Stain Dyed Calf Skin Card Wallet

[DavidL]

Yes, I am Hand and Sew.

I've been doing the selling deal for about 2 years. I don't know what your age or experiences are, but you can plan and plan all you want, but things (especially leatherwork) never really work out that way.

I've had 15000+ views on a promotional video, I've been featured in magazines, blogs, videos, websites... you name it. But all in all, I've only really been able to do about 500 sales (thats including some wholesale I've done on Massdrop)

That's less than one sale a day. And that's with a ton of views and traffic through all social media (instagram, facebook, twitter) as well as a lot of self promotion on Reddit.

Its fun to have a plan of attack... but like I said, don't expect anything crazy. Certainly don't invest a shitload of money into it.

This is a hobby... not a money-maker.

Many people on this site make minimum to above minimum wage from leather working (selling belts, custom orders of purses -hunio, selling tools bruce johnson, making knifes knipshield). JooJoobs on Etsy made 300k on leather goods and thats in one year! (their media outlets and planning is amazing). Of course some make pocket change with their items, but its has been done before and it can be repeated. Your items sell more if you price it lower. 100 for a bifold is more than the consumer is willing to pay especially if their are some italian wallets on etsy that are the same price. 100 for a home made bifold is an odd demographic seeing as young people don't normally have a ton of cash. If 5 people are willing to buy at 59 for a good quality iPhone case than its better than 1 person that may buy it 100. Im just starting out and my items i put out are average, but you should start using oil tanned leather and expand your items past veg tanned leather . The issue is repeat customers come back and they see that no new items are in shop and that nothing is selling. You might as well change your mindset and think of a plan to revamp your business because there is potential, but its hard work.

I don't know whether it will be popular or not but I might as well give it chance and a good one at that. I've learned from my mistakes and the most important one is - if you think you can't succeed then you won't. I would have done less and achieved less if I thought to my self that I could never do it, because normally I'm very bad at everything i start doing and through hard work and repetition, pounding down at my craft I am able to become better each day.

[DavidL]

I started out with tandy then to japanese tools and advanced to blanchard and dixons. Would have been cheaper if I would have went straight to blanchard. Also, it is the small milestones that make me happy. I aim high, but am happy with what I have. It was improvement where i got 0 views the first day because I didn't tag any of my photos. The items on my etsy are not what I'm going to put out in the future, those are just the better looking prototypes (i've made 10+). The ones I'm going to put up will look more professional and will be made by die cutter and then hand dyed and edges finished.

The most important is that I take this craft seriously. I don't say that I can't achieve anything because that already ruins the chance I do have. Leatherwork, sports, painting is an art form bigger than the person doing it themselves, there will always be improvement, always changes, always new ideas never will you reach the end. As long as you keep improving and doing what it takes whether it is train leather working with a hermes worker or a saddler then turn back with your skills and revamp your business. Its a thing where its all or nothing.

All this said it might mean nothing because the USD is going to crash very soon..

Edited April 13, 2014 by DavidL

[cjmt]

Personally I agree, you have to aim high, try hard and aim to succeed, you certainly won't I you don't. Two small notes of caution though. Be aware that Hunio and Peter nitz are very, very good. Aim to emulate them but realise it will take years and hard work/talent. Also, you'll never have a viable business if you aim to do it through hand making but being cheap, you can't do both, at least in my experience. You need a minimum of a half decent product at a half decent price, if you aim for the bottom foreign factories will just undercut you

Charlie

[DavidL]

In 5 years i believe i will be as good as hunio and peter nitz. Given that in that time frame I apprentice for a japanese leatherworker or french leather worker, like Peter Nitz did. The construction is what takes years of practice, and then the materials they use make it look incredible. I agree with you, there is a trend of wanting products made in north america for a slightly higher price tag. With the increase of online buyers it cost less for leather workers and craftsman to sell products that can be bought by people from across the world without a physical retail store.

You can't really compare an established 175 year old corporation with a guy who's giddy about getting 9 views on an etsy listing (3 of which were me...)

Not trying to shoot anyone down, just trying to keep things realistic here.
Especially considering how much he must have spent on tools (who buys blanchard right off the bat?) he will have to sell a lot to just come even. He has nicer tools and supplies than I do.

Nicer supplies and skill = better craftsmanship and more potential value in the eyes of the consumer from a better made product. Im not trying to clash head with you but I'm trying offer advice. You will see an increase in sales if you bump your price down to 70-80 for the bifold and 30-45 for the simple wallet. The price for a piece of leather to make a simple wallet is 4-5 dollars max, plus 1-2 for supplies. so the mark up is 25 - 35 for lets say 15-20 minutes of work for the simple wallet. The cutting out takes 2 minutes with a stencil, cutting the holes takes 4 minutes and the rest you can attribute to pricking holes and hand stitching plus a quick burnish. The customer also looks at other sellers and they sell items that look similar for 20 - 30 dollars less.

You are selling pass the equilibrium point where your price is too high and your quantity is too low.

Also there are not items sold that are blue, red, grey, distressed . ect. There are a bunch of different people you should try to attract to your company. When my shipment of leather gets here i will be making a few wallets of different colours and some standard black and brown wallets with contrasting threads, which will look neater than my prototype wallet and sell for more.

Edited April 13, 2014 by DavidL

[cjmt]

Brave words! Hard work will only get you so far, a certain amount of talent is needed as well! Best of luck, I'm a great believer in aiming high and trying hard

Charlie

[Matt T]

Your pricing is way too low. If it is just a practice piece and you don't feel comfortable selling it for what it should sell for based on materials and labor (2-5x, depending on your business model), then maybe you should give it to a friend as a gift to test out and give you feedback.

[Macca]

Agree on the pricing

If you are aiming for high end eventually, then stop selling your starting practice pieces like these

spend time developing your skills/technique/patterns etc then work on your marketing strategy

Then start selling

[Hi Im Joe]

I agree that a low pricing strategy will only force you to turn your business into an assembly line to make any money at all.

I do this because I love the process and the craft. Plus if you price something at 12 dollars and its handmade people will think it's cheap.

If you price something handmade at 100 dollars people will either think its way too expensive or want to figure out what is special about it.

Its those second people you have to convince.

[DavidL]

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.

Edited April 15, 2014 by DavidL

[Macca]

Your marketing will determine the price in all honesty.

Cost+ pricing is really not a market you want to be in, someone will always undercut you.

There are quite a few makers who nailed social marketing & are selling very basic product for healthy margins

You are looking to sell into a very crowded market, either you create a buzz, you offer a unique product or you fight on price.

I would never suggest fighting on price.