Over the last five years I have been working with numerous small size leather goods brands. Some of them were started because of passion for working with leather while others were created just for financial reasons. One thing that has become clear to me is that those brands which are founded on passion alway perform better both growth wise and financially.

The basic reason I feel behind this observation is that, those who start small sized leather goods company out of their passion, look at the whole project with a long term mindset. They work on their products and develop genuine customers slowly. They enjoy the development journey of their products and their brands. On the other hand I have observed that those small leather companies which are just created as side businesses just to make some additional money do not survive more than two year if lucky. They either evolve into something else altogether or they initially make money but slowly become uncompetitive against those products or brands which are created on passion. 

Some of the reasons behind small leather brands or projects go out of business are failing to develop genuine customers, making and selling wrong products the wrong way, trying expand too quickly, failing to manage cost and rely too much on social media. When I say genuine customers I mean those customer who are not just buying products from behind a computer screen but are genuinely interested in your brand to an extent that they make efforts to come and see the product, how it is made and to some extent are involved with the people or company making them. Though sales through social media and online platforms are important but they never really connect sellers with the buyers, and that relationship is too casual and weak. It is for this reason when ever I see some one relying too much on social media platform to make a sale, I recommend them to call the client and more preferably have a meeting, take some extra steps and show the client that you are passionate about what you make and how you sell it. 

Ahmed Ilyas
Founder & Creative Director
Hammer & Smith | Design Studio