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

What will you do next month when it’s spring and people won’t be buying hats? If you have a sewing machine could you try making memory blankets or somethings similar? They always seem to sell really well.

Also, hats off to you (no pun intended) for making these with 4 and 21 months old kiddos!

Could you do baby blankets? I paid quite a bit for a close knitted pure merino baby blanket for my dc who wouldn’t sleep in sleeping bags. Loads of crochet type jobs where fingers etc could get caught, or wool blends (I guess a bit like alpaca merino) that were too fluffy. By the time you’re talking about babies there’s a market from people who will want natural fibres for dc. Also merino wool has marketable properties particularly suited to small babies, anti-itch, anti static, draws moisture away from skin, good for summer/risk of overheating etc.

Ooohhhh! Newborn blankets! That's a wonderful idea!

You either need a more upmarket product, e.g. using organic yarn or cashmere or whatever, and then knitted and finished very professionally. I think you could do a better job of blocking and also photographing your work.

Or you need to be sourcing cheaper materials. You should be able to knit a hat in less than £5 worth of (nice) acrylic yarn. Check out Stylecraft Special or Scheepjes Colour Crafter.

But honestly, if you really want to make money from, you need to be at the super-high end of the market.

I had a look at JojoMamanBebe. Theirs are £14, but they are more stylish and fleece lined. I don’t think the price is crazy OP, but you need to look at how you attract customers who would pay that price. It won’t be people who would normally shop at Primark.

Can you package them in a way that makes them into a special gift, for example?

I'd switch to baby blankets in the softest merino as people love buying something special for a newborn. Add a little embroidered flourish somewhere to highlight that they are handmade. A little logo .

Have a look at this listing: www.notonthehighstreet.com/toffeemoon/product/new-baby-bobble-hat-and-mittens-set

You need to be more careful with quality control - in some images the yarn looks stretched, esp the hat to the right of each picture where - samples that have been photographed should all look neat and consistent, these should be your best work.

In the image with the solid colour hats, the rolled over edges don’t look tidy and consistent- the blue hat isn’t too bad but the rolled edges of the others are bending outwards. You might be able to fix this by pinning the hem in place and lightly steaming the hat with an iron.

The rolled over edges will be using a lot of yarn - you might be able to improve margins by having a different edge or trim that uses less yarn.

it’s not clear who your target market is - who do you think will want to buy the hats and are they buying for themselves, or as gifts, or for children? Where do they shop, how will you reach them?

How did you research colour and styles and how do these relate to your target market. How do you test designs on your target market?

As others have said - an alpaca wool blend is a lovely yarn type but with many people sensitive to either alpaca or wool it might be prudent to offer an option that’s less reactive as your are limiting what is already a small market.

Price seems low for an adult hand knit clothing item - might be fair for a baby’s hat. Establishing who your main competitors are and benchmarking against them would give you a good starting point about what’s achievable.

No I wouldn't pay that

I would t pay £15 for the hats. I make wee crochet dolls sell them for £5. My dolls should be about £10/12.

People won't pay for what you actually should get for them. I know I make a loss but I enjoy it. Am not it in for the money side. If people want a doll from me I am flattered and honoured that means more.

I would pay £15 for a hand made hat that I will keep for years. I hate this Primark cheap as chips throwaway culture.

I wouldn’t pay that much even though I can appreciate the time and skill involved.

I sell on Etsy. It’s such a crowded market place, with lots of tat and hobbyists who aren’t looking to make a profit, which makes it hard for those who are!

You need a usp.

Btw, there was another thread similar to this a few days. Also hats.

I also looked for hand made soft wool cardigans for babies on eBay and was disappointed by the horrible synthetics and colours!
I would definitely pay £15 for a well made alpaca merino hat.

They are lovely and I think a lot of people would pay £15 for a handmade hat, however If you struggle to sell at that price you could always buy cheaper yarn, good luck 🙂

Like most, I'm in the "Why would I pay £15 for a hat when I can get a perfectly functional and attractive hat for £6 anywhere?"

But with something as easy to knit as a hat, the issue is I know several people who knit, just because they enjoy knitting. They knit for something to do with their hands. All of those people are trying to offload what they knit, because they don't have enough family to use up everything they knit.
At several Christmas Fayres I went to in Nov and Dec, there were people with stalls selling off hats / baby cardigans etc for a couple of £. Beautifully knitted by people who clearly just like knitting and weren't factoring labour costs in.

