Making fursuits has become really expensive
Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:15 am
So in light of recent changes in the economy fur prices have sky rocketed and I'm afraid making a business out of fursuits in South Africa might become but only a dream. Fur by itself is already expensive in America this we know, let's take an average of $21 per yard.
The one of few places I can actually import from that would ship to South Africa charges $97 shipping(This goes up with quantity). The other place has no shipping charge but takes up to 3 months to deliver and is at the mercy of the post offices so for business purposes that is not an option also this is at $36 per meter*150
So lets take for example a simple pair of gloves, the fur needed is around 20-30cm BUT you can only import a yard or half a yard, making the fur without shipping on a pair of gloves $21 add shipping $97 and that equals $118 for business purposes we use an average exchange rate of R15 to the dollar to avoid loss. $118*R15=R1770 Just for the fur, excluding the consumables and my own mark up because I would be dumb not to put mark up as that is how a business works.
Consumables working out to R50, Labour R300(which is almost a loss) and fur being R1770. Which ends up making just a pair of simple monotone gloves R2120
I can't charge reasonable prices with the price of importation, it's become too expensive. However a Fullsuit will work out cheaper in the long run since it would be a once off import of fur but still this would be per color of fur. 10 Yards roughly works out to R5838 including shipping, one body takes around 3-4 meters and I can sell off the excess fur to cover the costs... It can be sold off if I were to import 10 yards at a time for R600 per meter then and then I neither incurred a loss nor a profit on the fur.
I need to contact the supplier then to find out the max amount of fur I can import
I'm going to do more research on sustainable and affordable suppliers but it really isn't looking good for the local fursuit market, it might reach international prices with me not making a satisfying mark up to keep going. If anyone knows of a sustainable supplier or a place where we can get fur from I would appreciate the help so much!
I really want to get the market for this going and start up a possible fur trading post of the sorts for us.
The one of few places I can actually import from that would ship to South Africa charges $97 shipping(This goes up with quantity). The other place has no shipping charge but takes up to 3 months to deliver and is at the mercy of the post offices so for business purposes that is not an option also this is at $36 per meter*150
So lets take for example a simple pair of gloves, the fur needed is around 20-30cm BUT you can only import a yard or half a yard, making the fur without shipping on a pair of gloves $21 add shipping $97 and that equals $118 for business purposes we use an average exchange rate of R15 to the dollar to avoid loss. $118*R15=R1770 Just for the fur, excluding the consumables and my own mark up because I would be dumb not to put mark up as that is how a business works.
Consumables working out to R50, Labour R300(which is almost a loss) and fur being R1770. Which ends up making just a pair of simple monotone gloves R2120
I can't charge reasonable prices with the price of importation, it's become too expensive. However a Fullsuit will work out cheaper in the long run since it would be a once off import of fur but still this would be per color of fur. 10 Yards roughly works out to R5838 including shipping, one body takes around 3-4 meters and I can sell off the excess fur to cover the costs... It can be sold off if I were to import 10 yards at a time for R600 per meter then and then I neither incurred a loss nor a profit on the fur.
I need to contact the supplier then to find out the max amount of fur I can import
I'm going to do more research on sustainable and affordable suppliers but it really isn't looking good for the local fursuit market, it might reach international prices with me not making a satisfying mark up to keep going. If anyone knows of a sustainable supplier or a place where we can get fur from I would appreciate the help so much!
I really want to get the market for this going and start up a possible fur trading post of the sorts for us.
You're very welcome. ^^
Fur is impractical in our climate. Why not use textured foam, papier mache, painted resin etc instead?