Marketing Ideas
We've added this page to the menu because as we talk to store owners we often hear great ideas for how they will market our products and it seemed a shame not to share them.
If any of you have ideas we haven't thought of and are willing to share, please email them to me to add to this page at sfletcher@alderspringdesign.com
Furoshiki
One idea we heard and loved at Quilt Market was to offer to do furoshiki gift wrapping for the husband's of quilters for Christmas (and why not for birthdays and Valentines?) Its a win win all around- you sell more seasonal fabrics, the husbands get their gift wrapping done, and their wives get quilting fabrics to add to their stashes. We suggest using the rabbit ear wrap for this, as it will wrap nearly any size and shape. Don't forget to suggest he adds a sewing notion or two to the package as decoration. You can easily tuck a small pair of scissors behind the knot (take them out of the packaging) or a few spools of thread (tie them together with some ribbon and tie them to the neck area), and maybe add a candycane and a little curled ribbon.
Of course, Christmas wrapping parties were an idea we heard several times. You might advertise this beyond the sewing and quilting demographic, because 'green wrapping' at christmas is a growing trend. Its a good way to bring new people into your store and make customers out of them. There were a number of suggestions for what form these 'parties' might take, from having people bring in their actual gifts and helping them learn a few furoshiki wraps, and do the wrapping on the spot. We offer a couple furoshiki Christmas wrapping sets that will work well for this. They will need to buy their holiday fabric from you, and you may want to make some small 'wrapping aids' available too, like our furoshiki folding sticks, and small pkgs of safety pins for those who have a little trouble! Keep a few decorative sewing notions available too, for decorating the finished package.
Then there are classes. Again consider the ability of furoshiki wrapping to bring new people into your store. For the late twenties/early thirties budget conscious women who didn't grow up with sewing and quilting skills furoshiki offers a perfect way to introduce them to your store. You might offer a class with a theme such as "Furoshiki for home decor: A no-sewing way to add the new trends in fabric colors and designs to your home" Once they discover that they can buy the new colors and designs for fabrics they see in magazines in your store, they will be back looking for more classes and more fabrics. Even if they never become dedicated quilters, they will know where to buy their Christmas tablecloth fabric or new bathroom curtain fabric, as well as products like iron in hemming. If we make it simple for them, they will want to make thier own curtains and home coverings, and that can be a lot of fabric and notions going out your doors!
Furoshiki instruction cards make a nice addition to goody bags at retreats too.
Sashiko
www.sashikostitcher.com Please pass this resource site on to your and teachers as a sashiko information site for their students (and your customers). The mission of this site is to encourage the practice of traditional sashiko stitching, and to stimulate and explore new and innovative ways to to apply sashiko stitching to modern fibre art projects.
Babyloc has a sashiko machine on the market and we are being asked if your customers can use our patterns with the machine. The answer is yes. To use them with the machine there are a couple options. Most of our sashiko patterns are printed on sewing tissue so you can stitch right through the tissue and then pull it away. Alternatively, there are soluable materials you can transfer the design onto and then stitch through and wash away.
