Is it too expensive?

[miniandmestudios]

Not sure if it is entirely the right thread but I’ve started making hats by hand to try make some money - I’m a stay at home mum of 2, can’t afford childcare to go to work but can’t afford to not work. So I’m a bit stuck (DP works) and there is no one else I have to watch the kids.

My friend told me she would never pay £15 for a hat but it costs me £5 in materials and 3 hours roughly to make so it’s £3.33 ish an hour. I really don’t want less than that as working for £2 an hour is stupidly low.

I’ve attatched images of the hats so if I could get everyone’s opinions I’ll lower the price or keep as they are!

YANBU - the prices are okay
YABU - the prices are too expensive

Post edited by MNHQ

If you're trying to actually make money and it isn't just a hobby, how many hats and at what cost to make/sell before you start to turn a real profit is what I'd be asking myself

3 hours per hat surely means that alongside everything else you do, you're not going to make that many a week. So realistically it may be more of a hobby than an income spinner.

My friend and neighbour has a business, she crochets teddies. They're cute but I wouldn't pay how much she charges. However, it does cost more to make and she needs to make money from the time it takes to make them. But as others have said, you can get cheaper in shops and with the cost of everything whilst I would love to support small businesses, I need to look after my money.

So many people are selling hats on Etsy for £3-£4 so I doubt you would get £15. There is a huge amount of competition. What yarn are you using? I buy acrylic DK that costs about £2 a ball and can make 5 crochet baby hats out of that. Each hat takes about an hour and I charge about £4 a hat. Unless you can go upmarket and sell elsewhere you probably won’t get £15

OP- I have been making and selling online for 7 years.
If you only take one piece of advice take this:
Never make sell something you can buy in tesco. You will never earn a profit.
You need to do more market research. Think why would someone choose you? What do you offer that cheap shops such as tesco and primark don’t?

Honestly no, they dont look hand knitted they look loom knitted (going by the double layer and gathered top, so no I wouldnt pay £15 for a loom knit

£15 is cheap for alpaca merino wool!

Id like a pom pom on top, and lots of different colours to choose from.

Wool irritates sensitive skin so no, I wouldn’t buy them.
If you added a real fur pompom as a pp suggested, I and many people would avoid like the plague.
I would prefer a cotton or cotton/acrylic yarn, which is also much cheaper and launders better.
Do look at Etsy as you’ll see what styles are popular and how much they sell for.

I've paid more than that for a pom pom hat. Not everyone compares prices to Primark and refuses to pay more than they sell them for. They would have to be made of lovely, soft yearn for me to buy though. Not itchy!

IMO, way too expensive.

But, If you have a market for them, charge what you like.

If you don't, it's irrelevant what you charge.

BTW, your DH is perfectly capable of working during the day and looking after the DC at night.

Ask any single parent, or couples where both parents work...

I think the hats are beautiful, I’d rather have a hand knitted hat. Good for you doing this, I hope you’re able to be compensated for time and materials.

You'll be competing with mass manufactured goods that will be marketed as hand made. Unless you know a niche place to sell these it's unlikely you'll get close to what they cost to make. Most people don't value the time or skill that it takes to make good by hand when they can get something similar online for far less.

I love hand knitted and hand crocheted things. I dont think £15 is too much at all

too expensive and nothing about them really stands out to justify the price to me to be honest.

Omg… thank you. Yes, I will be coming back to blame you when I’m skint 😅

That's good. I like these.

Are they baby size or adult size? I’d buy an adult size one for sure. For a lot more than £15 too.

Do you have an Etsy shop? How are you planning on selling them? The photographs are not showing them off that well - the second photo they do look stretched out. You should either put them on a person or a mannequin.
But you are underselling yourself. You should price items : cost plus hourly wage (and I wouldn't pay myself less than £10/hour) plus business expenses (say £2/item). These hats should take you an hour or so to make - if they take you three hours then that's £37 and they are not good enough to charge that.
If you can't sell an item at a reasonable price for the effort it takes to make them, then make something else.
And people who shop at Primark are not your target. You need to identify who your target customer is. For example 'sahm who appreciates handmade items, natural materials and enjoys buying for their children' (if these are kids item). Then you put words in that would attract that audience. #handmade #wool, #allnatural #childrenhats etc. And pay for advertising on Etsy.
If you do go down the craft market route, then choose a market that these customers would shop at. So not flea markets or primarily food markets for example, but a craft fair featuring handmade items.
There is a market for handmade items, but they need to be very well made. And Etsy doesn't work for you - you need to drive traffic to your shop through social media etc. you can't just open a shop and expect to sell - you need to treat this as a job if you are to make any real money doing it. That means investing time in setting up an instagram account, posting regularly and pushing potential customers to your shop.

I’m sorry but I wouldn’t pay more than a fiver for a basic beanie hat. I’m surprised they cost you so much to make!

I agree with this post. I would consider £15.00 an absolute bargain for a handmade alpaca wool hat. I think they are worth more. Also, someone mentioned adding a fur Pom Pom, I wouldn't use real fur for obvious reasons and cheap nylon fur does not belong on a premium alpaca wool hat. If you decide to add pom-poms make them from wool, either same colour or mixed colours. Good luck Op, the hats look beautiful.

I'd pay £15 for an alpaca/merino/cashmere hat like these. I just wouldn't buy these as the colours aren't my taste. The blue and brown doesn't go well together in my opinion. You could do with getting some better photography done to show off the hats better. They do look misshapen in the image of the 3 block coloured ones but that might be the way they are laying.

I make handmade jewellery myself so I really do appreciate the time/cost that goes into handmade items. I have first hand experience how others don't though and it can be disheartening.

yes I would pay £15. I know someone who makes adult size ones and sells for £45.
I think craft markets and the like would be a good place to sell them. Having said that you aren’t going to sell loads so you may need to look into an alternative source of income. Have you thought about giving knitting lessons?

I like your hats OP, especially the blue one and the blue and white one, and would definitely be prepared to pay £15.

I have a large head though and often have trouble finding hats big enough, so I wouldn't want to buy one without being able to try it on.

I'd definitely pay 15quid for 100% merino/alpaca hat if it was well made. In fact, I think it'd be quite a bargain for a quality made wool item.
I think you should be making scarfs to go with the hat too.
Where do you sell them?

Exactly this! Not everyone wants something from Primark. 🙄

I would pay £15 for a hat but I would want something a bit unusual. What are you knitting with - acrylic isn't going to get as premium a price as merino or alpaca, or even cotton. You could look at doing stripes or patterns or similar - or allowing people to commission you to make a particular colour combination. There is a market for good quality hand made but think about how to stand out from the competition.

the hats are stunning ... you are a queen