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OCTOBER 24, 2014 (/BLOG/2014/10/24/5-POINTS-TO-

CONSIDER-BEFORE-STARTING-A-HANDBAG-LINE)

5 POINTS TO CONSIDER BEFORE

STARTING A HANDBAG LINE
(/BLOG/2014/10/24/5-POINTS-TO-
CONSIDER-BEFORE-STARTING-A-
HANDBAG-LINE)
DEVELOPMENT (/BLOG?CATEGORY=DEVELOPMENT), FASHION
BUSINESS (/BLOG?CATEGORY=FASHION+BUSINESS), SAMPLE
MAKING (/BLOG?CATEGORY=SAMPLE+MAKING), SOURCING
(/BLOG?CATEGORY=SOURCING), START-UP (/BLOG?
CATEGORY=START-UP), HANDBAGS (/BLOG?
CATEGORY=HANDBAGS), ACCESSORIES (/BLOG?
CATEGORY=ACCESSORIES)

Are you looking to start a handbag line?

We recently partnered with Tara Sauvage, a handbag expert with over 15

years expertise in handbags and leather goods. Together we will offer help
with every stage of the process: from consulting to design, sourcing,
development and production with both domestic and overseas manufactures.

Below are Tara’s top 5 points you must consider before starting a handbag
line:
1. Price Point Will Determine Feasibility.

It is important to figure out your retail price point before starting a

collection, as this will determine the materials you can use. Many new
aspiring handbag designers want to make a luxury leather bag collection
that retails for under $100. They will go as far as writing this into their
business plan before they do their homework and realize that leather
costs $5.00-$10.00 per square foot and an average bag uses 6 to 8
square feet of leather. Add labor costs and retail markup and very
quickly they realize this is impossible.

2. Manufacturing abroad vs. domestically.

The start-up costs are much higher for making patterns and samples in
the USA, but on the other hand producing overseas requires high
minimums, which very few start up brands can afford to produce high
amounts of inventory. Educate yourself as much as possible about the
difference between producing domestically or in Asia. Do you have time
to travel to China for example to interview factories? Can you afford to
produce in NYC where the labor costs per piece are much higher than
overseas? Hiring a professional handbag consultant they can save you
thousands of dollars in manufacturing mistakes.

3. Leather or Fabric?

Are your bags going to be leather, fabric, vegan leather or a combination

of the two? Most leather factories cannot produce fake leather goods or
fabric. The machines are different for leather and fabric. Once you
decide what type of materials you are going to use, then you can start to
source the right factory.

4. Handbag metal fittings/hardware.

If you are going to produce in the United States you will have to source
your own metal fittings/hardware. If you are designing a luxury line of
leather bags, this is very important. You can do research online or hire a
professional to help you navigate the process of getting high quality
handbag hardware for your bags, most likely from overseas as there are
not handbag metal fittings companies in the United states and the ones
that exist just import. Once again do your homework or hire a
consultant. Your customers will want good quality metal fittings if they
are paying a premium price for your bags! I have had many aspiring
handbag designers using expensive Italian leather with cheap hardware
that tarnished right away. Once again, this was a disaster and there
were many customer returns.

5. Patterns.

Once you have defined the factory that you want to product your
collection you will note that most factories have their own pattern maker
on site. Often aspiring handbag designers’ hire outside pattern makers
that may not be well versed in handbag pattern making. This is often
not necessary as a good well established handbag factory would have
 their own onsite sample room and pattern maker. Just like with any other
fashion product putting your idea/design together and knowing how to
translate your vision to a pattern maker is a crucial step in the success of
your product development.

Are you new to the process?

Need help to sketch your designs and create tech pack?

This is where we can help you! Human B (/about-human-b) and Tara

Sauvage have partnered to offer your new handbag business all the solutions
and tools to insure its success. Together we can help you bridge the gap
between your vision and the factory and help you navigating the waters of
starting a handbag collection while avoiding expensive mistakes!

READY TO START?

LOOKING TO START A HANDBAG LINE BUT DONT KNOW HOW? START HERE
(/STARTUP-FASHION-BRAND-FUNNEL)

READY TO START THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR BAG LINE?  EMAIL

US HERE (/CONTACT) TO START.

