Start Up Business Lessons - Following your gut and being taken for a ride in Small Business Startup Journal - The Journey To Starting My Own Brand of Travel Clothing and Handbags

In keeping with my two month pattern of providing updates, I have a lot to look back on.... this one is an absolute essay! This entry is JUST going to be for my scarf.

So since my last update I have since had my first official scarf prototype made. I also received a quote and the costs for what it would be to make the scarf. The only thing was when I received the cost, it did not include the cost for having the clasps put on my scarf.

I had not found anyone to make the scarf yet as all other businesses were so busy with an increased demand for Australian made, so I went with this current manufacturer - let’s call them ‘gorgeous sewing’ (I won’t mention their real name). They asked me how much I wanted to pay for the costs of having my item made, and I made my first real mistake with them, I told them an amount that was well after above what I wanted to pay. I didn’t know what was best practice and was so desperate to find someone that I didn’t want to sound unreasonable, so I just said a blanket amount that I wanted my design be made under.

The manufacturer said they could do it and told me that I would have to go to a separate business and he would have to put on the clasps. They passed on the number of the clasp fastener and told me to get in touch with him while they worked on making my scarf prototype and pattern. I sent them my material so they knew what they would be working with and asked for them to let me know how much it would cost and provide me with a quote.

I called the clasp sewing gentlemen, he was very elderly and I found out he had just sold the business to a new owner. I spoke with the new owner and asked about what clasps were best and what method would allow me to achieve the clasp pattern I wanted. He told me that he would have to see my prototype in person before he could tell me exactly how much it would cost and what clasps were best.

My scarf manufacturer then contacted me about a week or two later saying that they had finished my prototype along with my pattern. They sent through an invoice for the cost. This was probably my first red flag. They didn’t provide a quote and obtain confirmation that I wanted to go ahead with the prototype. Luckily the cost was able to be covered.

When I received the quote though, something felt off in my gut and I read that the quoted cost was the same as the prototype (my second red flag).
I looked at this and then realised that the cost they were quoting me was not even inclusive of having the clasps put on. I thought that the best thing to do was to wait until I received my prototype and in the meantime, follow up on my gut and do some research.

I had to wait two weeks to be able to pick up my prototype due to some strikes on the rail network, so in the meantime I researched the costs of intricate Australian made designs. Using the pricing structure of what I knew and had previously researched about retail, wholesale and pricing - I was able to roughly work out what their designs would cost to be made in Australia and then compare that to what I was being charged for my relatively simple design.

By the time I had done this, I knew that the pricing was not right, and even if they were charging me what they thought was fair, it was not going to be viable for the product to be sold wholesale and into retailers at this manufacturing cost price.

Fast forward two weeks and when my prototype was ready to be picked up, I also called the clasp fastener gentlemen. I called him to make sure he was ok with me coming in on Monday after I picked up my prototype, to talk to him about the needs for my scarf.

So off I went one Monday to collect my prototype from Gorgeous Sewing in person. I mentioned the cost, asking if it would get cheaper as I planned on having them made in bulk for wholesaling and the costing did not even include the clasps being put on.
I could tell that she was a little surprised that I brought it up and avoided mentioning a set discounted amount by saying that she could look into a lower pricing, as it was usually the process to charge more for the prototype.

So I smiled politely and took my prototype off to the snap fastener gentlemen.

I arrived at the clasp fastener place and a man who seemed very overwhelmed was with a customer fixing a button on a shirt. After a few minutes the snap fastener man asked me to come back in 15 minutes as he was a bit busy. I told him no problem and then went off to return 15 minutes later.

When I came back, he was still busy and dealing with a customer and then proceeded to take another 15 minutes before he was done with the client and could talk to me. I overheard him say that he was also a cash only business.

I noticed in dealing with him he was very flustered and wasn’t sure what I meant when I said that I wanted clasps for my kaftan. I asked if he had a mannequin and he said no, so I asked if perhaps the girl who was also in the office could wear the scarf so I could show him what I meant, and he seemed to just ignore me.

I then proceeded to try and explain what I wanted, he seemed very short and confused and like he wasn’t interested at all in really having the business. I was honest and apologised about the fact that I did not have a background in fashion and that I wouldn’t know the terminology that would be best used to describe what I needed for my designs, but I was clear in what the purpose was and offered to buy the clasps that he thought would be best.

He asked me to send an email with photos of the clasps I really wanted as he wasn’t sure he knew what I meant or how I wanted them to sit on my scarf. I thanked him for his time and off I went home to try and search the internet for the best examples of fasteners. I also took a video of what I wanted for my scarf and how I wanted it to sit.

I sent two emails to him and never heard back. I knew when I met him that I could tell he had new business management problems with newly acquiring a business, and
I got the sense that perhaps he didn’t want to work with someone who didn’t have a background in fashion.

By this time I knew my gut was right and that these were not ging to be my manufacturers for my scarf. Time was running out for my deadline in April to launch on Kickstarter and I knew that I didn’t have time for a businessman who was flustered, at best poor communication skills and dealing with teething problems in his own business while I was dealing with my own as a startup.

I started at this point going back to searching for a manufacturer in Australia, losing months of time and energy I had put in with my current manufacturer.

I had previously contacted a woman in December for manufacturing, her name was Karen and she had told me she was too busy and behind in her backlog of requests after being in lockdown for so long and having a new demand of Australian made retailers come through.

My gut said to contact her again even though she had said no in December, so that’s what I did.

So I rang her and introduced myself to her again. I mentioned that I had contacted her previously, but that she had mentioned she had been busy and asked if that was still the case or if she was able to maybe take on any new business. She said yes she was just starting to open up again, but it would depend on what my designs were and my needs.

I went on to explain my situation and how I was in the process of looking for a new manufacturer and was not happy with the quote I had been given. She said that we could meet next week and so that’s what we agreed to do.

Meeting Karen was like my gut giving me peace, we clicked, and she knew exactly what it was I was trying to do even though I didn’t speak the language of the industry. I explained how I knew I was being over charged and that although I didn’t have a background in fashion, I was experienced in a business and had done my research for pricing structures and so knew that the costs were not right. She asked what I had been charged and on hearing my quote, agreed that I had definitely been over charged for production price.

I left the sample with her, and she said that she would take it to her manufacturer. She then asked what I wanted to retail the product for, and I gave her an honest response of a couple hundred, an amount I definitely wouldn’t be able to do with the original quote the other manufacturer had provided me. She nodded her head and said ok leave it with me.

A week later she sent me an email saying I should give her a call back when I could. My stomach dropped and my mind instantly went into overdrive. At this point I had had so many ups and downs with my bags and scarfs, I was assuming the worst again.

I rang her back in my lunch break and she said that she had spoken to her manufacturer. She said two things, one that I definitely was being over charged as she had told the manufacturer at the factory and even they had agreed. The second was that she had a long discussion with them and they were going to make a mini version of my prototype to see if they could manage the clasp structure I wanted. Then they would be able to provide me with a rough costing before we went to a prototype stage.

The absolute relief after hearing this - I can’t even describe it.
So here I am, I am at the point where I am working on my Kickstarter draft, with no prototype from my new manufacturer, no final costing, no ability to even confirm final price, hoping I make the deadline of being able to publish in April. I still have to be able to take photos with a friend modeling my product and draft enough content for my social media pages.

The joys of small business… And this isn’t even covering the updates I have for my bag.

Last updated March 25, 2022