For whatever reason, I used to have a hard time finding pants that fit right. Things are a bit better now that I’ve gained 40lbs (my BMI is on the scale!) and my sister forged me a Batman belt buckle (it makes everything work better).
Any way, I’d be really happy if I could get 3-5 pairs of jeans of different shades that actually fit right. Perhaps you could do small volume discounts? I’d think that the incremental cost vs customizing cost might make this feasible.
I once spent 4 hours ripping out a dumb logo because it happened to be on the only pair of pants that fit me that I could find. It would be great to not have to do that again.
Andrew, I think we’ve got our process pretty well figured out. Just have to figure out the fastest way to do it…
And we do have a name for the company.
I’ll talk with the group tomorrow about small volume discounts, if I get the chance. (The class has a progress report presentation day.) It’s something we would do well to look into.
The next hurdle after you get a pricing point: How will you convince someone that your product is better than Levi’s (or whoever)?
I voted for a price about that of my regular jeans on sale. If I know nothing about your manufacturing process or quality assurance, I would stick with a name brand unless you can convince me otherwise that for the price, your jeans will be at least as good.
I just bought a pair of Levi’s 550 for about $30, but they were prewashed. So I also bought a pair of 505 for the same price, so I could get the unwashed look*, but prefer the “wide rear” fit of the 550 better. A compromise.
So, I’d pay $40-50 to not have to compromise.
Of course, their quality would need to be equivalent to Levi’s. That’s why I don’t buy “Canyon River Blues” or somesuch, I want my jeans to last 5+ years.
A yard and a half will make a nice pair of pedal pushers. You’ll need at least two yards of denim for jeans, maybe three (reference standard patterns). Plus thread, zipper, rivets, cheap white fabric to make the front pockets, and a jeans snap or button for the fly. Your company logo on the snap? Oh, and a “designer label” for the back waistband.
Inexperienced engineer attempting to sew jeans—ten hours to make the first pair, that’s less than $1 per hour. At engineering wages, that’s $250 just for labor; with markup, that would be a $500 pair of jeans!
Jane, are you trying to tell us that satin and velvet patchwork quilted vests with birdhouse appliqués and rickrack are not in style?
