Curtain making business

[hazelemily]

Hi everyone, I was thinking of setting up a soft furnishings business. Offering bespoke curtains / blinds - I was just wondering if anyone knew what a yearly salary would likely to be? How much is the going rate for curtains? Thank you.

Do you actually have any experience with curtain and blind making?
You'd need a huge workroom/cutting table to start with, it's certainly not something you could do from a dining table.

Yes I’m a qualified in making various soft furnishings and have the space to do so. I went down another career route but I am now planning to return to soft furnishings.

Yes I’m a qualified in making various soft furnishings and have the space to do so. I went down another career route but I am now planning to return to soft furnishings.

i guess it would depend on where you live (population base), the local economy (cost of living) and demographic of the people nearby (retirees may not be in need).
what will be your price point?
i'm not in the uk, but have a small business (or should say dh) we market online on fb 3=4 times a year till our product runs out. we will in an expensive part of town with more potential disposable income. our price point is similar to others who offer the same.

we get lots of return customers.
but it's not something i can get off amazon, lots here have those zebra blinds.

Sorry no idea but if you have the skills, it sounds like a great plan. Curtains are £££££

No one can answer those questions as it depends on so many variables. Are you going to buy in the fabric stock or just order in as you need it? Where are you based? Are you working from home or a shop? What is the competition like locally if you are just going to be a local seller? How will you advertise?
To begin with you're not going to make a lot of money at all. You'll need to buy in pattern books from fabric suppliers, it will be hard to sell products without making them and photographing them so you will have the outlay for that.
Then there's the legalities if you are working from home. Can you run a business from home as far as your insurance provider and mortgage company or landlord are concerned? Are you going to go out and measure for customers or take the risk of their own measurements? Are you going to deliver? The two latter, you'll need a car with business insurance.
Being able to make a product is very different to running a business doing it. Plus in 19 months you'll need to be up and running with Making Tax Digital so you'll have software to learn or paying an accountant.

fabric costs are so high as a regular sewer I actually bought pre-made curtains just so I could then re-use the fabric because it was cheaper than buying the fabric at retail. So finding your suppliers, pricing up per hour your time, electricity, are you offering in home measuring that costs fuel to travel & another hour there of your time measuring. Insurance. Price it all up and add % to cover unknowns I expect margins would be tight. So you’d need to rager high end luxury to make decent money. Good luck though we need to keep creatives going.

I run a soft furnishing business, have done for over 10 years. My work is high end but it's very tough out there right now.
You'll need some good accounts with fabric, hardware suppliers. You'll struggle to get the really good ones i.e. Colefax & Fowler initially. It took me years to secure all the suppliers I needed to operate at the high end of the market.
When business is good, I earn a lot of money, but running a business is very hard, particularly at the moment.
You'll need a website and social media platforms to survive and thrive. Don't skimp on good insurance either, you'll need insurance if you're working in other peoples houses and if you want clients to visit your workroom, you'll need cover for that too.