Tailoring proposition - A
https://civilsocialmedia.com/valet
Listen to the audio of this proposal
I would like to present to you a business concept for your investment consideration.
The proposal will describe a tech startup that could be as significant as Google, which will start off as a tailor shop.
First please let me tell you about myself.
I have a tailor shop in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, and although I have been a tailor all my life, I have always been interested in technology.
In 1968, my father and I opened a tailor shop in Atlanta where we made hand tailored clothing for both men and women. In my 50's I built a workshop in Chile, with a retail outlet in Atlanta, to provide custom tailored clothing for a U.S. client base. After about ten years, this project failed due to the 2009 recession, but an even better concept can be built from those lessons.
I began my trade, in Atlanta when I was 13 years old, and knew that traditional tailoring, as a trade, was in the process of being replaced by mass production and offshore manufacturing. I began early on with a long term plan to produce a custom garment that would be well priced and of the highest quality.
At the time my eldest son was going to the Wharton Business School. He submitted a proposal, based on my business of making hand made men's suits in Chile, and won the entrepreneur prize that year. The school provided resources for him to start up his business in Philadelphia, to exclusively sell the product we made in Chile.
Since about 2001 I had been incorporating database technology into the custom process, as there are a lot of variables (data) to consider when making a custom garment. I was working on a method to take measurements and specifications in the United States, and then have these appear as an order in Chile. This is easy today, but I started this before the internet had come to Chile. The hope was to have a plotter plot a specific pattern for each client, then track the sewing work, inventory, and the final delivery of the garment, on one single online platform.
The technology used to build the database for the tailoring business in Chile was open source. I noticed that there were characteristics of the open source method that could be applied to management, and the investors relationship to investment capital. Social media technology permits the design of an open and transparent management/accounting platform. These characteristics could be applied to almost any business model, and if one were to extend this as the general administration to the use of the internet, we would have a user operated commercial social media platform. If open to all, this would provide anyone with true control of their data, as well as all the commercial activity they interact with.
In theory all economics comes from consumer demand. If a consumer is offered products at market price, in a such a way as to permit them to assure quality and verify consistency, all while preventing corruption and abuse, the consumer would in fact be investing in his own company each time he made a purchase. The web platform we envision would replace the current way we do business. It would fundamentally change the way we produce and deliver the products and services we consume.
Data is the new oil, collaboration is how to use it and provide the greatest value.
In 1776 Adam Smith, wrote "The Wealth of Nations," where he proposed that our economy was a function of supply, and demand, driven by our desire for goods and services, moderated by self interest.
Technology has made it possible to change the moderating mechanism of economics from self interest, to common interest. In particular to provide the consumer greater involvement in the products they purchase, and give investors direct control of the company they own. This is the essence of the tech startup aspect of this proposal, a new form of corporate governance, which is open and direct, an online platform from where a business is administered by its investors, directly.
If a business is administered by investors, on a transparent online platform, then although self interest is the motive force at play, the outcome would be the common good of all investors. In addition the capital needed for the startup would not be an investment, but a purchase that is governed by a sales agreement that gives the purchaser the right to govern the business which provides his product.
The making of fine men's clothing is simply because I am a Tailor, and we need a business investment model to experiment with.
Details of the proposed tailoring business.
Tailoring is a specialized, and complicated trade, today, there are almost no tailor shops that can make you a suit.
Local tailors lost their client base because they did not adapt production methods in order to compete with low cost offshore mass production.
Because quality custom clothing requires a great deal of hand work, it is less affected by offshore mass production technology. In addition custom clothing, is by definition not mass produced. I have found that in the hand made clothing business, a shop of five specialized craftsmen can compete against a large factory. This is the reason that Seville Row still has many shops making fine clothing. A small local shop can be more cost effective, because it can sell directly to the client, and can avoid much of the overhead of retail ready to wear. These small shops could double as a retail outlet for other lower priced clothing manufactured offshore.
These are the advantages of this proposed business over current retail.
1. Shopping convenience for the client, as the tailor can come to the client.
2. A larger selection of styles, and fabric choices.
3. The client is fitted directly by the tailor that will cut the cloth, creating a custom paper pattern.
3. A proper and consistent garment that always fits properly and with less alterations.
5. No high cost inventory of ready to wear to finance.
6. A direct sale, with less shipping, and retail cost.
7. The value and quality of the garment is assured by the client/administrator. Eliminating the "Emperors New Clothes" situations which are so prevalent in the high end clothing business.
These are the aspects of this concept I am presenting
1. The micro-manufacture of custom men's coats and trousers
2. Direct collaborative business administration
3. Tandem offshore production, vertical integration from manufacture to retail.
The micro-manufacture of custom men's coats and trousers, would produce the finest custom "bench made" coat and trouser, with a custom paper pattern made and kept on file for our clients.
