Why are Bike Bags so Expensive? Small Business Challenges? (Martina - Swift Industries)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- Why do bike bags cost so much? How has the pandemic affected their business? Livestream with our friend Martin Brimmer.
Help support independent reviews: / pathlesspedaled
www.paypal.me/...
SUPPLE PATCHES pathlesspedale...
PATREON: / pathlesspedaled
SUPPLE SHIRTS: pathlesspedaled...
**NEW ROUTE GUIDE** www.pathlessped...
INSTAGRAM: pathlesspedaled #thesupplelife #gravelbike #biketouring #bikepacking
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #1 НАЧАЛО ПУТЕШЕСТВИЯ [Новый сезон] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/380Q7gLWGvk/mqdefault.jpg)
Always fascinating to listen to someone who runs a small or niche business. Thanks!
Such a fantastic conversation with valuable insights on small business life! Thanks for doing this.
Incredible interview. Thanks Russ, Laura, and Martina!
Very well done, Martina. I admire you for what you have accomplished. Starting a business takes guts. Keeping it going takes hard work. Growing it takes all that plus many kinds of intelligences. The way you are soaking in skills from other folks whose (less pedaled) paths you cross seems your biggest. That is very rare. Kudos.
Having said that, may I share some view about Swift Industry’s prices?
A thriving business with prices so high shows how infatuated cyclists are with consumerism. As you mention, a big part of your marketing is to build a community around you. Your brand means a lot for many people. One could look at that in a positive, (relationships are great), but for me it shows how deeply consumerism is entrenched. Communities nowadays seem to be built around brands. Usually, the more loyal, the higher the price. Luxury products have done this for a long time. Now Swift Industry, in its own niche, does it as well. Your customers may not be rich, but those who aren’t allocate significant (unreasonable) amount of cash to buy your products because they want to be part of a “community” and because you’ve worked hard, spent marketing $$$ to make them feel that way. Is that necessary? IMHO, no.
As a precaution, I did hear that you’d like to but can’t afford benefits for your staff and you are not making a lot of income yourself (yet). Therefore I DO NOT mean you are greedy. I actually feel that with such a success, you ought to make a better living! The problem is you are making labor intensive products in the wrong place of the world, in an inefficient manner (can’t reach economies of scale as you stated yourself). Martina, nothing’s wrong in manufacturing products in states or countries with lower wages if you do it well, with the same respect you have for staff that live around your block and have the same life style as you! Giving folks who need it an opportunity to work for a decent wage in a great team as it seems to be the case now is not only good for them, it’s good for you, for those who could buy your great products because they could afford it. It’s also good in the big picture because cross border business done in the right way is good for humanity. It’s an antidote against war (look at Europe after WWII). I know it’s a crazy big thing since 4 years in the USA to make look everything coming from other countries like a threat. But we in rich countries have no problem externalizing so many things that don’t look as sexy as cycle fashion items (trash, chemical industries, etc.) but when it is time to share the value chain of leisure products, it suddenly becomes evil to share it with folks overseas. The problem is not to manufacture where labor is cheaper, the problem is to pay workers bad local wages, expose them to dangers because of inexistent protection regulations or ridiculous productivity demands. But there’s more. Countries where labor is cheaper have rising costs too so they have learned to manufacture in higher volumes, with the level of quality that you specify. One should not only look at overseas industries as a cheap labor source. They have clever people too. Creativity and marketing might be your best skills, not theirs but they are good at cranking up volumes, and that may be a skill that they bring to you!
Of course it isn’t an easy path, one that ticks all and only the good boxes. But IMHO, if that’s what you want to do, there is room in the changing cycle market for a vendor that can marry the creativity, the functionality of the design, done by folks that ride and love bikes, and some increased volumes which are the de facto requirement to be able to lower RRP, enabling riders with less money or more brain to use your great products. Even if that means using some rethinking where stuff is produced. Always be careful when using the argument “fully and proudly made in the USA (or Washington State)” lest it comes back to bite you.
Inspiring Interview. Sad that I missed it live. Energy, intelligence, opportunity and evolving vision. Cool.
Your channel seems very genuine
This was really great! Inspired me to (finally) be a Patreon patron. Thanks for doing these livestreams. Up da punx!
I love my zeitgeist bag, 4 yrs old and still holding strong definitely a well made bag worth every penny
Awesome awesome interview! I have the Paloma handlebar bar (thanks in large part to your review of it Russ) along with a half-frame bag from Swift. LOVE these bags and am looking to get a couple more down the road hopefully. Count my vote in for a rack-top bag! Also please continue offering the Jr. Ranger bags, I need to save up for a while before I can pull the trigger on it.
I am actually trying to make a copy of fabs chest atm and was listening this at the same time. And as BirdXBags said, try to make one yourself if the price is too mutch. Im soon to a week down with this project and making one bag yourself, really makes you understand how mutch work it is even if you would have all the fancy sewingmachines. This hard man, and it looks shit, propably not going to hold either...but its fun to try stuff and spend like 150$ just for the materials. I just hope that im not braking my gf sewingmachine....😬
Wow! What a great interview! As a small business owner myself, (15 years this business, 8 years previous business that ended in total financial ruin) she and I have traveled very similar paths and mental struggles and rewards transitioning from worker to leader to CEO). Sometimes it’s scary when you realize you built and watched evolve every single operational process of the company and the current role has taken us away from the daily “hands on” understanding to being somewhat out of touch with how it has evolved and improved to current methods today. I really had to laugh at the part about instilling the passion and vision of your company ideals and values into new employees because honestly that is the hardest aspect of a growing company. You finally realize no one will possess the same levels you do and so you must work very hard to constantly try to instill it in every employee every day. My favorite line to my employees is “if we are not the very best at what we do, there is no reason for our existence and customers will not stay with us”. Thank you so much for this moment, I really really enjoyed it!
Great discussion...reminded me to order a new Bandito bag.
Simple answer, because they're worth it.
Also, she looks amazing with that nose ring. Gorgeous.
So, know that Martina said that she would never do apperal, but...Anyone know of a good rain poncho? When I trained with Marines back in the 80's, they used a tarp poncho that could be combined with a liner to make a sleeping bag and or combined with another poncho to make a tent. I would think that if you could shape it for cycling, use modern materials, and better fastening points, you could have something that could be a unique multipurpose tool for bike touring/bike packing. I know basil and carridice make high end rain gear for cycling, but not seeing something that hits all the functions that I'm looking for. If anyone knows of a good product already out there, please let me know.
they sell the fairweather poncho through their swift site
@@mikeellsworth396 Cool! I'll have to check it out.
👍🏻
Why don't you have a link to her store in the description?
If you wanna complain about the prices of things made in America quit complaining about the fact that there are no jobs in manufacturing in America
Colab with Cook Custom Sewing