There is something quite nostalgic about authentic leather goods. Sadly, so many of today’s fashions are made from faux suede or leather that it’s like Christmas when you come across a product that is made from genuine leather. Although leather fetches a higher price than manmade faux leather, most fashion-conscious consumers are willing to pay top dollar for leather – the real thing. If you are in the process of starting a leather goods business, take a few moments to learn a few tips and tricks to get your business off to a running start.
1. Design a Logo for Your Brand
In any business within any industry, your logo is something that will almost always be identified with your brand. Therefore, your logo is going to be a key component in all your marketing strategies. However, when it comes to leather goods, your logo is even more important because you will want it embossed on literally every product you design and put on the market.
You’ve seen those time-honored denim jeans with the leather patch on the back of the pants, just below belt level. However, even though that leather patch is associated with those jeans, it doesn’t have that extra bit of elegance that an embossed logo would have. Embossing your logo gives it that third dimension so it goes beyond visual. It can be felt. To accomplish this, you would probably want a copper die for sheet fed applications like you can find on the following page: https://universalengraving.com/product-pages/sheet-fed-dies/copper.
2. Freebies Clinch the Deal
Leather goods is the perfect industry to create freebies as a gift with purchases over a certain amount. Again, using that same copper die for sheet fed applications, you could have key chains manufactured to give as gifts. Not only will this create a scenario in which the customer is likely to bring their ticket up to the required sales amount to get that freebie, but a keychain is instant marketing.
It’s like getting two for the price of one! You’ve just found a way to increase the total sales amount while getting what amounts to ‘free’ advertising. No, it isn’t exactly free because you paid the embossing costs on top of the cost to make the key fob, but the residual advertising you will get from each and every fob is well worth the investment.
3. Offer Personalized Items
Leather offers the perfect opportunity to up the sales price on items you carry. Typical leather items that customers want personalized could be wallets, purses, briefcases, and even cowhide belts. While you may want to use a laser engraving process for personalizing these kinds of gift products, that process goes nicely with items that have been embossed as part of the design.
Country and Western boots and belts are often embossed with saddles, horseshoes and other designs common to the genre. It’s a whole market waiting to be explored but when you can personalize those items as well, you’ve just grown your market by at least 100%.
4. Pay Careful Attention to Packaging
Here’s another very important tip. Have you ever seen someone pick up an item that they aren’t quite sure if it’s leather or not? What is the very first thing that they do? That’s right! They bring it up to their nose to smell. There’s something almost intoxicating about the smell of authentic leather such as cowhide, and that is how most people determine whether it’s fake or real.
When packaging, make sure to enclose any authentic leather item in an airtight bag. The moment it’s opened that lovely aroma will float up to the customer’s olfactory organ – their nose – and the buyer will know immediately, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they have just purchased a real leather item.
A Key Takeaway
One of the reasons why so many entrepreneurs are reluctant to start a leather goods business is because leather is more expensive than its synthetic counterpart. They are afraid that consumers won’t want to pay the high cost of leather. While this may be true some of the time, there are really too few authentic leather products on the market and that is why authentic leather sells.
In other words, leather has become iconic within a certain crowd. It’s fashionable within a circle of those who can easily afford it but for those who struggle, they’ll find a way to buy at least one or two of your designs made of authentic leather, embossed and personalized. Isn’t it wonderful what influencers can do for your business?