Many times, sales people will love clothing, but will have little understanding of tailoring. Knowing how a garment is made, and specifically how a pattern is designed, is vital for a proper fitting garment. This particular aspect of the process is best attended to by the tailor that will design the pattern, and cut the cloth. Once the pattern is made, this specialized step is no longer required, lapels can change, trouser shape can change, style can come and go, customer can loose or gain weight, adjustments are made and the pattern always remains ready for the client.
With five specialized crafts persons we can take the first step in subdividing skills into specialized work to speed production, and piece rate the payment of labor, instead of hourly.
The pattern maker is the first specialization of the five person team that will compose our shop. The others are.
2.. Coat pockets and fronts
3. Coat sleeves and collar
4. Trouser
5. Hand sewing, buttons and buttonholes.
A hand made suit or coat and pant takes 60 hours to make, a shop of five operators can produce between 3 and 4 suits per week
For a total of 200 hours per work week, paid at an average of $20 per hour, the labor cost of a suit comes to between $1300.00 and $1000.00.
If we add $500 for the cost of cloth, linings and trimming, plus 15% for real estate and utilities we end up with between $2000.00 and $1800.00 as the cost of a bench made suit. Add to this a 15% sales commission for the salesman that attends the customer and we would have a $2,300.00 suit that would stand above Brionni, Kiton or Oxxford which have a comparable price of over $6,000.00.
The vision for this enterprise is as small cookie cutter shops, each providing clothing for a major city, or geographic area. I am in Strasburg and can attend the local area of, Lancaster, Harrisburg and York, but can also provide service to Washington D.C, Philadelphia, New York and Atlanta.
I think the area around Strasburg, with its Dutch German Amish population would provide a skilled and talented labor pool, but, we could locate the shop anywhere our client-administrators choose.
Direct collaborative business administration
Clothing is mostly a collaborative activity as style choices are directly influenced by the community we live within. Therefore, a collaborative approach to design would produce the most preferred product.
Technology has advanced greatly since 2009, plotters can now laser cut the cloth, and open source software is available to design patterns. But, the most significant characteristic of the technology, is an aspect that has gone un-noticed. If a business platform is online, then investors can see, and act directly to manage an enterprise, all from any device connected to the internet.
This was my goal with our shop in Chile, to be able to manage an offshore operation from any location in the world. Data in real time could tell me what was sold, how much cloth was cut and who sewed what button on which garment. By piece rating production, the tailors would be paid according to what they did each day, and I could see online what was done each day.
If the client has the ability to administer the business, then in effect the client will purchase product at cost. They would be able to verify quality, and choose the sales price. We could call this a client/admin relationship which is created through a sales agreement. Since I am offering this to retailers, and attorneys, the retailers would assure style and quality, and the attorneys would assure a sound agreement,and we would all assure sound management.
A five person team can make in a 48 week year, between 144 to 192 suits, or two suits for about 80 client's per year. In other words with the commitment of 80 clients to purchase 2 suits per year we would have a unique business model, up and running. We would be able to make and deliver fine suits at cost, and we would have the required funds to keep the shop in steady operation all year.
In Chile I discovered that, as long as you have the right tailor in charge, it is best to hire apprentices rather than experienced tailors. Experienced tailors, are prima donas that come with bad habits, and can corrupt a shop, whereas, a talented apprentice will learn quickly, and only the particular methods of the shop.
We could start with one tailor and an apprentice, then add and train as needed. There is a test, some people have a natural ability with their hands. Apprenticing begins with simple tasks, building interlinings, sewing seams and hand finishing. Training to be able to master one of the five work positions can be done within a year. The cutter - fitter position can be taught, to a knowledgeable clothier in a matter of months.
Once a shop is established it could self replicate in a new area. Since the knowledge base, of how to run the shop, is distributed among the relationships of the client/admin's and employees, there is less reliance on a key individual vital for operation of a single shop.
Investor/clients would be required to make a purchase of either, two bench made, or custom made suits. The distinction between these two products is that bench made is what we make in house, and custom is what is offered by most custom tailors and manufactured offshore. Details of this offer are to be ironed out between the original investor/clients
Bench Made ------- $4,600.00 for 2 Suits -
Custom Made to Measure------ $2,000.00 for 2 Suits -
As a customer, consider the value of being part of this unique project. You are that person that must wear good clothing, therefore you are business, political, and capital savvy, you would know how to make this enterprise succeed, in addition you would be a benefactor to the arts as you help revitalize the craft of tailoring. You would also have a opportunity to purchase clothing at cost, and to offer this service to the partners of your firm, or to your family.
If you are a retailer you would have the unique ability to offer a bench made suit. You would pay a true cost, from a production you can verify, and help administer.
I hope you will come on board with our unique project.
Thank you,
Sincerely,
Appointment only - 8 West Main Street, Strasburg, Pennsylvania 17579
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