Hacker News Reader

Comment by anoncoward111 | Hacker News Reader

Nice, thanks for the numbers! At a certain point you start competing with Home Depot, Michaels, Walmart, Amazon, whoever. You are in the product retail business, rather than the manufacturing or services business.

I think if you get really good at streamlining your marketing (Instagram photos and landing pages) as well as your pick/pack/ship operations (i.e running a warehouse), then you can expand into multiple niches. Fabrics, clothes, prints, whatever is super niche and high margin and can't be found on the shelves of a big box store.

View on HN

You're welcome. Ya you can't be scared off by the big guys like Michaels, Walmart, Amazon. The fabric I sell isn't really mainstream and it's more boutique quality designer prints. My market isn't really people who would shop at the big box stores anyway. I tap into the niche markets, etsy shop owners, small biz crafters. There is a real community and it's one that likes to shop local and Canadian.

Thank goodness there are people like you that aren't scared off by the big box stores. I am not in the market for fabrics right now, but I am looking for various supplies for a home remodel. I frequently find that while the big box store might have multiple options in any given product category, they are all garbage and I have to look at specialty stores to find anything worth spending money on.

How do you source your fabrics? Do designers or agents approach you with existing inventory? Or do you seek new art online or at trade shows? My wife worked in fabric design and it's hard for new designers to break into the industry.

I work with a few manufacturers and meet with their sales reps on a quarterly basis.

What’s the URL? I’m in the market for specialty fabrics

www.fridaysoff.ca

You can also move up the supply chain into the wholesale or even raw materials business (but you need more capital here) or down into actually manufacturing bespoke/custom items (but that's hard to scale).

Ultimately I think you need to actually be passionate about the product you're selling and embrace the community around it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com