Holster maker opinion

[HANDLOADER]

Doing this for a friend who is currently making holsters and other leather goods as a hobby. He is thinking of expanding and doing gun shows and actual market type inventory for shops. Sounds great and his work is amazing so no doubt in my mind it could sell. What do you think the current fashion of gun world would have to offer somone who only crafts in leather? He would be making carry belts, holsters, cowboy action, anything as needed.

 

[JeffG]

I paid $200+for an El Paso Saddlery Threepersons holster for my shorty Vaquero.(No belt) People will pay for good quality. The challenge is to get the maker connected with his market.

 

[jeepnik]

If he understands he will never get rich he should go for it. A good leathersmith can make a fair living, but it takes many hours of work. The really good custom leather workers do it as much for the satisfaction of turning out great leather as they do for profit.

Oh, and I've seen a few really good leathersmiths that expanded by hiring others and selling more or less mass market. Without exception the quality diminished and they entered the ranks or the mas marketers. They made more money, but lost the art.

 

[aarondhgraham]

My friend, that's a rough business to make a living at.

I've been creating and selling leather goods for the better part of 30 years,,,
The only time I ever make any "real" money is on my high-end custom work.

I wish him good fortune though,,,

Aarond

.

 

[Sunray]

People will pay for good quality, but not from an unknown. Everybody, his brother and all their cousins are making holsters and belts, etc. Unless his finished stuff is close to or exactly like the commercial holster makers' stuff, it's very difficult to sell. Tried it myself.
It's extremely time consuming too. Being entirely hand done. Even if he has a leather sewing machine(1500 to 2 grand and up), tooling is done by hand.
It's really not much different than opening a gun shop. Must be done as a business and operated as a business. New businesses get no credit terms or money from banks either.

 

[bodam]

what they said...I started making knives, then holsters and gun belts. trying to establish a retail base is hard. The majority of people don't want to spend money on quality, they are used to buying cheap shelf products.

Ideally, you want to build a base of clients that appreciate hand made custom items, and are willing to pay. I have a couple dozen holsters for sale at my local gun store, and I've sold 4 in the last two months.

The folks I sell to appreciate it, and pass the word on, and order again. It's that 99% of folks that are hard to crack

That being said, I'm making stuff every day. If it sells, it sells, if not, well then it goes in the drawer with the other stuff. I do it because I enjoy it. But I would love to be able to make some money to at least pay for materials, lol.

 

[JTQ]

If you make a good looking product, and put together an attractive, easy to use website, you could sell more holsters than you could make. That of course becomes the problem. There are quite a few holster makers that made a good product, got posts from satisfied customers on a few forums, and then found their orders out pacing their production capability.

Some have either just closed up shop or shut down their websites, while others have found themselves getting pounded on the same forums that loved them just months before, when they can't deliver on time, and folks feel they are getting ripped off.

One other comment I'll make, leather seems much more popular with the 1911/Hi-Power/SIG P-Series and revolver crowd rather than those that prefer the Glock/M&P/XD etc., polymer guns which, in general seem to prefer kydex. On the good side, the metal frame guns are generally more expensive and those owners are more likely to spend more money on a holster. The down side is, polymer framed guns are significantly more popular, so the market is smaller for the metal framed guns aftermarket stuff.

 

[bodam]

I'd agree with that, the holsters that I've sold are primarily 1911....hmm time to change strategy lol

 

[Varminterror]

I'll agree with the above sentiments - sometimes a guy can order a large soda, then find themselves drinking through a firehose. Nobody wants to play a game where they take orders and but then have excessive and/or inconsistent lead times, or worse, have portions of the year where you're not taking new orders... People are used to online ordering where they can get what they want, when they want it. So if it's a one man shop, he has to design his go-to-market strategy accordingly - think small & sustainable. Work with a local CAS/SASS club, heck, a guy can drum up a lot of sales by asking guys to "test" your rigs and give you feedback on designs.

Developing a good website, then working with different gunshops and having them place a stack of cards on their counter can be productive. Offer them a 5-10% commission, and/or a 10% discount to folks referred through there. Or offer them some inventory as examples. You have the option of wholesaling to the retailer, or consigning - but the inventory HAS to move, either way, else the retailer is looking at wasted inventory cost, or the consignee is stuck with floor/wall space which isn't yielding revenue.

Is he unwilling to work any kydex? A lot of holster makers are using kydex liners even in leather rigs, and it's not difficult to learn to work, so it's typically a worthwhile investment, considering it'll open up a much larger market, AND diversify his portfolio. I would go as far to say there are more small companies kicking ass and taking names doing ONLY kydex than there are doing ONLY leather. I bought a garage sale toaster oven and built a set of presses for FAR, FAR, FAR less than I have invested in my leatherworking tools. Heck, my "good set" of leathercarving tools cost more than what I have invested in my kydex gear, let alone when you start talking about sewing machines!

 

[JTQ]

I would go as far to say there are more small companies kicking ass and taking names doing ONLY kydex than there are doing ONLY leather.

In my "super-broad generalized opinion", in the two categories of holster making, leather and kydex, the leather guys seem to be more in the artist realm, and the kydex guys seem to be more in the business realm.

 

[Varminterror]

^^ Yup. Absolutely.

Cost of goods and labor investment are WAY lower in Kydex work. Kydex is a walmart model, low margin, high volume.

But Kydex as a material to enhance leathergoods is relevant enough AND the materials and gear are cheap enough AND the skillset to use them simple enough that I'd contend a leatherworker doesn't have a lot of excuse not to use Kydex to some extent. Hell, I've done all kinds of random stuff in leathergoods with Kydex; liners in leather belts, reinforcements in drop loops, holster liners & mouth stiffeners, stiffening repair for saddle skirts (which should have been replaced, but repair on a trophy saddle was favored), reinforcement for bucking roll mounts, purse/bag stiffeners, I'm sure a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting. I abhor the look of kydex holsters, but thermoform plastics are pretty danged handy for leathergoods.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

I've been doing leather work my whole life and make and sell gun leather. Mostly 19th century reproductions for CAS and re enacting. It's not something a person is going to make a lot of money at, it's more of a hobby that pays for itself because I don't make much for my time.

 

[el indio]

At the gun shows, where I mostly sell, people ask how much time it takes to make a holster. I tell them I don't know because I'm always doing something else like when the dye is drying. Then I tell them that I'm probably working for less than minimum wage,but that I enjoy doing it. It's my retirement job.