Dog people would you buy this type of collar? ?

[LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer]

I posted a few weeks ago about some cat bits I made and got great feedback so here I go again.

I am starting to do craft stalls with homemade pet bits and have made some collars up. These are made with strong polypropylene webbing, extra strong thread and strong welded D ring fittings so will and can handle a dog that pulls.

I am thinking of charging £7 for the 25mm collars and £5 for the 20mm collars.

I think they're really nice OP.

I only use leather collars on my gang (6 dogs of various shapes and sizes) so I'm not your target audience, however I do second a PP who suggested bandanas too.

We used to have a Newfoundland, and I bought him a couple of absolutely fantastic bandanas that were actually for teething babies! They were massive, with spotty fabric on the front and towelling on the back, so if/when there was a drool appearing, I could turn the bandana over, wipe his chops, and then the front of the bandana still looked nice. I paid over £20 for 2, over 15 years ago.

No because leads shouldn’t be attached to collars. Causes soft tissue damage, nerve damage and spinal damage to dogs as well as restricting their breathing, they should wear decent harnesses and collars only for countries that enforce tags.
Harnesses and leads are a matter of life and death for dogs, so I would only ever choose one that would not break/fail/loosen on my dog. My dogs life is in the hands of the manufacturer’s stitching and material choices.

I expect I’ll get some bore droning on about how collars with leads attached are fiiiiine. Nope, they’re not. Find out why.

@NowEvenBetter

I expect I’ll get some bore droning on about how collars with leads attached are fiiiiine. Nope, they’re not. Find out why.

'some bore' Someone who disagrees with you.

The sanctimony around dog ownership never ceases to amaze me.

I wouldn't because I prefer plain leather.

They're way too cheap. Apart from the material cost and your 10 mins sewing, there's the time you spend sourcing and buying materials, the time spent at (and travelling to/from, and setting up) craft fayres, the cost of having a stall at those fayres, the time spent looking for events to go to, the cost of any packaging/wrapping, the cost of material wastage (maybe not much for these), the cost of test/trial of new materials, the depreciation cost (and eventual replacement) of things like sewing machines, the cost of tools (scissors, needles etc), the cost of heating/powering your workspace, the cost of producing promotional materials/labels etc, insurances.... and much more besides. Your gross profit % as you've stated it in your post is way too low. If you want to actually make money from it (and cost your time at min wage at least), you'll need to put your prices up.

It looks like the kind of thing people expect to pay more for anyway - if it's too cheap, people will question the quality.

I love them!

I have a strong 35kg lab and use webbing collars with good quality plastic clips. Some plastic clips are a lot better than others. He isn’t walked on his collar (either harness or slip lead instead) so it’s not really an issue. I choose plastic because he spends a lot of time in water and muck and plastic tends to cope better than metal with being wet. The designs are cute.

@ReviewingTheSituation

They're way too cheap. Apart from the material cost and your 10 mins sewing, there's the time you spend sourcing and buying materials, the time spent at (and travelling to/from, and setting up) craft fayres, the cost of having a stall at those fayres, the time spent looking for events to go to, the cost of any packaging/wrapping, the cost of material wastage (maybe not much for these), the cost of test/trial of new materials, the depreciation cost (and eventual replacement) of things like sewing machines, the cost of tools (scissors, needles etc), the cost of heating/powering your workspace, the cost of producing promotional materials/labels etc, insurances.... and much more besides. Your gross profit % as you've stated it in your post is way too low. If you want to actually make money from it (and cost your time at min wage at least), you'll need to put your prices up.

It looks like the kind of thing people expect to pay more for anyway - if it's too cheap, people will question the quality.

I’ve made these myself. Time sourcing. Minutes. A quick search on AliExpress for grosgrain ribbon is all that takes, same for cargo webbing and clips. Literally five minutes on any Chinese website yields materials that will make hundreds of these.

Packaging. It’s 2021. A paper bag will suffice. Possibly with an ink stamped name. Again, pence on AliExpress.

Other points are probably valid about entry costs etc but from experience these things are always expensive, often laughably so. The stall with the realistic pricing is always the first to sell out.

But they're still costs @AdobeWanKenobi, and they still add up. I've run a retail business (where I used to make some of the products I sold), so I know what my accounts looked like.

I stand by my point that the gross margin is way off kilter to be making any money out of it.

ReviewingTheSituation I actually didn't think of that as my time but you are 100% right.

AdobeWanKenobi I appreciate you have too made these but it taken me a lot longer than a few minutes on Ali express to source my materials.....some things have been bought online but most I have supported my local haberdashy shop and have tried and tested various plastic buckles and methods over the years I have toyed with this project and found one I like that works well for me.

I find it quite offensive that you seem to think I just search a few mins online grab any old shit then think I can make a few quid.... Far from the truth it's a passion of mine to create various things and to be able to maybe make some profit and sell these things I have made is an absolute bonus for me.

