A marketing conundrum for a newbie...

[Former_Member]

In my shop I sell hand knotted cotton thread rings and as far as I can tell from my searching I'm the only one who makes them. I'm wondering how I should go about marketing these when the majority of rings are metal and these are pretty unique. I'm currently looking into making them out of different and higher quality materials to add some variety in prices and quality. So far all of my sales have been to men including a custom order for a wedding ring that involved semi-precious stones.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm not even sure what to call them besides hand knotted cotton rings. Fiber art handcrafted rings sounds a bit goofy to me.

[Former_Member]

They're really cute, they remind me of friendship the bracelets that used to be widely popular, maybe including "friendship" in the tag, or using that angle might be helpful.

[LittleBeanPrints]

Hmm... they are very nice!
Perhaps try and think about who you customer is, and what kinds of words they would use to search for a ring like that?

I could totally see them as an updated version of the friendship bracelets that my friends and I all used to spend our summers making circa 1994, and I would totally get one for one of those friends.

They are also a bit hippie...

And can be really unique and elegant. The two color one (white and ivory) one in particular.

Dont know if this helps at all ;)

good luck!

[LittleBeanPrints]

heheh great minds, cloaksanddaggers....

[Former_Member]

Thanks! Friendship bracelets are kind of where I got the idea to make them since I would make those and wish I could have a ring too. I kind of have to laugh about you saying they look slightly hippie -my brother was making fun of them because of it. This is giving me more ideas than I started with, always a good thing.

[Former_Member]

I really like the "Friendship" ring angle. I work at Urban Outfitters and friendship bracelets came back last season and sold really well for us. There is a marketing niche out there for them. Most of our shoppers of those bracelets were young teenage girls and younger 20 -somethings who remembered them from their youth :)

[Former_Member]

Cool, I didn't know that friendship bracelets had a mini-resurgence. As much as I like Urban Outfitters I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores so I missed that.

[Former_Member]

I shop thrift too! OBSESSED! I only work there for the paycheck! Its a really great way to stay in the loop fashion wise without reading a ton of magazines.

I got into thrift because I saw the markup of their vintage finds. Found one of their Rag Warehouses they had an account with and got all of their "Urban Renewal" Items from. Started purchases straight from the source! Now I sell vintage at a MUCH lesser markup then they do! I'm not corporate!

[Former_Member]

Haha, I've never actually bought anything from them (actually, not true, I think I bought some purple and white mascara that's basically useless) but I do like to window shop there. And yay for not being corporate!

[Former_Member]

I feel that if you make them out of higher quality materials and maybe try and market them as "friendship" gifts for grown ups, you may have discovered a unique niche. Perhaps more mature color palettes, showing the models wearing them (adult faces), putting them in gift boxes. The friendship bracelet for grown ups!

[Former_Member]

Thanks, those are great ideas! I got a similar suggestion from the guy who had me make a custom order for him.

[Former_Member]

For design ideas . . . Embellishments and beading : think dangly things.

OOOh knuckle rings and double rings are very big nowadays!

http://bit.ly/hkNhsd
http://bit.ly/hIwHyl

And for marketing conumdrums, I am currently going through one. I am trying to read and follow bloggers who are fashion forward and trendy. Perhaps you should find your target shopper. Who would you like to see buying your items? Once you decide how you want to upgrade your items, take some different pictures to show how special these are from your different design, and decide who you want to go after.

All advice from someone who is knocking herself over her head trying to do the same thing!

[Former_Member]

GOOD LUCK!

[Former_Member]

Thank you for all the great ideas!

[justweddingbouquets]

I think you should try to market to men. They look like something men could really wear they would be comfortable and I think guys would really like them. Maybe even try sets. One for the guy and one for the gal kind of thing. When I looked at your tags they all said women and none said men. Also I wouldn't put a lot of dangle things( this isn't really that customer) but you might try 1 large focal bead in the center. Maybe made of bone or something earthy. ( I see you are from Oregon in Portland there is Saturday market). I think you should keep worknig on ideas even charge $10.00 to $12.00. But I really think you have a hit.

[Former_Member]

I know I've marked a few for men, mostly the earthy colored ones, I'll go back and check my tags. I'm going to stick with the lower price until things get rolling (if they do) but thank you for confidence boost, it's much appreciated! I've seriously thought about applying to sell at Saturday's Market but haven't quite gotten there yet.

[justweddingbouquets]

I also noticed you closed with a metal fitting. You might try to end them with the thread some how for people that might be sensitive to metals. I live in New York now but I lived in both Eugene, Portland and grew up in Seattle and sold my jewelry at Nordstroms for 5 years. If you need any help you can convo me. I have a couple ideas for a target market for you.

[Former_Member]

I like the idea of putting them in little gift boxes. Those rings are too cute! Definitely remind me of summer camp, but better :) Good luck with your shop!