Starter Kit. Idea 54 of 500. Cluster 3
Handmade leather goods
The mechanism, from the book
The Zermatt water bottle. Sigiriya has not got a stone with its own name on it.
The 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.
Ask first
- Central Environmental Authority. Ask what rules apply to tanning or dyeing leather in a small workshop.
- National Crafts Council. Ask which leather workers they know who could supply shops.
Check before you spend
Where the leather comes from and that it is legally tanned, that dyes are safely disposed of, and whether exporting leather needs a certificate.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay for a handmade wallet or belt?
- What does good leather cost per item?
- How many items can one maker finish in a week?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.