local boutique:knit purses for $200

20 years ago

I walked by a boutique in the neighborhood shopping center today. They had cute little knitted purses. The shoulder strap was a string of beads, not unlike a necklace. The clasp was just a big button. They were cute, but get this. The top 1/3 to 1/2 of the little shoulder purse was knit of ribbon type yarn with a flap that folded over and buttoned closed. The bottom was a combination of a silky or special yarn and eyelash--usually 2 colors, and the top ribbon yarn was another. They were lined nicely inside with a silky but sturdy fabric. I love to knit, and could make one of these in an afternoon. I hate to sew and would not want to mess with lining them, but it would be a necessity. The cost was in the nice crystals in the beaded shoulder strap. But the mark up is ridiculous---$160-$200++!!!!!!!!!! And the all black one was really cute! Very simple--black ribbon knitted on top, black ribbon or yarn knitted with black eyelash on the bottom. No pattern to the stitches; all just plain knit!!!!!

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Comments (4)

ell_in_or
20 years ago
Ah, well - it's only ridiculous because you can make it yourself - possibly even out of the stash you have at home. If the shop is selling them for $160-$200, let's work out where the $$ are going...

Usual markup for retail is 2.5 times, so the store bought it from the knitter for around $64-$80.

Artists' rule of thumb is to mark up materials by 3, so materials could have cost around $21-27. If the ribbon was actual silk, and the beads swarovski, then that could be about right. Depends on whether they got wholesale or not. Or used Michael's coupons or whatever. Plus you'd want to count something for shopping time. And either gas or shipping to get materials.

That leaves $43-$53 for the actual labor. If it takes an afternoon to do one, say 4 hours, then the artist gets $10.75 - $13.25 per hour for their work. (And delivery to the shop is free, with no allowance to pay for parking, gas or time required to get there.) Of course, that $10.75 - $13.25 per hour is gross, so take out 25% for taxes and the artist's take home is $8.06-$9.94 per hour.

Where I live that ain't raising-a-family-with-a-mortgage money. As consumers, we just get used to seeing Asian labor prices on everything. Unique handmade designs are expensive. We knitters are lucky that we can DIY.
glassquilt
20 years ago
ell - you said a mouthful. So many crafters/hobbyist don't value their own work. Customer says "I can get the same thing cheaper at BigBox Store. Why should I pay you such a high price." You don't want that person as a customer - tell them tell, politely, to go & buy it elsewhere.

raising-a-family-with-a-mortgage money GREAT phrase
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sheilajoyce_gw
Original Author
20 years ago
I agree, handmade things are expensive in the labor department. You could never get back a decent hourly wage for homemade things. It was silk ribbon, so the yarns and beads were not cheapos. They were cute.
ell_in_or
20 years ago
I thought of this thread when I got my Chico's catalog today. There were some cute beaded purses in there for $48. Fringed and with "necklace" shoulder straps like you described, SheilaJoyce. Just for fun I applied my 'formula' and got total cost of labor as $6.40. Even though the bags aren't very big, the beading is heavy and complicated looking with some patterns and lots of seed beads - not sure how many hours, but for me probably around 8 maybe. So 80 cents an hour. I think that's raising-a-family-with-a-mortgage money ... in Thailand.