Question Posed To Professional Leather Artisans.

[mrbeebs23]

Hi y'all,

I have a question for any leather artisans/crafters/artists who run their own leather businesses. What are your thoughts on focusing on one or two specialities versus trying to make every kind of leather product under the sun in order to appease potential customers. I'm beginning my leather business career and I was pondering on this. I believe you can't help but try a little bit of everything out in the beginning in order to find the products that you have a real proficiency of making... but is it detrimental in the long run or beneficial? I'd greatly appreciate any feedback as it applies to your own working professional careers. How have you all fared? Thanks!

Brett C.

[horsewreck]

Skills needed to do one type of work do transfer to other specialties, and trying make a go of it doing a very limited number of products can limit you chances of success. First we need to look at what people want (need) and what is available to them. We operate a full time leather business and didn't set out to do a particular products. After years of doing saddlery and general leather work on the side my wife and I went into it full time. We thought we could just build a few custom saddles and tack and make a go of it. I prefer to do new work rather than repairs, however by being willing to do saddle repairs our business was able to succeed beyond our hopes. Today we do a booming repair business, as well as a volume of new gun leather, case and strap goods, tack and new saddles. I now think that had I only been willing to do say new saddles, I would have perished in this business. That is not to say a person can't make it doing only one thing and doing it well, they can. I know an individual who specialize in luggage, another who does only gun leather and they do fine. Long story short develop your skills, find out what you like to do, be flexible, and figure out what products are wanted by the customer, and you will be successful. It is easier to fill a need than it is to create a demand..

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

I, like Jeff specialize in saddles, however; you do what you have to in order to survive. Actually you can make a good deal of money on repairs. For some reason folks are more willing to keep using a piece of used up tack and keep repairing it rather than just getting a good well made saddle that will last them a lifetime. On repairs I have a set hourly rate plus material for what I do. If I made a saddle and charged by the hour, I would not sell even one around here.

Bob

[DoubleC]

I agree with the OP about repairs. I had a woman bring a purse strap to me that had frayed. She told me the purse wasn't name brand or anything special she just liked it. The were thin straps and maybe a foot long. Took me maybe 1/2 to redo them and made a quick 10 bucks. That said, I've been doing this 4 years and I'm getting ready to specialize in 'strappy stuff.' I like making it, people pay a lot of money for their pets and beside that I will have belts which always sell. Will I turn down a repair or the odd custom order that comes along? Probably not, they allow me to do what I like to do. But I need to cut down my products to a reasonable diversity. Cheryl

[Art]

It depends on where you are, and the community your leatherwork serves. Can you live selling at shows, or do you need some other conduit for your work? Here in the East, real estate is quite dear. Location, Location, Location, equals Dollars, Dollars, Dollars. Sure, you can charge more, but will that cover it? You have to determine how many turns you need per year to stay in business and then exceed that by a growing amount. You have to make it or buy it to sell it. Can you produce that much? Will the clientele support mass produced goods?

Do you have the skills to do the absolutely necessary eCommerce function. Successful businesses have a person or more dedicated to that alone.

Repair is important, but that business is developed differently in different markets. You could develop a business on repair work alone. Keep in mind that there is way different liability in a purse strap repair versus a stirrup leather repair or replacement (I have never repaired a stirrup leather). You need to know which ones to walk away from. But repair can provide much needed cash flow and little or no material outlay. Besides learning how to do repairs (including refinishing, you can make a fortune on that) you have to market it to be successful. Hanging out a shingle saying "Leather Repair" usually doesn't hack it, even in well traveled areas.

Of course, you can be too successful and outstrip your own capabilities. At that point you have to hire a leatherworker. Good luck, that's when the real problems commence.

It is hard to replace a 9 to 6 income. Starting a new career can be difficult, even if, in the case of a couple, one keeps their day job.

Art

[JLSleather]

I actually did mine from the other end, as they say, right from the start. I do leather - and then cross out the things I don't make. One example.. cigarette cases. There have been MILLIONS of them sold (probably more like billions, but who has those numbers anyway). I've had people ask for them for years. But I don't smoke. And if you smoke, that's your business -- but you can't do it at my house. So, I simply don't have any foot in the door to that.

I don't mind doing notebooks and such. But for a while there, the coast guard boys had me making 'charge books". No problem there, but it looked like I could end up making JUST those, which I don't want to do. Now, far as a 'money making' thing, it might be worth it to get OTHER people making those with my label, but it would require people I could trust to do it right, which isn't possible.

So these days, I may hire something done (I have some dies made by others, etc.) but I do not (and will not) have any employees. That alone auto limits me to what I can PERSONALLY get done in a day...

Oh, and I have NEVER built a saddle from the ground up. I have replaced some saddle parts where a guy asked for that, but there simply wasn't the demand in my area when I started, and nowdays many people have no objection to saddle parts that are clicked, machine embossed, and assembled -- and honestly there are people doing that too cheaply for me to even jump in.

[Pounder]

In my case, it is take what the customer needs and run with it. As stated talents transfer from one area to another and although a niche is nice to have until you get it there will be bills to pay. Being a one person shop means advertising and the best is word of mouth, seems to me you can't get that turing people away becausae they don't meet your "niche". Hopefully someday you can find that niche and make a nice earning from it but I have found at least in the beginning (3 years in business) you take what you can get and love every minute of it.

[UKRay]

Pick a range of stuff you like to make. Making things when you don't enjoy your work is misery!

I won't do any more horse leather. Ever!

Ray

[coreysyms]

Not detrimental at all to do a bunch of one off custom work, but I would say you should focus on your brand, and what it is you do and how you do it in each product. I have made everything from jeans and shirts to toll rolls and woman's bags but they all look like I did it, my style, people come to me because they like my style.

Starting out, you should try different techniques and styles and methods, but once you start seeing a cohesiveness across your items in style and construction build on that.

You want to have something to go back to, a mantra, or mission statement, something more than "quality made blah blah". Something more specific. When someone wants something custom done stick to it. Say ok, I can make that for you, let me sketch it out, show it to them, and stick to your guns, don't let them change it all around, this is what you do and how you do it and they came to you because they liked what you did in the past.

You will find what items you really like working on and by then have a your own take to it. And looking back at the things you made you will see it all make sense. It's not about making a leather item, it's about the leather item YOU made.