Idea 54 of 500. Cluster 3: Souvenirs that are actually from here
Handmade leather goods
The mechanism, from the book
The Zermatt water bottle. Sigiriya has not got a stone with its own name on it.
Every idea in cluster 3 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Take one well-made leather wallet or bag from a local maker and ask three hotel boutique managers what they would pay wholesale and what they would change. Bring the answers back to the maker, agree a small first batch, and deliver it to the shop that named the clearest price. The first sell-through is your proof.
- Who pays first
- Hotel boutiques, and visitors who want a quality leather piece made here at a fair price rather than an imported one.
- What leaves today
- An imported wallet sends its margin abroad; a locally made one keeps the materials, the labour and the margin on the island.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. FiveThe Most Photographed Rock in the World
The Matterhorn water bottle and the souvenir that is from there
More from cluster 3
Idea 54 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.