A brutal lesson in marketing: EarthKilt

[Alan H]

Alan - from the FTC's own web site, it looks like you DO NOT need an RN number: A registered identification number or RN is a number issued by the Federal Trade Commission, upon request, to a business residing in the U.S. that is engaged in the manufacture, importing, distribution, or sale of textile, wool, or fur products. Such businesses are not required to have RNs. They may, however, use the RN in place of a name on the label or tag that is required to be affixed to these products.

Here's a link to organic cotton thread: http://www.nearseanaturals.com/browse.php?category=45

What about no tag inside? I notice many tee shirts now have silk screened size/laundry/material labels directly on the product. Silk screening is a relativly simple process one you have the screens and you should be able to find a screen maker in El Salvador. Use an eco freindly ink.

What about a chat with Jerry at Stillwater? He must have had many of the same problms when he started up and you really would not be competione.

This project seems to be too good to just let go!

Brian

Thanks for the link BeeDee. Now to find a wholesaler.

The mention that "there's no sustainable thread available" is near to a direct quote from my fabric wholesale supplier. I think what that means is that SHE DOESN"T KNOW OF ANY.

Big difference. Also, a lesson on how much to trust the word of my wholesaler.

[Alan H]

Alan, I think your calculations may be a bit off. If your first run of 24 kilts costs you about $100 a kilt, then your second run costs you $50 a kilt for 45 kilts (because you save on buttons labels and tags) your actual overall cost per kilt doesn't go up to $150 per kilt, but rather drops to about $65 per kilt for the whole lot of 70 or so kilts. The economies of scale in your case only work becasue you are saving money on the cost of buttons, labels, and tags, since it appears all your other costs are fixed on a per kilt (per yard of fabric, etc...). The economies of scale should really work better with each of the non-fixed costs---your fabric should be cheaper the more you buy, the shipping should be cheaper the more you ship at one time, tariffs you probably cannot do much about, labor may be a bit cheaper if you want to negotiate that with your El Salvadorans, and thread should be cheaper if you buy in bulk. But as you get bigger size orders your costs should go down on a per kilt basis, not up. Your decision, from a business plan standpoint, is where is your break even point and where is your profit point satisfactory enough to meet your desires to make donations to these worldly causes. Don't forget, you are also helping the world by buying earth friendly materials.

Unfortunately, your primary attempt is too small to make the whole thing worthwhile, but if your quadruple your initial investment and swing some more discounts on the volume you will be purchasing/shipping/manufacturing, etc.... your project might become viable---maybe even viable enough to pick up a sponsor or two to help you with it.

Also, think a bit out of the box. Why do you need labels? Why not simply stamp the product logo and size on the inside of the product somewhere visible using environmentally friendly inks? Most major underwear and t-shirt manufacturers have gone away from collar tags to imprints just below the back collar, so why can't you?
Same thing with hang tags----why not just stamp them with the same logo, or something similar, on plain (recycled) cardboard and have them sewn into the item somewhere visible---they can then be torn off after sale and thrown away, with any remainder coming out in the wash. Hit up a major manufacturuer for leftover buttons to meet your need---they often have serious overruns on things like this and are getting rid of them on the cheap at wholesalers. Try to work with an existing retailer to get them to help foot some of the costs up front in exchange for exclusively selling the items at their store---natural coops and other hemp clothing stores might be interested. You could offer your services to go to regional events to be the sales and display person, and they may even then get to sell some of their wares there at the same time.

I like your ideas to help the planet and the people who live here, but yeah, you need a little more help with putting the business plan together----outside the box help.

All of these are good ideas, and you make a good point....that it's the initial cost which seems to drive up the cost of the first round or two of kilts. You're absolutely right. After the initial cost is taken care of, the "product sustainability price" meaning the price you gotta charge for a kilt to pay for it and keep the process going, comes WAY down...very possibly to about $65 - $75 a kilt. It all depends on how long a timespan you can amortise the startup cost of the endeavour. I, personally absolutely HATE debt, and so I can only stand to amortise it for a few months...or perhaps the first two production runs. and that means the first 100 - 120 kilts or so.

I'm not going to up-front $2,500 of my own money to start this. I will apply for small grants for non-profits, stuff like that but there's no way on earth that I will up-front that kind of cash. Even if I would do it there's absolutely NO WAY that the Luminous Joan is going to go along with it. she very rightly refuses to go along with forming a private company for this project, and putting ourselves at any risk whatsoever of a lawsuit or being liable for any debt that the corporation might incur. I know, I know...what are corporations for? I KNOW! But I'm married to the woman, not you. So I have to get external funding. That's already a lot of work.

but I'd do it.

Stamping or silk screening instead of labelling....that would be fine, sure some manufacturers to that. But as you point out, and as the economies of scale make plain, it's really not the cost of the tags and labels, etc ......as long as you work in a scale that makes sense. Would the process of stamping the inside of the kilts cost THAT much less than making tags? Probably not, as long as youre dealing with large-scale.

Which I'm not.

I think that the answer to this whole thing lies in going one of two directions...

1. making a really small company...basically Alans Kilt Hobby On Steroids, Inc. and selling environmentally sustainable kilts sewn by ME...or possibly done piecework by one or two seamstresses, locally, to friends and so on.

or

2. going whole freaking hog....taking a HUGE chance, and either taking out loans for about ten thousand dollars or applying for grants totalling about ten thousand dollars and getting Patagonia/REI/Columbia sized volume discounts, cranking out 2,500 kilts and trying to sell them to REI or the North Face or a dozen California hemp clothing outlets.


I ain't doing #2. Trying to do #2 is a full-time job, and I already have a full-time job.

That leaves me with #1....and some personal decisions. We'll see. As I wrote this I actually hatched a totally different idea, a completely new and different idea, which has to do with the X-Kilt manual.

[Canuck]

Something like a donation to the cause?

[walkerk]

Thornton Mellon: "Oh, you left out a bunch of stuff"
Dr. Phillip Barbay: "Oh really? Like what for instance?"

Thornton Mellon: "First of all you're going to have to grease the local politicians for the sudden zoning problems that always come up. Then there's the kickbacks to the carpenters, and if you plan on using any cement in this building I'm sure the teamsters would like to have a little chat with ya, and that'll cost ya. Oh and don't forget a little something for the building inspectors. Then there's long term costs such as waste disposal. I don't know if you're familiar with who runs that business but I assure you it's not the boyscouts."

(Rodney Dangerfield in "Back to School")

[sathor]

Volume as you say will bring the price down, I would then think you would be in the 2000 units per month range to make that work.
hmmmm I think I may have to get out of this business
It's an interesting exercise
All the best Alan

Not until I save up and buy that leather kilt I want from you! Hell no!

[Canuck]

Not until I save up and buy that leather kilt I want from you! Hell no!

OK, but after that I'm done

[Phogfan86]

Alan H -- Hang in there. You've had the misters to seriously consider a leap of faith that makes most of us shudder to think about.

Every great idea has run into these kinds of roadblocks before they became reality. To have come this far, this idea means a great deal to you.

The smart money is on you.

[Beertigger]

IANAL, but I wouldn't dream of getting involved in any sort of int'l commerce w/o the legal protection of a corporation.

[pdcorlis]

This thread reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine that is a very successful wildlife photographer. I asked him how much of his professional life he spent in the field - stalking critters in beautiful places like Canada, Alaska, Montana, and Texas and how much of his time he spent in his office handling the business end of things. He said it was 10% photography and 90% desk work.

Be careful what you ask for my friend, you might just get it.

[Alan H]

Something like a donation to the cause?

Exactly...voluntary, of course.