How's The Leather Holster Market In Your Area?

[Red Cent]

Mine are also hard as a brick. Even with this latest batch of leather. Doesn't matter. The guy who sat down in the driver's seat and blew a hole though the seat and floor holstering his Glock is the infamous poster child of a Glock in a leather holster.

Yes, I think it is a marketing thing.

You read some of the sites comments and it is if they only use leather no one else has and all the amenities are unattainable anywhere else. I am not criticizing. I am simply pointing out that it IS in the presentation.

[steelhawk]

I think mine has slowed down a bit. I also slowed down a bit. We took a three week vacation over Thanksgiving last year, then in May, my father died and I had to go out of state for that. His death, and a few other things put me behind on orders so I didn't take any for a month. I didn't even have time to answer my emails during that time, so I missed a lot of sales.

[chiefjason]

Summer always slows down for me. People don't buy heading into a vacation if they will not be around to have it delivered. Folks are busier outside. Kids are out of school. Money is going to other things. And the gun ban crisis has subsided. Gun sales are leveling off, and folks are grabbing stuff that the hoarders now realize they need to dump before the really loose more money. And the 2 wonder guns that were hyped up have been kind of duds IMO. Quick flash, then problems and recalls. I nearly bought a G42 and did buy an R51. Luckily the R51 paid for itself early because it sure isn't getting any use now.

Locally, my business is based on a few loyal customers. The vast majority of folks around here will spend $5-600 on a gun but no more than $15 on a holster. I'm in good with my LGS and that comes straight from him. And he carries a few of my holsters. He did say he's getting more interest in some of them lately. I've had a bit of a bump recently from the NC gun board I'm a vendor on and some local business.

Truth be told, it's kind of a needed break. I was running wide open for a long time. Nearly burned out on it.

[Dwight]

I read an article the other day, . . . some gun mag, . . . all about the full shelves in the gun mfg warehouses. They have caught up, . . . maybe even running ahead, . . . and the stocks are full.

One LGS i see occasionally has all but quit carrying long guns except for AR's and M4geries, . . . and a couple of shotguns.

Lots of handguns though, still.

My competition in this area is mainly a handful of people with stacks of kydex and a couple of toaster ovens. They hack saw off a hunk of tandy belly leather, . . . rivet a piece of toaster oven kydex to it, . . . smile and say "twenty bucks please".

May God bless,

Dwight

[Sorefingers]

Things have seemed to slow down. Most of the folks I deal with have been down the plastic road already. They find out after a while that the plastic holsters are just that plastic. One guy came back after he left his holster in a car last summer in the glove box and it turned to soup. Plastic is just that plastic. Leather will last a lifetime if the owner takes care of it. Business is slower but still selling a few things have resorted to the web to sell off a few items I have had in stock for a while.

Just like everything else the wheel keeps on turning. It will come back around and people will see that leather is still the best for carrying their firearms. Nylon had its day once too.

[jfdavis58]

Raise your prices.

It's an old marketing trick but it works. It knocks all the fence-sitters off and they create a small panic. The only thing faster than light is rumors and well, figure it out.

[Troy I]

Good advice jfdavis...I was not selling at low prices...up my price by 50%...now I can't keep up with the orders. Guess people think their not getting good quality unless they have to pay more. GO FIGURE...

[malabar]

I guess it's slowed a bit, but we're still doing 3-4 a day. But we do a fair bit of marketing at gunshows around the state, and we're constantly updating and adding models.

[Gump]

Must be nice to have any holster business. Up here in Canada, we get very little holster work at all. In the last ten years I have done maybe 6 - 7 rigs. There are still those who want a concealment rig or shoulder holster, but it is illegal to carry a sidearm here unless you are a cop or armored car guard. Most of the crooks up here would rather shoot off the family jewels by sticking a gun in their waistband than buy a holster. Gump.

[Lobo]

For many years this was a part-time sideline business for me. About 7 years ago I started marketing on-line and put up a website. Since then my "area" has included all 50 US states and 32 foreign countries so far. I have moved 3 times into larger production facilities and I have hired and trained an assistant. There has always been 6 to 10 weeks of work on the board.

Business is a little slower this year than last year, but all that really means to me is that I might get to take a little time off now and then. Over the past 7 years the only time I've had away from the shop has been 2 days for an old friend's funeral, 2 days fishing with a grandson, and 3 hospital stays totaling 7 days. Other than that I've been at the bench 7 days per week every week just to keep up with demand.

If you are not receiving the response from the marketplace that you think your products deserve perhaps it is time to think about how you are presenting your products to the public.

Best regards.