Your thoughts on a production holster

[JAD]

I will continue to buy your custom products in preference to anything off the shelf. If I need a holster right now there is usually something regrettable out there on the market, but I'd still replace it down the road even if it was a pretty good piece of vacuum formed leather.


So, having established that I'm not a potential customer for the line, I would ask you what my PLMs have always asked me when I wanted a new line: what void will it fill?

Current off the shelf leather holsters from Galco and DeSantis are crap and are usually blatant copies of talented workers' efforts. I am apparently the only person on earth who is bothered by that, so it's just a question of crappy.

I'm quite sure you would make a better holster than Galco. Who will perceive that?

You plan to capture, I think, demand that is currently coming to your attention through your site, that is escaping due to lead time. That makes sense to me. I am not sure how much of your core business you will cannibalize, but I hunch it's not a ton.

How many people are going to be like the poster above who says "I want it just like that but customized for my WML... wait, that's 16 weeks? Well, I'd prefer that it be horsehide rather than cowhide... wait, that's just the stuff that you already sell for slightly higher and a lot longer?"

I'm not trying to discourage you, but try to picture your potential customer and think about getting him all the way through the sales process.

As far as model / fit, I understand the guys who are saying Glock, and depending on your potential customer that might make sense. I would say there are a lot of 1911s in the world and not a lot of good off the shelf holsters, certainly fewer than Glock. More extremely, you could choose to be the only guy who has an off the shelf P320 holster; I honestly think that's going to be a very active market and you would have a chance to beat the rush a little. Just a weird thought. There are probably too many P320s in the world.

Rake would depend on gun. A big ass gun like the G17 or GM would be 20-25. Commander / G19 15, wee guns 10 or less.

[JustOneGun]

Some thoughts from a Glock/kydex guy. First I see some 1911 shooters just like some cowboy hats, there's custom made purty holsters and then there's around town holsters. I can see a small market of repeat customers buying a lower priced town holster for their town 1911. I also see a lot of revolver people using leather. So perhaps they might be in the same boat as the 1911 people.

As for a Glock person that just doesn't apply. If you have a purdy Glock, well that's just wrong.

As a Glock person I might be persuaded to get a work or around the house holster in leather. i.e. I normally wear kydex AIWB and will continue to do it but I would buy a lower priced leather holster for my hip when I am doing, X. Where X might be yardwork, driving distance or whatever a person's body type might not make wearing a certain holster comfortable. For me I would only be persuaded to buy an OWB holster because AIWB might be uncomfortable.

And I will end on a question: I've only used cheap leather holsters (Galco) about 20 years ago. I found them harder to draw consistently/not very forgiving on a draw that has a bit of twist to it. Is that true of a well made leather holster? I ask because if the normal plus for kydex isn't true for a well made holster then that might be a good marketing approach to get some of us kydexers to give leather another try?

[Duces Tecum]

I'm thinking something else, but I may be entirely wrong. You know where your delete key is.

The mass consumer market is where the low cost provider thrives. People make a living there, but it's a Darwinian environment where everybody is racing to the retail price bottom. Is that really where you want to be?

Perhaps the issue is not the breadth of your product line. Perhaps it's that a lot of the potential market simply hasn't heard of JRC. A couple of years ago someone wrote on PF a very complimentary post about JM Custom Kydex holsters. Subsequently, a few people bought and added their satisfaction to the original thread. Then it grew. JMCK has since expanded both his operations and his product line. People have said wonderful things about Keepers holsters, Dark Star, and others but that one ever-growing thread has helped JMCK to prosper. There's a point here, Jim. People have to know who you are and what you do.

It may be time to hire a publicist. Get your name out there. If you want to stay with holsters, arrange for people who already have a reputation in the tactical arena to endorse your products. You've heard of Kim Kardashian's arrangement with Dos Amigos tequila. Offer a complimentary holster / belt / mag carrier combo to the winner of major pistol competitions. Have a monthly "Leather" column (even if ghost written under your name) in an enthusiast magazine, perhaps an on-line edition of one of the NRA's publications. Maybe "Shooting Illustrated" is available on line. You must know that Bill Bagwell's columns in SOF magazine moved him from "Bill who?" to having a waiting list. He was astonished at the prices he could then charge. He once told me, "If people knew how little time it takes to make a knife, I don't know if they'd pay the same money". And what about family-owned Bree Handbags? They went from an undistinguished Canadian purse importer to a name brand with high-end stores scattered across the USA before imploding due to management differences.

Good publicists don't always come as cheaply as one would hope, but if it were me I would still insist on a person with documented success in marketing specialized products. It doesn't have to be leather, just something specialized.

Like advertising, half of everything a publicist does is ineffectual, but which half is unknown. So (if it were me) I would insist on publicist compensation being a small percentage of gross income as reported on my business tax return. Such-and-such percentage of the YTD change. In that way you would pay not by the hour, but by results. And you also don't pay this year for the gain in previous years.

You might consider splitting off (if you haven't already) your gentleman's accessories line and placing it with a second publicist, under a similar compensation schedule. In my mind this is where the money is. A lot more people carry luggage / purses / briefcases than holsters. There is also a difference in product pricing. The retail price for a Hermes Matt Crocodile Birkin bag is $120,000, when you can find them. One bag, Jim.

Now it's time to let the public know through third parties. Third party accolades always have more impact than "I'm great" tweets. Expand your vision. Get others to wing-man you. Keep the faith.

[JRCHolsters]

This is why I love the forum so much. Lot's of interesting viewpoints. Most of what has been said here has crossed my mind.... many times over.
A couple of thoughts to touch bases on a few things, as it would take forever to answer every one.

The 25 degree rake is based purely on orders. It seems steep, but is the most common rake picked by customers choosing this type of holster. I would be open to a lesser degree to satisfy those that may lean that way. Just have to start somewhere.

I really don't feel the need to go find customers and explain why mine is better than theirs(Galco, Desantis, etc). It's more of situation of providing to those that are already visiting my site and possibly sitting on the fence.

Any equipment I buy or build will of course help me in my regular custom work.

Not sure I want to expand my custom work to the point that the shop becomes a "Milt Sparks" type of set up. Though wouldn't rule it out.

Models of guns... Lots of good suggestions and gives me some thoughts into tapping a couple of markets.. including lefties.

Expensive leather goods like high end cases.. Already working on that and as a separate entity.

I appreciate all the thoughts and it gives me a lot to mill around in my nugget.

[TGS]

Ensure that your new G19/G17 holster is compatible with the new Glock M models, and mark it as such.

I don't think you're necessarily on the verge of perfecting mass-market Chocolate bars circa 1900, but I do have a feeling that there's quite a few cops over the next year who are about to get pissed off that their previous off-duty/plainclothes holsters will not fit their new service weapon. Depending on scale and where you are selling this may be a non-issue, but it's something I thought should be done regardless.

[GAP]

If it were me, I'd stock my 3-5 most popular products at the same price, with the same quality as your long lead time holsters.

There are many marketing strategies, but a fine leather maker (in my opinion) should choose what's called prestige pricing. The moment you introduce an "economy-line" your entire image suffers to those who are willing to pay top dollar for the best money can buy.

Mass production and distribution is an entirely different strategy, but I don't assume that's your goal.

Imagine if Louis Vuitton sold a line at Wal-Mart?