Victorian Christmas fair - around 50 traders of various sorts including one other stall selling leather.

Because of the poor lighting (I was in a long, low cart shed) I needed to rig six mini-spotlights to illuminate my work. This made the whole stall stand out and definitely attracted more customers than the competition. I needed to provide my own extension leads and multi-plug adapters but it was definitely worth the extra trouble.

I picked up 5 huge (4ft x 16" x 16") heavy duty plastic shipping crates earlier this year and used them to transport all my stock and equipment. It made life so much easier to have a small number of boxes to shift and even though they were heavy, they fitted on my four wheeled trolley and were easy to move around.

Originally I had planned to demonstrate some tooling (making wrist bands with names on to order) but it was just too cold; my fingers wouldn't work and the casing water was freezing. I switched to lacing up little pouches and found I could do this wearing fingerless gloves. Much more comfortable. People still asked questions and wanted to know what I was doing.

The first day I made a mistake and put a workbench out front for my demonstrations. It acted like a barrier and kept the customers out. I know it is obvious when you think about it but hey - it was cold and I was in a rush to set up!

The second day I set the stall out in a square to allow maximum customer through-put and taking improved enormously.

Best selling lines were keyfobs, wrist bands and other 'small stuff' - key cases and glasses cases also did well for me. Biggest sales were three reindeer skins - people loved them. I also sold a couple of sheepskins and a few bags and belts. I had a huge amount of interest in my leather masks but people weren't prepared to pay me enough for them.

Things I will do differently next year:

I will replace my dark coloured table cloths with a lighter colour - the lighter the better to make the goods stand out.

More clip-on spotlights - the more light the better.

Coconut matting to stand on - my feet were freezing!

Some kind of charcoal fueled heater

Period costume that is warm enough to wear in severe weather

A rotating key fob stand so people can find initialled keyrings easily - I used a basket this year, but people took too long finding the letter they wanted.

A tiered/tilted display system so people can see inside my display baskets.

A better display system for bags. People need to touch and smell the leather.

Hope this helps someone,

Ray

[wildrose]

Ray, as always from you, a well thought out commentary on your experience.

While I'm waiting for some contact cement to set, I'll share my experiences this season:

I did entirely indoor events. One small church, two schools (one public, one private) and one for a Lion's Club benefit at our Recreation Center. The biggest was the last. Ironically, taking into account the proportion difference, the small church's was the best attended!

That said, sales were AWFUL. The thing that "saved" me was taking in custom orders. At the shows themselves, I always bring things to work on. I also cut strips for "design your own bookmarks" and bring all my 3D stamps along, as well as any larger project I might be making at the time. My tables are about 2'x4' and I have 4 of them. This allows for variety in layout depending on what the show is offering. Most shows gave me 10x10' spaces. Entry fees were 25-40.00 My table clothes are white with light patterning; also I use a few small pig splits in a royal blue to lay over the clothes, then put the stock over it. To hang keyrings and bracelets, I went to Home Depot and bought what is supposed to be closet wire shelving, and I made a right angle, tied 'em together and hung things.

That's it for now. I'm including a pic from the small church show of part of my display.

[Tkleather1]

Well I have never done any type of show. So far all of my work is custom orders only, But thank you both for all of the advice for my future ventures.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[Suze]

RAy you might not need more light fixtures just better light bulbs

we used to use 100 watt floodlight bulbs (the kind with the silver back) so that ALL the light from the bulb is going OUT and not just hitting the reflector.

(I wonder if a couple of Heat Lamps would help keep you warm. A good cloak would help too...)

don't use bright white sheets for table cloths - reflection from the lights - go with a cream color. works much better. You still get the light color but not an in your face white. And besides if you go with a cream color -- little dirt scuffs don't show as bad.....

The wire rack thing is a great idea -- I used to use a sheet of cardboard sometimes with curtian hooks in it -- they were the kind shaped like a u and the tail of the u was a sharp pointy pin and went in the cardboard pretty easy. Cover the cardboard with a heavier cloth (corduroy) and pin away.

merry selling

[UKRay]

RAy you might not need more light fixtures just better light bulbs

(I wonder if a couple of Heat Lamps would help keep you warm. A good cloak would help too...)

don't use bright white sheets for table cloths - reflection from the lights - go with a cream color. works much better.

The wire rack thing is a great idea

That is a lovely display, Holly. Your stuff always looks so good.

Those are the bulbs I'm using, Suze. I have them in clip on holders so they can be attached where they are needed.

I want a heat lamp - do they really work? Anyone else tried them at a show?

The cover idea is a really good one - I'm waiting on some cream coloured material.