I wouldn’t because we go walking in fields and the dog gets soaking wet and dirty… a fancy collar would be wasted on him.
Don’t you need permission to use most of those images?
But I’m sure there are people who would take an interest in them, maybe as a special occasion collar?

@NowEvenBetter

No because leads shouldn’t be attached to collars. Causes soft tissue damage, nerve damage and spinal damage to dogs as well as restricting their breathing, they should wear decent harnesses and collars only for countries that enforce tags. Harnesses and leads are a matter of life and death for dogs, so I would only ever choose one that would not break/fail/loosen on my dog. My dogs life is in the hands of the manufacturer’s stitching and material choices.

@NowEvenBetter my dog wears a collar with her tag on it permanently. She wears a harness for the lead to attach to when we go out. For this reason if I'm looking at collars I wouldn't even be considering how it will be with a lead. The UK does enforce tags when out - do you attach your tag to the harness? I assumed every dog would have to have a collar on with the tag but now I'm genuinely curious.

@LauraSaidIShouldBeNicer

ReviewingTheSituation I actually didn't think of that as my time but you are 100% right.

AdobeWanKenobi I appreciate you have too made these but it taken me a lot longer than a few minutes on Ali express to source my materials.....some things have been bought online but most I have supported my local haberdashy shop and have tried and tested various plastic buckles and methods over the years I have toyed with this project and found one I like that works well for me.

I find it quite offensive that you seem to think I just search a few mins online grab any old shit then think I can make a few quid.... Far from the truth it's a passion of mine to create various things and to be able to maybe make some profit and sell these things I have made is an absolute bonus for me.

In which case, if you're buying from your local haberdashery your pricing is daft because it's going to be five times the cost of Ali. Added to that the local haberdashery is more likely than not getting the materials from China anyway, albeit via a different route. It's all the 'same old shit', it's packaged differently and more expensive because of where you're buying it in from.

Problem is, people know you can buy this ribbon etc cheaply, they can see it's not a difficult make and they don't want to pay top prices for that. I'm sorry if that offends you, but dog collars and bandanas are very much the latest bandwagon sellers are jumping on and this stuff is everywhere.

Far from the truth it's a passion of mine to create various things

Meh. You said it takes 10 minutes to do with a sowing machine, you don’t actually do any designing so I don’t think you can use the work ‘passion’. It does sound like a money making activity predominantly, which is fine, but don’t dress it up as something else. People see right through that.

I find it quite offensive that you seem to think I just search a few mins online grab any old shit then think I can make a few quid.... Far from the truth it's a passion of mine to create various things and to be able to maybe make some profit and sell these things I have made is an absolute bonus for me.

Not passionate enough to make your own artwork - why bother though when you can steal someone else's designs eh?

Wow

With the collars no designing as such but I don't just do collars I do other pet stuff like blankets, bed ect that I do "design" myself using different threads/wools mixing fabrics using patchwork ect. The collars are an add on to sell along side these things.

I'm talking about the artwork on the collars, the Gruffalo etc. The fact that you seem to think it's ok to get hold of a picture of the Gruffalo, which someone else has spent hours and hours on, and stick it on a piece of cheap tat to make money. Anyone buying that collar would be buying it for Axel Scheffler's work, not yours. It's stealing. You are ripping off someone else's creative talent and hard work to make a few quid. Ugh.

Tbf, copyright issues aside (as in using material presumably made under licence already), the OP isn’t copying a design by someone else.

using material presumably made under licence already

I doubt that very much - licensing and merchandising for the Gruffalo family stuff is very tightly controlled. And I doubt very much whether Disney have granted a licence for their artwork to appear on cheap webbing which could end up on any kind of product.

But it isn’t OP who is doing that, so……..

I really like these kind of collars for my Golden Retriever. The fastening doesn't worry me as I use a harness so it's just decorative and to hold her ID tag. We love a cute design here.

So far my girl has flamingos and flowers on her collar. Would love a cat one (she loves cats) or ducks (loves them too!). It's easy enough for you to avoid anything with a copyright on it so that's a non-issue now that you know. I've also got a light up collar that I add on in the dark, early mornings. It can be really easily done so maybe another thing to consider.

Those are lovely products you're making and will suit lots of people. It's not ever going to be 100% as people have different things that drive them - metal fasteners can be dangerous in different ways.

Are you selling online at all? I'd love to be a customer!

I am not selling online yet but more than happy for you to purchase any if you've seen one you like

I've already sent one out to another mumsnetter

I'm a dog groomer and the vast majority of the dogs I see have collars with those fastenings on, a few have harnesses and at this time of year a lot wear coats.

They look like lovely collars but the only downside is how many you can sell, a big percentage of my customers dogs wear the same collar for years, often with one half of the plastic clip missing, there are a few who buy a new one for Christmas but on the whole it's not something they think to buy unless it's a new dog or a worn out old collar.

My own dogs currently wear hand me downs from previous dogs as they are still in good condition and wash well.

@Saucery

But it isn’t OP who is doing that, so……..

But if it's not licensed, she is liable for secondary infringement.