# Considering exiting the rhinestone business-thoughts?



## discounttshirts (Jan 9, 2009)

Hello fellow rhinestoners(ha)

After doing a year end review of our business , I am considering getting out of the rhinestone business. Here are my thoughts:

on sales of $200,000 this year - rhinestones were less than 2% of revenue from sales. after expenses and labor I guess we made less than $700 in profit on them

we also screen print (manual & auto presses)
embroidery (6 machines)
vinyl and graphics (versacam vp-540)
applique and tackle twill (ioline 301 system)
direct to garment printing (neoflex system)

I don't know if we just dont put in the effort or what but most people that seem to want rhinestones are the onesie -twosie projects- no large production orders, therefore your setup time and layout time are not profitable (similar to embroidery digitizing)

we can not justify free setups for these small orders and we sell very little of our stock designs.

so my question is has the rhinestone craze passed - it seems we are seeing less demand- in our area anyway (northwest arkansas)

I'm wondering if exiting and devoting our time to improving our other processes and profitability would be the best option

again i would like to here thoughts on this before I decide to sell our equipment.

FYI- we use a crystal press II and use winpc pro 2012 and hotfix era software- all of which give us no problems- it is just a time spent vs. reward received dilemma .

if I decide to exit this business I will post items in the classified here

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Jim


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

I think it depends on your customers. We do a lot of sports teams and schools and it is almost always the moms that buy. We offer the bling upgrade and it is an easy sell.


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## mfatty500 (Jan 18, 2010)

We still go very strong with rhinestones, it does matter where you are located, i'm sure. But let me guess, the people that are doing the rhinestones are men? Most of us have no patience for that tedious stuff. I'm straight as can be. (not gay) in case you were wondering.


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## 1stoptees (Jul 24, 2009)

I guess it all depends on your customer base. We have been doing Rhinestones for a couple of years, manually. Very Tedious and not really making any money on it. We are getting some demand for it more and have been considering a crystal press. If you do decide to sell, we might be interested. Just send me a message if your are selling.


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## discounttshirts (Jan 9, 2009)

binki said:


> I think it depends on your customers. We do a lot of sports teams and schools and it is almost always the moms that buy. We offer the bling upgrade and it is an easy sell.


yes - we are all men now- I have had a few women work for me in the past - but we /they had no more passion for stones than us-- maybe they were not girly enough, but were good workers


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## shayne0307 (May 18, 2011)

Wow! here is someone thinking about getting out of the business, and I am considering upgrading from my 2 color auto rhinestone maching which I have only had for 8 months to the 6 color because I am going crazy and is turning away business because it is hard to keep up.......so it must be a location thing, but also it has to be marketing. I have my website and I get orders from all over the country. I would say give it a try with doing some marketing and hopefully it will boost things a bit


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## Foxysr (Apr 19, 2010)

I am in central Missouri and I have plenty of rhinestone business in fact I do very little custom work, I do more of the crazy rhinestone stuff like hats to match and we also do suits and formal dresses for women. Most of our stuff is handset but the profit margin is out of this world. We sell a lot to the southeast part of the country.


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## discounttshirts (Jan 9, 2009)

shayne0307 said:


> Wow! here is someone thinking about getting out of the business, and I am considering upgrading from my 2 color auto rhinestone maching which I have only had for 8 months to the 6 color because I am going crazy and is turning away business because it is hard to keep up.......so it must be a location thing, but also it has to be marketing. I have my website and I get orders from all over the country. I would say give it a try with doing some marketing and hopefully it will boost things a bit


I'm hearing a lot from people like you - my question - is that all you do - seems pretty specialized-- we have many other processes here - rhinestone are only a part of our business- if I was only doing stones - I would take the time to do the elaborate stuff and charge accordingly- but it seems in our current situation we can never recoup the lost time -from dealing with the customer to layout and finished product on orders of less than 10 each.


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## hbapparel (Jan 16, 2012)

I am in the same boat. Rhinestones are dying off. Plus, with out a CAMS, I don't think you can charge enough for the time involved in brushing stones and how much the sticky flock costs for custom one offs. We do screen printing, embroidery, dye sub and do way more glitter vinyl than rhinestones.


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

discounttshirts said:


> I'm hearing a lot from people like you - my question - is that all you do - seems pretty specialized-- we have many other processes here - rhinestone are only a part of our business- if I was only doing stones - I would take the time to do the elaborate stuff and charge accordingly- but it seems in our current situation we can never recoup the lost time -from dealing with the customer to layout and finished product on orders of less than 10 each.


We added rhinestones last summer and have had them steadily increase. 

We also do screen print and dye sublimation as well and find that its a great upsell to what we are already printing.


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## Foxysr (Apr 19, 2010)

I think it also depends on where you are located. Here in the midwest, rhinestones are B-I-I-G! We were in Denver over Christmas and they are really starting to take hold there also. 
If you have a target population that you market to it will help your sales. We passed on the big machines because if I have 50 shirts all the same who will I sell them too? Our customers want that one of a kind and are more than willing to pay for it. One design in many colors and many sizes will never work for us. But... Top with capris or slacks and matching jacket with a crystal zipper will brink 99 to 129$ every time.