I liked the wire rack too but have found something that may be even better for large displays. I saw a leather trader (I know he checks out the forum and is a member here - thanks Roo) using fine garden trellis at the back of his stand and it looked great. I also saw another trader who uses large mesh wire panels sprayed matt black and that looks pretty fine too.

I'm still trying to find the ideal layout for a leather booth - anyone got any thoughts on this?

Ray

[Suze]

don't forget the "will it fit in the vehicle"

or how do I MAKE it fit in the vehicle

that's why I thought the wire shelve idea was great --- you can "fold" it up

[UKRay]

don't forget the "will it fit in the vehicle"

or how do I MAKE it fit in the vehicle

that's why I thought the wire shelve idea was great --- you can "fold" it up

Roo uses a good sized Ford van and I have an estate car (what do you call those in the US?) which always has stuff tied on the roof rack - no point in trying to get it inside!

Ray

[wildrose]

That is a lovely display, Holly. Your stuff always looks so good.

Thanks [blushing]! As to the heat lamp, we used to use them in the barn during foaling time alot. They are GREAT. I've not used one at a show, because I've needed cooling more than heating - and for that I bought a mini battery operated fan from Sharper Image (there was a store in our mall in Delaware)

I try to keep my display as simple as possible. It is usually only me loading and unloading at every show. I have a fold up "dolly" to carry stock boxes in when I need to, if I'm parked too far away to just carry them. I use 3 plastic bins with various lid styles. One holds my table covers, two for stock, and one of those also has signage/easels for displaying pieces. Right now I'm small time, but I hope to grow to larger events.

Then I have 4 tables, as I'd mentioned I think, that go in the car; I have a square table and round table of the "card table" size, but I rarely use them. I also have a REALLY sturdy table that I would use if I were doing a multi day or multi weekend event should I want to. Display wise, aside from the metal hanging displays, I have a large wooden step display that a friend gave me. It's REALLY heavy, so I usually don't bring it out. Instead, I put shoeboxes on my main table covering, then cover them with another color cloth (usually a nice blue velvet textured one) So it makes my display multi-level and that looks nice. Again, it all depends on the event.

So...into the car normally goes three stock boxes, four tables, a chair or two just in case, and the main need: an EZ-Up tent. There are many "knock offs" of this tent, but I have the original, and bought the "industrial strength" cover for it after the first cover bit the dust during a stormy event up in PA. I have the walls as well, and a tarp for the front if I'm leaving the tent up overnight.

There ya go, that's me! I've been at this for longer than I often realize - I guess about 10 years. Sometimes I do very few events a year, sometimes it seems like I'm somewhere every weekend. The "season" for me runs from April to December.

[RunningRoan]

I'm primarily a retailer (online and mobile) and I have some ideas to share for merchandising booths!

This is the stuff I use to "build" a booth:

=4"]http://www.grandandbenedicts.com/estylezCS/products.aspx?Category=30GWBLPANELS&SqlWhere=[i_ClassType]=4

It's called gridwall and it comes in a few colors and different sizes. You can buy clamps for them, but I just stand them up and zip tie them together. With this stuff, you can make an infinite number of configurations! Very versatile! If I'm on a level surface, I can line 3 sides of my booth with this stuff, leaving the front open for customers to enter/exit. If I'm on uneven ground, I'll zip tie two together at a right angle, three together in a triangle, or four together in a square and customer can mill around the displays and shop from all sides.

There is a whole mess of accessories for the gridwall...shelves, pegs, displays, baskets, racks...

http://www.grandandbenedicts.com/estylezCS/product_categories.aspx?PageNumber=1&PageSize=50&Sort=ProductID&Catalog=estylezCatalog&SQLWhere=i_ClassType=1&CategoriesOrProducts=Categorie&Category=20GRIDWALL&CategoryLevel=1

And you can stick the accessories anywhere on the gridwall, it just hooks on. Makes it easy to merchandise the booth with whatever you have available and restock/rearrange as things sell. You can certainly still use tables with your gridwall...place a table in front of the gridwall, then display pieces above the table on the gridwall. Gets stuff out in front of people where they can easily see it, even if they're walking by a distance away.

You can hang fabric (or maybe a hair on hide?) up behind the gridwall to dress things up (just make sure it's balanced so it doesn't tip). The gridwall is easy enough to paint a different color to tie your whole booth together.

I use mostly 6' tall gridwall and it fits just perfect underneath my EZ Up tent.

I mostly sell out of a cargo trailer, but I still use this stuff to build displays outside the trailer. Works great and is easy to haul!