I would like to hear the feelings of you all about the importance and relevance of hand stitching to "the customer" at large. Do you feel people really care in general? If you could include where you are located that would be great because I'm curious to see if there are differences geographically in how people place importance on hand stitched leather goods. Cheers, David
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@ddunn68 Depends in how well your clients are educated on the matters of luxury goods.
If they are frequent buyers of the finer things in life, then they will warm towards anything with the word 'hand', be it hand stitched, hand carved, hand painted, hand finished etc.
I was in Bentley motors last week and the salesman (I was not buying a Bentley lol) kept going on about the leather, where it came from (alpine Swiss calf), how it is painstakingly selected by hand, how the steering wheel is hand stitched by one craftsman, the wood panelling finished by hand here in the UK etc. He didn't mention the horsepower, 0-60 times or the top speed (ample I might add), he also didn't know what I do for a living.
Had I been over at Ford, I imagine they would be having a different conversation about different subjects with me. Probably along the lines of value for money, safety and specs.
Hand stitching is a luxury process, so it's not something the masses will appreciate unless you educate them as to why it's a benefit.
This is what originally got me interested in the finer side of leathercraft. Creating products for people who can truly appreciate the craftsmanship.
How to sell hand stitching to the masses: Draw a picture showing the difference between a saddle stitch and a weaker machine lock stitch.
How to sell hand stitching to a luxury consumer: Tell them how long it took you to stitch it and how many years you trained to get there. They'll need that info to impress their friends later.
Romania here.
What I've noticed is that my customers do not even expect I hand stitch their leather goods. In the first instance they're always expecting to be machine sewn. They don't even know hand stitching leather is possible at all. But they're always impressed by the put in effort and accuracy after I tell them what and how I do.
Hand stitching leather in general is a thing only a craftsman would appreciate at its true value. For an outsider, leather stitching - be it hand or machine, it's just a thing of putting two pieces of leather together and that's all.