Most popular gun and holster?

[CaptQuirk]

2 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Ahhh, the ever damning "test drive". 

Well... more like, Gonna need to make the holsters anyways, and while BlueGuns are nice, they don't do much against home invaders. I think it's hammerless design makes it perfect for a purse gun. And this has nothing to do with the wife hounding me for a carry purse

[bikermutt07]

No worries. I'm a Ruger lover too. I have wanted an Lcr since they came out.

[Lobo]

Success in the holster business requires identifying your market niche. Some makers serve local markets while others serve national or international customers. Some makers offer holsters for the newest developments in handguns while others provide products for vintage handguns. Some makers specialize in the competition shooting sports while others focus on the western-style market (authentic or reenactor/SASS type).

If you are going to do what many others are doing (most popular holster design, most popular handgun models) you will either have to be much better than anyone else in that market niche, or you are going to have to win sales with price competition. I suggest that you may want to look at other segments of the market that are less well-served by your competition.

I made my first holster for sale in 1972, and had a pleasant enough little sideline business for the next quarter-century, serving cops I worked with and those referred to me by my coworkers. When I retired from law enforcement I continued making holsters for a growing circle of law enforcement and other contacts, while operating another business as my primary source of income. As the economy started circling the toilet bowl (2007-2008) I needed to make some extra cash to make up for declining business, so I started offering my holsters on-line, selling several each week. Recognizing the marketing power of the Internet, I put up a website and quickly found myself working 7 days per week, renting larger production shops, hiring and training help to stay current on upwards of up to 2,000 orders per year. I developed several new holster designs which drew considerable interest, and further refined some holster designs to tweak performance. Along the way I gained several insights:

1. The major holster manufacturers concentrate their production capabilities on the most popular modern handguns. As new developments come along and sales of some earlier products start to decline those older products are quickly dropped from the line-up.

2. There are millions and millions of perfectly good handguns out there that people want to carry and use, but none of the mainstream holster makers are offering anything for.

3. Just because a new "plastic fantastic" or "wonder nine" hits the market every few weeks does not mean that those who have good quality older handguns with which they are comfortable will abandon the known and proven for the newest hot product.

4. Dummy guns are usually offered only for those handguns that have achieved a significant market share. That means that there will usually be a year or more from introduction to any decision to make dummies for any new model. If you want to offer holsters for the latest developments you will have to consider purchasing the actual handguns in order to get a jump on the marketplace.

5. Don't overlook accessories related to holsters. Many, many customers want matching holster, belt, mag pouches, etc, and you will either fail to get those orders or you will find out that these are very profitable products.

6. Custom work can be interesting and a pleasant diversion to straightforward production work. But custom work requires lots of time (patterning, mock-up to test & revise pattern, repeat again and again, then make the final product). I offered 13 holster designs, with or without a few common options (lining, thumb-break, tooling, hand-carving), left-hand or right-hand, 4 finish colors, for 168 different handgun models (resulting in over 80,000 possible variations), and we completed orders at the rate of 47 minutes of shop time per product. Compare that to real custom work, easily consuming 10 hours or more per finished product, and do the math on pricing to achieve an equal return.

During the last 8-1/2 years of my 43 years in holster making I kept close track of actual orders and sales. In my shop I found that over 60% of all orders were for revolvers, not the most recent semi-auto pistols. In fact, nearly 1/3 of all of my sales were for one specific revolver series (J-frame Smith & Wesson). Very few holster makers offer any significant range of revolver holsters these days, leaving a huge market niche to be exploited.

Also, orders for vintage semi-auto pistols (such as the S&W Model 39, Browning Hi Power, and others from the 1930's through 1960's) exceeded all orders for the newest stuff combined. Some handguns (such as the 1911 series) come in so many variations, and from so many different manufacturers, that it can be very difficult to meet all requests (I used 8 or 9 dummies and at least 6 actual guns in the shop).

Maybe this will give you some ideas about what worked for me, and allowed me to have a very comfortable income and retirement. By the way, my business was purchased by a very capable family of leather craftsmen who are continuing to do very well with my designs, methods, and marketing plans.

All the best.

 

[plinkercases]

Lobo that is all invaluable stuff thanks.

[CaptQuirk]

@Lobo- THat is some pretty interesting stuff. I'm curious though, you made holsters for LEO, are you still making holsters for them? The reason I ask, I know nothing about your holsters, but I will assume they are regular leather, and not Kydex, plastic, and lots of screws and bushings? I have talked with many of the local LEOs, and they all have pretty much the same gear... all plastic.

[SouthernCross]

Thanks for sharing, Ray.

[Lobo]

21 hours ago, CaptQuirk said:

@Lobo- THat is some pretty interesting stuff. I'm curious though, you made holsters for LEO, are you still making holsters for them? The reason I ask, I know nothing about your holsters, but I will assume they are regular leather, and not Kydex, plastic, and lots of screws and bushings? I have talked with many of the local LEOs, and they all have pretty much the same gear... all plastic.

When I sold the business I completely retired, gave the new owners a "non compete" agreement along with all of my tools, equipment, patterns, etc. All I do now is eat, sleep, play poker and drink beer (great work if you can get it).

[BHPshooter]

Informative as always, Ray. I hope retirement is treating you well!

[Double Daddy]

Lobo lives! Glad to see you are enjoying retirement, Ray!  Well earned, indeed. I encourage anyone to take the time to scour the pages of this forum for Lobo's other very informative posts, particularly the ones related to workflow and shop organization (I have personally found those to be particularly handy).