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## BlingItOn (May 29, 2008)

I think every area has a market for rhinestones. The problem I see is that there are way more people getting into the rhinestone business now then there was before. If you want that part of your business to succeed and be profitable you need to set yourself apart from others. If you are purchasing the same stock transfers or template patterns that everyone else is then you may find it difficult make a decent profit for yourself because you'll have to price your designs at or below what others are also selling them for. I personally make all of my own designs and try to make them unique enough so that when a potential customer comes to my website and finds a design they like they can't just google the same design and potentially purchase it somewhere else because it's listed at a lower price. 

I agree that one offs for custom designs are just not profitable. I personally have a 3pc minimum for requests that I get. This allows me to divide out labor and material costs and still keep the design within a reasonable price. I ask for a $20 deposit upfront before I start any design work and definitely before I email them any images. When they purchase the minimum number of pcs the $20 gets applied to their order. If they purchase less than 3pcs then the $20 is mine.


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## discounttshirts (Jan 9, 2009)

I will say that there are a few local people doing out of there house and charging low prices- I am not willing to come down to those prices anymore- these people at home figure if they are making $10 a hour - they are doing good- those in business know that is false logic

I think I have made my decision to put my equipment up for sale - I will post to classifieds soon 

thanks
Jim


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

discounttshirts said:


> I think I have made my decision to put my equipment up for sale - I will post to classifieds soon


Jim if you want to PM the details to me we might be able to work something out.


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## uglovdkg (Jan 3, 2012)

I started last year in my house and now I have a storefront, I really think you have to have a passion for it and also good market, I am starting to get people who want bling clothes, license plates, hair brush, whatever Bling is Everything and I'm in the Midwest Ohio


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## Foxysr (Apr 19, 2010)

uglovdkg said:


> I started last year in my house and now I have a storefront, I really think you have to have a passion for it and also good market, I am starting to get people who want bling clothes, license plates, hair brush, whatever Bling is Everything and I'm in the Midwest Ohio


I totally agree with this. I started in a storefront at lake ozarks and found I did better going to shows and now I get all kinds of work for ensembles from women all over off of my website.
A storefront is not always profitable in this economy. We have to think with the times. I know trunk shows are looming in our future. After all look at the food truck business. It is an innovative way to get people to try your restaurant. I am always open to new and innovative, we can't fight progress.


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## sjidohair (Apr 9, 2008)

Jim, The Rhinestone biz is crazier than ever, but you are right if you market to a few sales here and there it is not enough to bring profits in after you spend the time for custom work and design, I use the tools you do a well, Crystal press II which I love, winpc 2014 and I also have other softwares including hotfix era, you have a great setup.

If you choose to keep your equipment , I think you will need to market to a different buyer, that will purchase in bulk like your other orders.. 

If you need any help , feel free to pm me, 

We just finished the Best year ever with Rhinestones.


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## discounttshirts (Jan 9, 2009)

I have posted my equipment (crystal press II and extras) in the classifieds for those interested - I have also listed my bottom dollar price (which is very fair)

thanks for everyones input, if the equipment does not sell, I will keep and try to rededicate- but hoping this is what someone is looking for.

thanks

Jim


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## chunkymonkey (Jul 7, 2010)

I have recently got into the Rhinestone buzz somewhat by accident but the craze that surrounded it made me get much more into it and I have been pumping our shirts at $24.99 daily online. I have marketed my shirts and have them in 2 stores right now as well. It is a niche market I am marketing too. I did one event so far and sold out and have another scheduled in 2 weeks. From what I see is the Rhinestone buzz is blowing up and you only get out of it what you put in.


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## demarrisgene (Apr 19, 2012)

I am loving the rhinestone part of my business. It's growing, slowly...but growing. I will take a look at the classfieds to see if it's anything I can use or afford at this time.


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## montu (Mar 7, 2011)

Is there a rhinestone transfer company that gives quotes the same day for custom work?


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## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

been around since we were all figuring out how to do this stuff. I still do it by hand,* alot* faster and *cheaper* then a machine. not to many people here talk about decals. I go through a 120ft roll of xpel every 2 months.(that's about 2 grand profit)
http://xpel.com/products/bulk.asp


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## YourLogoGear (Jul 5, 2011)

Leg cramps said:


> been around since we were all figuring out how to do this stuff. I still do it by hand,* alot* faster and *cheaper* then a machine. not to many people here talk about decals. I go through a 120ft roll of xpel every 2 months.(that's about 2 grand profit)


Do you know if that material holds up well in south FL?


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## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

I am in SE Texas and the decal I put on my truck about 4 years ago has not lost a single stone. Neither weather or car washes have done any damage to the decal.


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## YourLogoGear (Jul 5, 2011)

lizziemaxine said:


> I am in SE Texas and the decal I put on my truck about 4 years ago has not lost a single stone. Neither weather or car washes have done any damage to the decal.


Thanks! Do you use the xpel material as well?


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## lizziemaxine (Nov 14, 2007)

Yes, I us xpel.


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