Tag: Clearance

  • From Clearance to Caveat

    From Clearance to Caveat

    Real Life and Small Business

    Last July, I launched a clearance sale, and the follow through from that sale was going to be an updated line of products replacing the old designs and stock.

    The plan continues to hold that way, only it now has a different timeline because real life and small business can lead to big caveats. Held Gear is truly small. Tiny. To support myself, I need other income.

    At the end of July, there was a family emergency, and in that moment all the plates I was spinning came falling. Sometimes you can break the plates and incur no blame.

    My Father passed away and this led to a deep meditation before I had to spring to action, fly to Arizona and help my Mother through it. This is life. Suddenly one big plate comes and it’s the one you have to focus on. Let alone grieving, I am back to spinning plates in Philadelphia, and Held Gear continues to receive sales and traffic from search engines. It’s a tiny business, and it’s okay if it is.

    That said, I want to make stronger impressions when new visitors find the website. I want to spend more time building it out and improving the whole presentation. I’ve got it so close!

    Real life is the income part. Until this provides my income, it’s always just a small plate in the routine. This routine is coming to a climax, however. One by one, I am setting them down, and by the end of the year, this business will be a stronger focus.

    How I’m doing that is for me to know and you to find out : P

    A customer from five years ago came around a couple of weeks ago and bought two belts on Etsy, one for herself and her husband. She even paid the excessive Canadian shipping. The fans of this brand are few, but they are real. And I need to highlight their testimonials on this very website. My to-do list never ends, and that’s great!

    There is not presently any advertising, all sales come from past customers, or random searches. The fact that customers come back after five and ten years tells me that Held Gear is worth keeping up with. Whenever I want to accelerate sales, I will do that.

    The clearance items will remain on clearance until they are gone. Those prices are at least 50% off.

    All of those products are good, they just didn’t work out as desired. For example, the Snow Ermine is nice and durable, and people gravitate toward its timeless style. However, the strap is very firm and kinks when wrapped in a circle. I will replace that with a 2-ply strap, instead of 3-ply. It’s amazing how much more pliant the 2-ply is. There are also alternative white straps in the catalog that I want to consider.

    The Groove will probably come back with modest design changes. The Sky belts are gone, however, I will select a new blue strap to replace it. Also, a green will be coming. I really want all the colors of the rainbow, but it’s expensive to build and inventory these things.

    A successful clearance sale means there is more room in the product closet, and cash available to invest in new materials. Then I have to work harder to create the demand.

    Real life, once again, comes back into it. At this time, I leave it to be continued. The caveat of making Held Gear a stronger focus later is to right now do the bare minimum for a while longer.

    I’ll be back with more news soon. Thanks for checking in.

    -Sean

  • Flash Sale! And what shall come from it.

    Flash Sale! And what shall come from it.

    Today, I launch a flash sale, in hopes of raising capital and awareness for the brand, to pave the way for some important steps toward turning this into a full time business.

    Over the last year, I have put my available energy into the backend, like the website, product photography, graphic design (especially for advertising), and more. I began to scramble when I saw a declining sales trend. Although it’s traceable to Etsy algorithm changes mostly, I had to confront myself in this process, accepting criticism and feedback, looking objectively at my presentation (from photography to packaging) and where it needs improvement. I’m still in the midst of the process.

    I have been wearing my Held belts every day since 2009. At first, I only had the Classic black belt, and it was my everything belt: work, play, and formal wear. After taking over the brand in 2022, I absorbed four different designs that I rotate for all occasions. I certainly believe that you should only sell a product you stand by, and use for yourself.

    Over these last two years, I have sold about one hundred units online, earning more 5-star reviews on Etsy. Dozens more have sold at markets.

    I really haven’t been receiving negative feedback. Sometimes silence is what you pay attention to for implicit feedback. In other words, I want more positive reviews, and I will do what it takes.

    I keep this brand going because I receive orders from customers going back more than a decade, finally replacing their first belt. Shark-like business-people will say that’s terrible, you can’t make a product that people won’t replace for ten years.

    I don’t care. I will wait for you. Sometimes your silence is a good thing.

    I have learned a great number of lessons about business, marketing, presentation, design, and competition. I didn’t realize how many fashion brands were out there hoping to become the next big thing. Either that, or someone has no passion for design and durability, they just want a no-name entity to pump out cheaply made product that nobody will ever never seek out a replacement for. These brands will position their products in places where shop owners, who also have no passion for style or quality, will just buy it because it’s cheap and immediate and they know they can move it.

    The principle of Held Gear is to make a product you remember, that you keep and care about. That idea is to be extended far beyond belts, if successful. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, I’m just taking it all one step at a time.

    With a successful clearance sale, I want to order some new materials for new designs, and spend on marketing. However, I have a few more steps to take to improve the design and presentation. When all of these preparations are made, I hope to find new customers with some cleverly targeted advertising.

    I believe this can be a full-time business, one that employs a handful of people, and stimulates American manufacturing.

    Let’s start with this flash sale.

    Please take advantage of these deals now and find your new favorite belt today!

  • New Products, Old Ideas Revised

    Clearance sales on Mammoth and Snow Ermine are in effect. This is to accelerate plans to improve those designs. In fact, Ermine is a new design based on a strap used in the past. The cut on this strap came out 1/16″ too wide, but it still fits through the buckle, just a little tight.

    Mammoth is our most expensive, chic, standard belt. Yet, it has the same design as the classic, with the roller buckle and single snap. We found a chic modern western style buckle for it. It requires a double snap and a slightly tighter loop to house the buckle, so all previously built Mammoths must go.

    The gradual rollout of Held’s mainstay catalogue has been going steadily.

    Any products listed at HeldGear.com are considered ongoing inventory with no discontinuation in sight. These are not recycled products and they are built from new components.

    Etsy will continue for now as the exclusive listing site for prototypes, limited issues, and units built from recycled materials.

    Held products reduce waste even when they are newly sourced, because they are the most durable belt strap outside of pure raw hide leather. “Genuine Leather” is nonsense. That stuff is either a composite of junk leather ground into particles, mixed with other junk, then bound together by toxic adhesives.

    Most people that buy a cheap standard black belt for their job don’t even realize that they are wearing a vegan belt. However, it is made from a weak strap, junk buckles, made in poor working conditions, and is not meant to last a year.

    Held offers an affordable alternative. Our retail prices are in the same range as inferior products at major department stores. We offer something that can be put to the test day in and out, for years to come.

    The goal of standardizing mainstay products with completely American-made components is within reach, and getting closer with every sale. As our supply chain works right now, we already support small American companies every step of the way.

    So many possibilities are at our fingertips springing from the belt design. The reversible snap strap allows for customization options like different buckles, and more conceptual designs and color combinations. Building that into the shop is a little complex, but it’s almost here.

    Cuffs, collars, and new belt designs are coming out right now.

    HELD is a supplement to the whole American manufacturing apparatus that uses conveyor belting in their process. We support the continued sales of these manufacturers even during a recession.

    We are also a punk rock company, man, this is all indie as it gets. That’s why, eventually people will say, we’re the only brand that matters.