ideas

I’ve had the passing idea over the course of the past 4 or so years that it would be cool to have a camera setup to record me working and then I publish that somewhere. I listen to a lot of dj type music while I work, maybe have that tied to the published video somehow. Just an idea. Maybe a crazy weird one. 

the Strathmere club

The Strathmere leather weekend bag, something I worked on and finished making last week, has sparked many ideas for me. More bags, at least one more, I’ll write about that later, but also wider ideas. Bigger ideas. Stranger ideas. A club, an annual club, where you pay into it yearly to start or maintain a membership. That money is kept in your account and when you buy products from me your account balance is used first. I envision this being wrapped into or out of the Strathmere bag, I see this “club” in the likes of a Yacht club, I’m still working on the branding of it, how it looks, the feeling it invokes. I could see rocking it on a sweatshirt from the 90’s.

I think I can see a higher membership price point, something of significance, I think that will make it something that people actually use. I don’t know many folks who would just lose $1,000 and be fine, most would want to see that money used. 

Because it is using the Strathmere name the membership would come with 25% off of that product line(yes, this has inspired a line of products for me to experiment with) and would likely expand to work on other “lines” as-well. 10% off site-wide otherwise. Always free domestic shipping. And direct 1-on-1 input into future designs of the Strathmere bags and other products. 

Just some strange ideas to experiment with!

on product pricing

For The Strathmere I’ve been going back and forth on the pricing. Low, mid, high. And I keep coming back to the higher price point. It is a price that reflects the skill, the craftsmanship, the lifelong nature of what was made, and also the lifetime warranty for when things need fixed. It is a price that allows for discounts (like by using the Strathmere club membership mentioned in the previous section), allows for profitability for my business. That last one is important and is what I need to get into more and more. This thing I have here is a business, has been, and is how I eat. It is no longer a hobby. And while I am not a pro at leather work by any means, I’m pretty damn good at it, if I may say so, and need to begin charging accordingly.