Hairdressers apron

[KingsCountyLeather]

Hi all,

i just finished this apron for my local barber shop. The lady owner asked if I would make her a half apron with a pocket.

This is my own design and it is made with some soft 2mm calf skin. Some of it is sewn with a sewing machine and some hand sewn.

I have no idea how much to charge for it... anyone want to recommend a price? I also could trade haircuts?

Anyway... all comments are welcome.

[mikesc]

Did you put your makers mark..with phone number and website on it ?..if not..do so..now..or ASAP.

Trade it..

Hairdressers are like a local talking newspaper, keep them happy and they'll sing your praises to everyone, word spreads via hairdressers..could get you a lot of work ( especially if you do leather repairs, alterations* ) make a few items to hang in her shop..small stuff, knife sheaths , wallets etc..give her a percentage ( say 10%..paid cash to her ) on anyone she sends to you who pays you..

Nearly forgot..nice clean work there

*Can be worth doing to begin with, get your name about the place, just don't work cheap, it can be harder to raise your prices than to do the occasional "freebie" for PR for the right person.

Edited November 28, 2017 by mikesc

[Retswerb]

Good advice from mikesc. Nice work on the apron, KingsCountyLeather.

[KingsCountyLeather]

36 minutes ago, Retswerb said:

Good advice from mikesc. Nice work on the apron, KingsCountyLeather.

Thank you.

[Fire88]

Very nice and clean looking.

I agree with mikesc put your mark on it and trade it for a couple haircuts. 

If you choose to charge figure your material base if finished piece is 18x24 then that's 2.5sq ft of body material and .5 of belt material so 3 ft total figure in waste so 3.25-3.75 sq ft total used material, add for buckle and $3 for thread, $5 tool fee. Figure your time to layout/design/cut/sew. 

My figureing on material based on $6 per square ft, $5 for buckle, $3 thread = 35.75 for materials and tool fee + whatever your time is worth per hour. 

Edited November 28, 2017 by Fire88

[KingsCountyLeather]

1 hour ago, mikesc said:

Did you put your makers mark..with phone number and website on it ?..if not..do so..now..or ASAP.

Trade it..

Hairdressers are like a local talking newspaper, keep them happy and they'll sing your praises to everyone, word spreads via hairdressers..could get you a lot of work ( especially if you do leather repairs, alterations* ) make a few items to hang in her shop..small stuff, knife sheaths , wallets etc..give her a percentage ( say 10%..paid cash to her ) on anyone she sends to you who pays you..

Nearly forgot..nice clean work there 

*Can be worth doing to begin with, get your name about the place, just don't work cheap, it can be harder to raise your prices than to do the occasional "freebie" for PR for the right person.

Wow!

Thank you for all your advise, I hadn’t put much thought into the advertising part...

The makers mark is on the front waistband and the owner is a friend of mine so she will pass on my details to anyone else.

2 weeks ago, I gave my accountant a Leather legal pad folder as a gift and only today he called me to ask if I’d make another one for a client who had seen it on his desk.  Goes to show... your advise is good!  Thanks again.

 

[KingsCountyLeather]

7 minutes ago, Fire88 said:

Very nice and clean looking.

I agree with mikesc put your mark on it and trade it for a couple haircuts. 

If you choose to charge figure your material base if finished piece is 18x24 then that's 2.5sq ft of body material and .5 of belt material so 3 ft total figure in waste so 3.25-3.75 sq ft total used material, add for buckle and $3 for thread, $5 tool fee. Figure your time to layout/design/cut/sew. 

My figureing on material based on $6 per square ft, $5 for buckle, $3 thread = 35.75 for materials and tool fee + whatever your time is worth per hour. 

Thanks.

your way of pricing looks good! Except for my time... lol.  I only started leatherworking this year so it takes me a little longer to make stuff than maybe other leather workers... it would be a very expensive apron based on time Lol.  

Im not realy doing it for the money yet. I just like the challenge of making something with leather.

[Fire88]

6 minutes ago, KingsCountyLeather said:

Thanks.

your way of pricing looks good! Except for my time... lol.  I only started leatherworking this year so it takes me a little longer to make stuff than maybe other leather workers... it would be a very expensive apron based on time Lol.  

Im not realy doing it for the money yet. I just like the challenge of making something with leather.

I have years of bidding construction work under my belt as experience for price. My advice is to always charge retail price minimum for your material if your buying it for less than retail. If your paying retail add at least 10% to cover shipping fees. 

Time is relevant in all honesty, if it took you 2.5 hrs to do it but you think it should have taken me 1.5 hrs. Then figure out what your acceptable Profit for time is. Say it's $35 that's $15 per hr for your time now but $23.33 for me, as you speed up you'll make more on the hr on that particular product. You have to figure out what your time is worth now and later as you get faster. I will tell you from experience do not cut your what you make on an item because you got faster at doing it always make to same per piece now vs later unless you can get more out of it later or it just won't sell and you must and  I mean must have money coming in to keep the roof over your head and food on the table. 

 

If you dont set out to make money now you will struggle to do so later as raising prices is tough to do regardless of business. 

 

The one thing I have seen not done by most business people is not accounting for tool replacement or purchasing new tools. If you do not account for replacement or buying new tools then when that time comes it's coming out of your pocket. If you take that $5 tool fee per item and put it aside you can buy a new sewing machine in 200-400 items depending on what type of machine, or in 10 pieces you can buy a high end basketweave stamp, in 20 you can buy a mid range head knife. 

 

I hope this all makes sense and isn't overwhelming. 

[KingsCountyLeather]

23 minutes ago, Fire88 said:

I have years of bidding construction work under my belt as experience for price. My advice is to always charge retail price minimum for your material if your buying it for less than retail. If your paying retail add at least 10% to cover shipping fees. 

Time is relevant in all honesty, if it took you 2.5 hrs to do it but you think it should have taken me 1.5 hrs. Then figure out what your acceptable Profit for time is. Say it's $35 that's $15 per hr for your time now but $23.33 for me, as you speed up you'll make more on the hr on that particular product. You have to figure out what your time is worth now and later as you get faster. I will tell you from experience do not cut your what you make on an item because you got faster at doing it always make to same per piece now vs later unless you can get more out of it later or it just won't sell and you must and  I mean must have money coming in to keep the roof over your head and food on the table. 

 

If you dont set out to make money now you will struggle to do so later as raising prices is tough to do regardless of business. 

 

The one thing I have seen not done by most business people is not accounting for tool replacement or purchasing new tools. If you do not account for replacement or buying new tools then when that time comes it's coming out of your pocket. If you take that $5 tool fee per item and put it aside you can buy a new sewing machine in 200-400 items depending on what type of machine, or in 10 pieces you can buy a high end basketweave stamp, in 20 you can buy a mid range head knife. 

 

I hope this all makes sense and isn't overwhelming. 

Thanks again Fire88, I will definitely keep your way of calculating my costs in mind.

But for this apron I will take mikesc’s advise and trade it for haircuts and advertising.

[fredk]

Very nice apron, both in looks and in the making

[KingsCountyLeather]

4 hours ago, fredk said:

Very nice apron, both in looks and in the making

Cheers for that fredk.