Like others, I think you'd make much more from one shift in a bar or restaurant each weekend than you are likely to make from this - even before you factor in not many people will be buying knitted hats between March and September.

Plenty of remote admin assistant jobs online which will bring in more money. That's what I'd do, have a look at your local college for free courses and retrain. Selling Hats won't pay for the increased energy bills and current cost of living crisis atm.

They look lovely, especially the striped ones. The plain ones may struggle to catch someone's eye for £15 if you can't touch and feel it. The striped ones could work though.

Like others have said, try Etsy. There is definitely a market for it because although you can definitely get much cheaper from Primark, there are a growing number of people who no longer want to shop at stores like that anymore and would prefer to support small businesses who don't mass produce.

A lot of it is also down to marketing. If you have a strong social media following, that would really help.

For an adult hat, locally hand made in proper wool then I definitely would pay £15. I wouldn’t scour Etsy and the like, but if I saw these at a local craft fair etc then I’d probably buy. They’d have to be very well done, and Id buy only because I work outside - so not a typical market.

For a baby or toddler hat - no. They’re too plain and nothingy for the premium price tag, I knitted stuff myself for my DC (not as nice as yours I’m sure, but you know - fine. Wearable. And MOST IMPORTANTLY @made me feel good about knitting them clothes)

Sorry, OP, but I think you need to show real craftsmanship or artistry to make money from items like this. They have to be something that most people can’t do, and a lot of people can knit toddler hats.

When I was a lot more flush than I am now I happily paid £25 for a knitted beanie hat with no rim.

The difference between that hat (which I still love and wear years later!) and yours is that it was knitted on much bigger needles, used a rustic chunky sort of wool (it was wool although I've forgotten which sort), and had a couple of matching buttons as embelishments.

It also helped that it was sold at an RHS outlet at Harlow Carr near Harrogate, so plenty of the target market milling around there. One that's happy to pay top end prices for handmade goods. I think the hat I bought was a bit overpriced, but like I say, I was a lot flusher then so it didn't matter so much. I was happy to support a craftsperson producing a good product, and when you take into consideration that it would have taken a good couple of hours and more to make it, then that's £20 already.

Your hats don't look top end, they look like ordinary common or garden hats, so I might pay £5 for one, no matter the time spent. Two of the ones on the right look a bit strange becase the rims seem a lot bigger than the actual hat bit.

Your competition right now is mass-produced hats that look fairly similar. So I think your best bet is to look into higher end hat products (which don't cost that much more to make, they just look different).

I think there's a TV programme on at the moment that helps craftspeople to identify the higher end market and pitch to it, rather than trying to make money selling less expensive goods that have a lot more competition from standard retailers.

They are lovely but IMO the colours are a bit bland - blues, browns, creams...

What about vibrant colours like teal, emperor purple, ruby red or daffodil yellow?

You don't see many of those.

They're lovely OP but marketing well is key.
May be take photos of them on a mannequin head, have a bobble on top and make them have something different to all the others online.

It's a little thing but I don't like things for sale being put on the ground, grass, carpet etc unless oats furniture or such.
£15 seems a lot.
I recently bought one from Moda in Pelle for £13 in the January sales. It was double layered with a bobble and super soft.

Also, when I bought my hat, although the maker also had a few more hats on sale, there was only one of each colour and embellishment. So, even if they'd made more than one, the others weren't on display and it felt more special knowing it was pretty unique.

That TV programme is called Make It At Market, btw.

I would spend 15 pounds on a hand knitted hat. Particularly those with satin inside for DSs curly hair.

But I'm sorry I don't think they're that good, they look like something you'd get for a fiver from primark. You need to make them look special for people to want to spend more on them. And up the price then.

I think you haven't got your pricing right.

£15 is too much for the person who normally buys in primary and a little too cheap for someone looking for something high end.

You have to really market the alpaca-wool blend. Get some tags.
Get good photos.

I'm a knitter and a massive yarn snob. I've just knitted a similar hat as a gift in a hand dyed merino-cashmere blend. The materials alone cost about £25.

You need to allow yourself more than £3 per hour. Minimum wage is SO much more.

In general craft businesses are really difficult as you are up against enthusiastic amateurs who only really want to do it to help subsidise their materials.