From Farm to your Doorstep
Have you ever thought "how much does something really cost to make?" Yes, us to, we know that somethings are just a higher price partly due to the brand, in our world a Mulberry, Louis Vitton and Chanel bags to name a few, will be a far higher price that the actual cost of the production chain purely because they are disireable and fashionable to be seen with, it is a status symbol.
But what about the others, the non stratuspherically priced bags? How do you know if you are being over or undercharged, yes, undercharged, we will come to that later.
So who is involved in the chain to you getting your Italian leather bag?
1- The farmer
2- Abbatoir
3- Hide Collectors & Traders
4- Tannery
5- Factory
6- Retailer
7- You
Just looking at this do you start thinking differently about your new bag and its price tag? If so, lets break it down a bit further.
The Farmer-
As we know here in the UK, farmers are heros, it is a classic case of a way of life not any where near a job. No holidays, crazy hours 7-day weeks and mostly their reward for all this is at best to just get by.
They have to pay for animal feed and water, vet bills which as any pet owner knows are never cheap. Staff if they can afford them, this is most businesses biggest cost, the all the farm bills gas, electric and water, replacement of animals that inevitably die or have to be put down before their time, accountants to do their tax returns, auction fees, insurances for the farm, farm maintenance, transport costs for the animals. Hopefully at the end of all this there is something left for the farmer to live off, all the expenses that we have in our lives once the tax man has taken their chunk.
The Abbatoir-
They have the unenviable task of slaughtering the animals and removing the raw hide.
Their costs will include buying the cattle, transportation of the cattle, premises, utility bills, insurances, staff, waste disposal, appropriate licences and their profit.
Hide Collectors & Traders-
These are the middle people in supplying the hides to the tanneries.
They have to buy the hides and preserve them until they are sold, they also have similar costs of utilities, staff, transport costs, insurances and their profit.
Tannery-
This is where the raw hide is changed to a product that can be used to make goods and is very labour intensive, including removing all the hair and moving the hides around. They they have to cut the hides to get the required type of cut needed by the factory. For information on these cuts and the types of tanning see HERE.
Their costs include buying the raw hides, liquids, staff, transport costs, utility costs, premises, staff, insurance and their profit.
Factory-
This one we all know, where the bags are designed and made,
They buy the tanned hides, need skilled staff to design and manufacture the bags, trainning staff, travel costs of hides from tannery, cost of zips etc and transport of these, premises costs, utility bills, insurance, advertising and their profit.
The Retailer-
We all know what they do 😁.
They buy the bags, cost of import and transport, staff, utility bills, rent, advertising post and packing, returns, their profit.
We hope that this gives you an idea of what goes into your bag, of course there are economies of scale, but not to the scale that the huge set ups in China have. There are a lot of people and costs associated with every Italian leather bag. This is why you may need to think twice when you see an Italian leather bag being sold for as little as £20.
See our range here