TAGGED: HANDBAGS (/BLOG?TAG=HANDBAGS), ACCESSORIES (…

 3 LIKES  SHARE

COMMENTS (11) Newest First Subscribe via e-mail

Preview Post Comment…

Grace 3 months ago · 0 Likes

I want to go into bag business,I don't even know where to start or how
to start , because I don't have much capital.

Boaz David 3 months ago · 0 Likes

Hi Grace,
The first step to take is to create a business map where you can
have clarity on the feasibility of your idea, your business mission
and goals, what steps to take, the financial investment that you'll
need etc.
 We have few tools that can help you with these first steps, you
can find them here https://www.humanb.com/startup-fashion-
brand-funnel
Thanks

Kabir (http://www.expressbags.in/)3 months ago · 0

Likes
(http://www.expressbags.in/)

Nice Post..it helped me a lot and thanks for sharing...I highly

recommend this post...

@Expressbags

RR A year ago · 0 Likes

Hi
I want to build a market for a line of leather products , from other
country. The products are already being sold to a few other countries.
Please tell me what factors should i consider for market research in the
place where i want to sell the products.
also i want to make sure the products are of superior quality, what are
the important factors i should look upon.
Appreciate your help.

Thanks
RR

Boaz David A year ago · 0 Likes

Hi,
You want to learn everything about what products currently
exists in the market. for examples how much it is, what it looks
like, what purpose it serves, where its made, the quality of it etc.
The idea is to understand what is already available to your
customer so you can see what you are competing with and what
these products are missing and how your product is a better
choice. Also, this will help you better define who is the customers
and what do they value in these type of product as well as what
are they currently spending on it, how and their shopping habits.
Your product might be of superior quality but maybe the market
you are looking to sell it can't afford it or don't value this quality
etc.
Its need to be in the right quality for YOUR TARGET
CUSTOMER.
btw, look into our fashion business start-up kit it will be a good
tool to help with that.
http://humanbacademy.thinkific.com/courses/fashion-business-
startup-kit
Hope that helps.
 Alina (http://www.eclecticalu.blogspot.com)

2 years ago · 0 Likes

(http://www.eclecticalu.blogspot.com)

Very interesting, and exactly what I'm pursuing right now while vlogging
the whole journey on my YouTube channel. Will definitely follow you for
support! Thanks!

Alina
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ip8rFP5oW6c

Sunita Kale 4 years ago · 0 Likes

I have created numerous fabric bags and silk bags, i do not know how
to market them in USA The quality of the bags is very good

Boaz David 4 years ago · 0 Likes

Hi Sunita,
if you'd like to send us info and pictures of your line, we can see
if we can help you with the marketing part.
Thanks

4 years ago · 0 Likes

Very interesting !I want to set up a fashionlabel with all kinds of things

also bags.In my country it's not possible to let things madebecause you
will fail before started cause the costs for samples and prototype is
much to high !I will have to go overseas :( Indeed it's very hard to find a
factory that is willing to take small orders.But i am doing a lot of
research and hope i will find one :)Then when you finally get
this .;there's the fact :Will i hire an agent that works on a percentage to
promote my fashion to stores or do i just start to sell online ?I don't
want to open a boutique cause 1) i don't want to spend my time selling
stuff all day ( then no time to create ) 2 ) Also this costs a lot on rent
and so. Then there's the problem :Where do i find an agent willing to
work on a percentage anyway :)

Arnita 4 years ago · 0 Likes

Thank you for this article. It reminds me that there is so much I have to
consider before taking on my dream.
Arnita

Boaz David 4 years ago · 0 Likes

 Arnita,
Thank you for reading and thank you for your feedback. I believe
that if you put in the ground work before you jump all in you will
increase your success rate tremendously (even though some of
the points to consider are not fun to deal with).
Good luck with your business.

How to Choose Your Product’s Size

 The Key Points for Building a Successful Fashion Business (/blog/2014/11/1/the-key-points-for-building-a-successful-fashion-business)

Range. Numeric Sizes vs Letter Sizes

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