SOCK COMPANY START UP

[Joseph Terry]

Good Morning all!

I am in the middle of potentially starting up a new venture. I have the new business ready to go but due to not being able to come to a deal with the manufacture in regards to the pricing and MOQ, it has left me and my new venture in a pit.

If anyone knows of any good Sock/Clothing manufactures with low MOQ’s then please feel free to be in touch. A couple of manufacturers we have dealt with already have made it more than impossible to start this venture due to high pricing and high MOQ’s.

Due to it being a new company and not knowing how well it will take off. I can’t find sense to spend over 6K on socks with over 500 pairs of 5 different designs. On top of this we would have to charge around £18/20 per pair to even make a little profit back. I know myself I would never pay this for socks.

Thank you for reading this and I am looking forward to hopefully connecting with a lot of you guys!!

 

[WaveJumper]

Think I have already replied to this somewhere. My son used the below who supplied them printed and labeled up to his own brand name
H J Sock Group Ltd

 

[Paul Norman]

I agree with your assumption that the pricing is too steep.

However, having been in retail, I would not be surprised at those MOQ.

To make a business of this you would presumably be wanting to sell a lot more than 6k worth of socks.

However, I am sure there will be options to buy smaller quantities.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

I'd have thought this must have been one of the first things investigated and sorted before getting to the point of nearly launching...but anyway - I'm afraid you're probably looking for something that doesn't exist. There's a reason that short production runs are more expensive - all of the cost involved is in the set up, not the actual manufacture itself. It costs the same in machine switchover times, labour, first off sample checks etc to make one pair of socks as it costs to make 10 million pairs.

Can you consider workarounds? Pre-orders until you reach a certain quantity (crowdfunding style). Testing the water breaking even or at a small loss until you know there is certain regular demand? Less styles to begin with? How about packaging in bundles no less than say 5, or 7 (seems a logical number for socks, a pair a day!). That way you need less individual customers to get the volume sales up rather than allowing them to buy single pairs or a couple of pairs at a time.

Alternatively, what's so special about the socks? Do you actually have to have them manufactured....or can you buy existing product and personalise with whatever you're planning to put on them?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Is there anyway you could significantly reduce your overheads ?

 

[Financial-Modeller]

...I can’t find sense to spend over 6K on socks with over 500 pairs of 5 different designs. On top of this we would have to charge around £18/20 per pair to even make a little profit back. I know myself I would never pay this for socks...

It doesn't matter what you would pay for socks - what matters is what your customers would pay!

Plenty of companies have been successfully selling in this price range for decades. The critical question for your potential business is would someone buy your socks instead of a pair from Hackett?

A minor point perhaps, but 500 pairs of each of 5 designs is 2500 pairs, so cost price of £2.40 per pair. That's quite a mark-up to arrive at £18-20 selling price.

 

[MBE2017]

Only five designs, when other well established companies are offering possibly hundreds. Struggling to buy and sell competitively, and you still have to get your product known.

Financial Modeller makes some brutal but totally un ingnorable points above,maybe it’s time to put a sock in the idea before you waste anymore time and money.

 

[MarkOnline]

It doesn't matter what you would pay for socks - what matters is what your customers would pay!

Plenty of companies have been successfully selling in this price range for decades. The critical question for your potential business is would someone buy your socks instead of a pair from Hackett?

A minor point perhaps, but 500 pairs of each of 5 designs is 2500 pairs, so cost price of £2.40 per pair. That's quite a mark-up to arrive at £18-20 selling price.

This ^^^^. If you cant make it pay with the manufactured price against retail price your model is wrong or your percentages are totally off. You may be adding in too much cost.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

It looks like the business planning is out somewhere.

Also, if you are not prepared to invest £6k in stock for your business, you either are not truly convinced it will work or not that committed.

BTW, how much have you budgeted for marketing?

 

[luisa_ana1987@]

is your business sockgeeks.co.uk ?