Red Heart Wonders
Reading a knitting blog yesterday made me think about some of the experiences I've had at various shows -- and how another booth owner taught me to handle them.
We do two types of shows. The first type is fiber shows like Black Sheep Gathering and the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. These shows are full of fiber people. Visitors to our booth know what alpaca is and many of them know alpaca well enough to evaluate the differences in the various fleeces we have for sale. Many of these people are not upscale, but they understand the value of good yarns. A large fraction of them are hand spinners so they know the work involved. In short, they understand and appreciate what we're selling and they generally have no problem with our prices.
The other shows we do are local craft fairs and similar events. Customers at these shows frequently don't know what alpacas are -- we get questions about how we spin from the feathers. Few of these visitors are spinners, and many don't understand how much work is involved in creating a handspun yarn. In addition, Roseburg is not a wealthy area and there are a large number of people who simply don't place a lot of value on other people's time -- or their own.
Sundays at the Roseburg Christmas Craft Fair used to be the worst for me. Sunday tends to be bargain-hunting day and many visitors think it's a show rule that you must cut prices 50% at opening on Sunday and an additional 50% at noon on Sunday.
The first year at the Christmas Craft Fair, I had a little handspun yarn for sale and several hats I had crocheted from handspun alpaca -- from our own alpacas. Those were (and still are) special hats and I had a lot -- too much -- of pride and ego tied up in them. The hats were priced at $45 which I think is a reasonable price -- but not great compensation for my time.
About the fifth time somebody accused me of being a rip-off artist and explained that she could make the same hat in half an hour using under $2.00 worth of yarn from Walmart, I got really, really, angry. Pam had to take away my spinning wheel and send me away from the booth. I was hurt. I was mad. I was insulted. I was livid and I suspect I was getting pretty loud.
After the tenth time this happened, Pam sent me off to an out-of-the-way corner with my spinning wheel and ran the booth by herself the rest of the day.
Several months later, I was sitting in a spinning circle and mentioned my experience at the Christmas Craft Fair. I guess I should explain that the Umpqua Spinning and Weaving Guild has a skilled and active membership and they usually have a booth at the same Christmas show that offers some really nice items.
The very gentle elderly woman to my right sneered, "Don't worry about them, they're just Red Heart Wonders." The woman to my left explained that they're the bane of every guild event. Somebody else said they don't understand and most of them never will. It was quite comforting to know that every person in that spinning circle had experienced Red Heart Wonders and their attitude toward spinning and they had all been offended at some point in their lives and all gotten past being offended. I figured at that time that maybe I could learn not to be offended as well.
Fast forward to the next year at the Roseburg Christmas Craft Fair. I mentioned to another vendor -- and I forget his name but he makes intricate wooden puzzles and his wife makes dolls and his booth has been near ours every year. He's one of those people who is always joking and making fun of everyone, but he has a rare skill of poking fun at people with a real sense of warmth -- you know that when your turn comes, you will laugh at yourself and not feel put down. Saturday afternoon and I mentioned I was dreading Sunday because of the Red Heart Wonders. He said to me that if anybody really wanted to provide hats like mine for $2.00 each, he'd take twenty, but they had to be made from handspun alpaca.
I have a totally new attitude toward Red Heart Wonders. I understand that they simply aren't my market. I don't price to them, cater to them, sell to them, or worry about them. And when somebody tells me they can make garments like mine for ridiculously low prices, I smile and say,
"If you'd like to do that, I'll take a dozen -- in alpaca."
We do two types of shows. The first type is fiber shows like Black Sheep Gathering and the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. These shows are full of fiber people. Visitors to our booth know what alpaca is and many of them know alpaca well enough to evaluate the differences in the various fleeces we have for sale. Many of these people are not upscale, but they understand the value of good yarns. A large fraction of them are hand spinners so they know the work involved. In short, they understand and appreciate what we're selling and they generally have no problem with our prices.
The other shows we do are local craft fairs and similar events. Customers at these shows frequently don't know what alpacas are -- we get questions about how we spin from the feathers. Few of these visitors are spinners, and many don't understand how much work is involved in creating a handspun yarn. In addition, Roseburg is not a wealthy area and there are a large number of people who simply don't place a lot of value on other people's time -- or their own.
Sundays at the Roseburg Christmas Craft Fair used to be the worst for me. Sunday tends to be bargain-hunting day and many visitors think it's a show rule that you must cut prices 50% at opening on Sunday and an additional 50% at noon on Sunday.
The first year at the Christmas Craft Fair, I had a little handspun yarn for sale and several hats I had crocheted from handspun alpaca -- from our own alpacas. Those were (and still are) special hats and I had a lot -- too much -- of pride and ego tied up in them. The hats were priced at $45 which I think is a reasonable price -- but not great compensation for my time.
About the fifth time somebody accused me of being a rip-off artist and explained that she could make the same hat in half an hour using under $2.00 worth of yarn from Walmart, I got really, really, angry. Pam had to take away my spinning wheel and send me away from the booth. I was hurt. I was mad. I was insulted. I was livid and I suspect I was getting pretty loud.
After the tenth time this happened, Pam sent me off to an out-of-the-way corner with my spinning wheel and ran the booth by herself the rest of the day.
Several months later, I was sitting in a spinning circle and mentioned my experience at the Christmas Craft Fair. I guess I should explain that the Umpqua Spinning and Weaving Guild has a skilled and active membership and they usually have a booth at the same Christmas show that offers some really nice items.
The very gentle elderly woman to my right sneered, "Don't worry about them, they're just Red Heart Wonders." The woman to my left explained that they're the bane of every guild event. Somebody else said they don't understand and most of them never will. It was quite comforting to know that every person in that spinning circle had experienced Red Heart Wonders and their attitude toward spinning and they had all been offended at some point in their lives and all gotten past being offended. I figured at that time that maybe I could learn not to be offended as well.
Fast forward to the next year at the Roseburg Christmas Craft Fair. I mentioned to another vendor -- and I forget his name but he makes intricate wooden puzzles and his wife makes dolls and his booth has been near ours every year. He's one of those people who is always joking and making fun of everyone, but he has a rare skill of poking fun at people with a real sense of warmth -- you know that when your turn comes, you will laugh at yourself and not feel put down. Saturday afternoon and I mentioned I was dreading Sunday because of the Red Heart Wonders. He said to me that if anybody really wanted to provide hats like mine for $2.00 each, he'd take twenty, but they had to be made from handspun alpaca.
I have a totally new attitude toward Red Heart Wonders. I understand that they simply aren't my market. I don't price to them, cater to them, sell to them, or worry about them. And when somebody tells me they can make garments like mine for ridiculously low prices, I smile and say,
"If you'd like to do that, I'll take a dozen -- in alpaca."
posted by Upper Alpacas | 9:20 AM
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