Repairing riding boots opens up extra business.

[Mulesaw]

After replacing a zipper in our son's riding boots just using a regular sewing machine, I purchased an old Singer 29K51 patcher to make it a bit easier to do. I told my son that if any of his friends needed to have a zipper replaced in their boots, I'd be happy to try to do it. And I guestimated on a price including a zipper.

The zippers on riding boots take a lot of beating, and new boots are expensive plus needs to be broken in before they are really comfortable. So a lot of riders will gladly pay to have the zipper replaced instead of investing in new boots.  Depending on the make and model of the boot it takes between one hour to two hours to replace a zipper. I charge a fixed amount for the job and I provide the zipper, that way I don't end up with some weird zipper that doesn't work very well.

After repairing a few boots, someone asked my son if I could repair horse blankets as well, and he immediately said yes. I looked into it, and since the blankets were washed and clean, it wasn't difficult to do the repairs on them. I had to purchase a bit of hardware to replace what might be missing. The patcher excels in those repairs, and though only a few of the blankets actually sport leather straps for closing, it is still a nice an doable job. 

It is just a hobby business for me, but I like to repair stuff and word gets around in the local horse community,  so in my small business, I have managed to pay for two old patchers, a bunch of hardware and extra zippers, sewing thread etc. and still have a decent overall profit. I occasionally have a few repair jobs on leather equipment like headstalls and saddles, but boot repairs is a great way to start. I try to repair the boots within a day or two which is really appreciated by the riders compared to sending the boots away and having to wait a couple of weeks to get it done. When they come to pick up the boots I always make sure to tell them that I repair horse blankets too, and since the boots will likely last for a couple of years again before the zipper will be worn out once more, having a steady work of horse blankets is nice.

So if you have an old patcher standing idle, I'd suggest buying a couple of zippers and try to contact some of the riders of your local horse club and let them know that you can replace a worn out zipper.
I have only needed two lengths of zippers so far: 40 and 45 cm (15.75" and 17.75").