How's The Leather Holster Market In Your Area?

[RoosterShooter]

Recently I've been having a 'Famine' period in my leather holster business.

Some of you more seasoned makers have probably seen this before, but has it ever been this bad? Last year I couldn't keep up and had my books full, but this year is really, really slow.

Is anyone else seeing this, or is it just in Kentucky?

[Chief31794]

Making and selling some, but it isn't what it used to be. It seems to me that it has become "cool" (shows my age) to wear the tactical type stuff that you see in gun stores. There is also a renewed fascination with the "Military Look", so they can but those types of, and I use the term loosely, holsters. That being said, I am still selling a few, just depends.

Chief

[katsass]

Well actually --- it's deader than hell. And yes Chief, this 'black' gun thing has gone insane. Mike

Edited June 29, 2014 by katsass

[Mudruck]

Yup, pretty quiet here lately as well.

In a strange way though, that can be considered a good thing for me because I just had a new arrival to the family and would much rather be spending time with my new little boy than working on a leather project.

The black plastic 'tactical' fad will fade though soon enough right?

[JLSleather]

There are a lot more people making holsters these days than there was even a couple of years ago. You can watch them line up.

You'll have a few loyal people who will likely want to come back to you when they need another rig.

And some will buy it because they don't see a reason not to buy that one, and hate to shop, thus they buy the one they're looking at right then.

But as a rule, something should make it stand out. If we all get some HO leather, dip it, and stitch it with 277 thread, then there's nothing there the next 100 guys can't do just as well. What's the difference? It becomes then, largely a price war.

Oh, and can't forget the occasional fool (as in "fool and his money") who buys occasionally because they want to buy something - does't really matter what it is. But, that's hardly consi

[RoosterShooter]

I've noticed the plastic holster thing as well. I really don't understand the logic as a lot of people will pay $65 to $75 for a plastic holster instead of a leather holster for a few dollars more.

I think that the firearm accessories market is highly 'fad' driven. We have a lot more gun owners in the US now, and a lot of them are pretty ignorant when it comes to quality.

[Red Cent]

A somewhat small attraction to the plastic holsters is safety. The gun market has evolved into Glock clones or at least striker fired and no safeties. As a devoted 1911 fan, I don't carry plastic. I have a G34 with a 2# trigger (really) that I have used in competition but carry? Huh uh. My EDC is a lw Colt Commander and it has a very light trigger. And two manually activated safeties. Before you can pull the trigger.

A small strip of rawhide sewn in to the lip reinforcement area of the trigger guard can be marketed as being just as safe as plastic.

It is all in the presentation, right?

[RoosterShooter]

How soft are the holsters you're making?

Mine are as hard as kydex when they're dried and finished! I don't know why they wouldn't be as safe.

[WinterBear]

Maybe time for a new marketing plan? Emphasize the mystique, the feel, tradition, the mellowness and patina leather acquires with age, and so on. Kydex just doesn't have the "feel appeal" genuine leather has.

[Itch]

It is hard at times to make the changes quick enough to stay current as the flavor of the month.. What I mean is the .380 craze was good to us for awhile,then the XDs, kept us busy.. Now it is lasers and tactical light's.. You need to keep current and it will run you crazy trying.

[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.

[okie44]

One of the first things I noticed, about plastic holsters, is that they tend to eat gun finishes mush faster than than any leather holster I ever used. I had one for a Glock 23, and in no time, I could see marks in the finish. Glock has one of the hardest black finishes I have seen, so if it wears that fast, it would destroy a blue finish in no time. I know that some of them are cheaper, but they will never equal the retention, and life, of a well made leather holster. I know some of the "tactical" folks don't seem to worry much about how beat up their equipment looks. The more beat-up, I guess the more "authentic" they look.

[Red Cent]

Okie, I think you are biased. As I am. I love the leather. Kydex ain't got no soul. And I agree with the remark about a well made holster. But....you go to an IDPA match or a USPSA match and plastic rules.

I edc a Colt Commander in a SERPA 1 holster with a radical appendix carry. It is fast. And I am drawing a pattern and creating a leather holster to replace it. The hybrid and total plastic holster sells.

[Dan28]

One of the first things I noticed, about plastic holsters, is that they tend to eat gun finishes mush faster than than any leather holster I ever used. I had one for a Glock 23, and in no time, I could see marks in the finish. Glock has one of the hardest black finishes I have seen, so if it wears that fast, it would destroy a blue finish in no time. I know that some of them are cheaper, but they will never equal the retention, and life, of a well made leather holster. I know some of the "tactical" folks don't seem to worry much about how beat up their equipment looks. The more beat-up, I guess the more "authentic" they look.

Okie, I think you are biased. As I am. I love the leather. Kydex ain't got no soul. And I agree with the remark about a well made holster. But....you go to an IDPA match or a USPSA match and plastic rules.

I edc a Colt Commander in a SERPA 1 holster with a radical appendix carry. It is fast. And I am drawing a pattern and creating a leather holster to replace it. The hybrid and total plastic holster sells.

I know I didn't want to trust my Colt 1911 finish to Kydex. I had a couple sample pieces and I considered trying to mold it, but I still would have tried to glue a pigskin liner in it. I ended up scrapping that idea though, and just wet molding some leather.