Hand and Sew: Bifold Wallet Discussions | Drop

Mar 6, 2015

is this leather made by him? or does he buy it wholesale from somewhere?

Mar 6, 2015

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Mar 7, 2015

kunseokAll products are 100% made by me!

Mar 7, 2015

Mar 9, 2015

Hand.and.Sewthe product is the wallet, it explicitly says the wallet is handmade...
the question was about the raw material of the product... was the raw material also crafted by you?

Mar 9, 2015

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Mar 11, 2015

kunseokNo I did no tan the leather myself.

Mar 11, 2015

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Mar 11, 2015

Hand.and.SewI went off of this site for an idea on price of leather per square foot: http://www.4hides.com/Leather_Collections/Pages/Vegetable_Tanned.html
It says 3/4 is about $5.30 per square ft, but let's pad on $4.70 since you source it from another country. So... $10.00 per square foot and lets just say that the wallet takes an entire square foot. This would mean that $100 msrp/$70 massdrop is going to your labor costs.
Is this taking you more than an hour to cut/fold/sew/brand? I can't justify giving someone $100/$70 dollars for an hour of labor on this product.
Is there something that was not factored in here? Can you justify the price? Do you do a lot of advertising that raises the price?
Also, thank you for answering my questions. I appreciate being able to talk to the crafter.

Mar 11, 2015

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Jerk

Mar 11, 2015

kunseokIt's hard to really price something like this based simply on BOM and labor. Things like this end up being worth more than the sum of their parts. Let's, for a minute, forget that these are made by a skilled craftsman and consider also the time investment to come up with the design. If something isn't mass produced design time should come into play. Also, being low volume he won't be selling a large quantity so there has to be a more significant margin to make money. Add back in the skill along with the overhead of running a company and I would say that this is a fair price.
If you think you can spend $10 on leather and make a wallet of similar quality *then more power to you. I would guess though that the time you invest may be worth more than $70 to you.

Mar 11, 2015

TomZ

Mar 11, 2015

kunseokIt seems inappropriate, to claim that someone's time is not worth what they say it is. It's one thing to ensure you're paying a fair price for a product, but another to claim that an hour of another person's time isn't worth x dollars.
Anyway, to answer your question, he previously posted: "I have to cut each piece of leather entirely by hand, including the placement of the "slit" and holes so that your cards will fit perfectly the first time. Cutting something by hand in itself takes around 20+minutes, add all of the small bits (rounded corners, dyed + finished edges, burn in crease) as well as entirely punching the holes and stitching and materials, you can see where all of the costs come from." It seems reasonable to expect he's spending over an hour on each wallet, so $80 is a pretty fair price.

Mar 11, 2015

DeathWatch

380

Mar 12, 2015

kunseokI will agree with you that this product's source material isn't expensive,but the thing is all leather product are somewhat overpriced,this is not bad price when comparing to them.
http://www.tannergoods.com/collections/wallets/products/utility-bifold-natural-1
This it a wallet that should be compared to this wallet,Made In USA and by hand,although it does uses a bit more leather but it is also a product made by a company,and it cost $ 100.
So although this drop isn't a great deal but it is a deal nonetheless,for a personal made product .

Mar 12, 2015

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Mar 12, 2015

TomZwhy is it inappropriate?
everything you describe as "inappropriate" is usually how things are purchased... people determine if something is worth x amount to them and buy it or not. just bc im stating my reasons out loud offends you, doesnt mean you dont do the same thing... you wouldnt purchase a big mac for a billion dollars bc its not worth it. in the case of the big mac, if someone asked you "why?", your explanation would insult a whole bunch of farmers and laborers in the process by your logic. you said something i did was inappropriate, even though you do it as well...
it seems dumb for someone not to have realized this
it's up to me to determine if his work is worth what he is charging and then buy it or not.

Mar 12, 2015

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Mar 12, 2015

kunseokHey kunseok, Your pricing for leather at around $10/sqft is accurate. Being canadian, things are a tad bit more expensive, and even on that site you listed, the leather is from international (Brazil, Argentina, etc.) I cannot buy direct from suppliers in those countries as I cannot afford MOQ, I have to buy through agents and middle-men in North America, as many other leathercraftsmen do.
In terms of time, have you ever hand-sewn everything? I've taught 50+ customers locally how to do leatherwork, and their first wallet (extremely simple: https://instagram.com/handandsew/p/xfrRkei41b/) takes 3-4 hours to make. I think you seriously underestimate how long this sort of production by hand takes. As said, I use NO sewing machines, no electricity. Ontop of all of this, its taken me about 3 years and 10000+ hours to get to this level of quality, as well as ~$10k in tools. Realistically, even the very basic tools I use to make these wallets still would cost you $300 to get. Obviously, all of these things (skill, tools, etc.) aren't really built in to the price, but they're something you have to think about when looking at the pricing of a product.
As I've said earlier in the thread, if you can find a similar product for a better price, buy it!

Mar 12, 2015