Shaking out the winter rugs
Well its July and summer has not even kicked in yet, but here at equestrian we are working our way through this years selection of new winter rugs.
It occurs to me that not just picking a selection that we think are great value for money to put in the shop, we are starting to see a clear shift change in the equestrian rug industry and that is … manufacturers are doing it for themselves.
There was a time not too long ago (I am showing my age here) when we all made do with a green New Zealand for outdoors and a brown Jute rug for indoors – if it got cold you also invested in a Newmarket blanket if you were rich or an old duvet if less so. All bought from the many small tackshops dotted around the countryside.
Well shift happens!
This year we have had many press releases from small UK based manufacturers who are bringing out their own innovative range of rugs of all types and sizes. For example it used to be nigh on impossible to buy a rug for a mini Shetland – now there is a wealth to choose from in many styles and colours. And far from having to hope that your local tackshop (if you still have one) will stock it you simply buy online direct from the manufacturer's website. Choice is growing, prices are coming down and margins are being squeezed but its not the manufacturers that are being squeezed as they are selling direct to the public; it’s the retailers who are being squeezed out of the market. It costs a lot in storage space to stock a wide range of rugs in all the sizes and all the colours and if the margins are simply not there then its simply not worth doing.
Even my local rug repair shops are now manufacturing high quality made to measure rugs at great prices.
And its not just the small manufacturers either doing this just to break into the market – one of the major UK brand names have also had a policy shift to start retailing direct to the public. That’s not cricket I hear the traditionalists cry; manufacturers never sell direct, always through a retail distribution channel – that’s the way it has always been. Well happily for us, the consumer, that’s not the way its going to be moving forward.
If this sea change is so obvious with rugs this year I predict it will mushroom through other products next year and I say bring it on …
A lot of lather over leather…
One of the currently held myths permeating the equine industry is that “english” leather is best and everything else is second rate and should be avoided.
Let's explore this a little bit. Historically all you could get was english leather, handcrafted by english craftsmen, and as long as you looked after your leather it should last you a lifetime Then came the cheap Indian imports at a fraction of the price and a fraction of the quality. The Indian leather was not durable to our climate so if the leather was not looked after it would decay and snap; potentially causing an accident.
However times have moved on and imported leather has improved. You can now buy English leather items that have come from India; you can buy German leather items that have come from India and you can buy items made in England but from Indian sourced leather!
In reality English leather really means it was made from cow hide and imported leather is made from buffalo hide (as we don’t have a huge population of buffalo in the UK so that is understandable). However in the same way that you can get good and bad quality cow leather you can also get good and bad quality buffalo leather – if either leather is of poor quality or cut from the edges of the skin it will be weak and brittle. Put it this way – I would much rather have good quality buffalo than poor quality cow and there is a lot of excellent quality buffalo leather in the market now.
As an aside I wonder how many vegetarians ride and wont wear leather shoes but still put cows and buffalos of their horses – perhaps I will leave that one for another day.
So what is a responsible parent to do if “English” does not necessarily mean good quality any more?
At the end of the day the adage you get what you pay for is a fair one; if you have a fat pony in a field that you bring out once a year to attend the village show then buying a cheap but smart inhand bridle will be perfectly sufficient – the bridle does not need to be durable so a smart looking low cost one will be absolutely fine.
If, on the other hand, you are sending your daughter off cross-country then investing in good quality stirrup leathers – at a higher price – would be recommended to ensure her safety. Look to a name and a brand you can trust. In a shop you can feel the quality. If you buy mail order you are protected by the remote selling laws so you can return them if not happy for a full refund.
But really whether it is English, German, Italian, European or imported leather means nothing – let buyer beware.
Marketing, marketing, marketing ...
We have just taken delivery of our new exciting equestrian branded range of inhand bridles and lead reins in our brand new warehouse in Sussex
All we need to do now is launch them – and you know what is causing us the most grief – not price, promotion or positioning but the packaging!
By far the best way to package them would be “flat pack” style so the leather stays completely unmarked and the buyer makes it up on arrival. The concern here is that somebody relatively new to showing would not be confident to assemble the bridle correctly – so then we would need to include detailed instructions and hope for the best.
A more aesthetically pleasing way to package the bridles would be made up, surrounded in tissue and boxed – pretty much like an item of designer fashion, but this would add approximately £3.40 to the price of each bridle – which is an unnecessary cost when we are all being “crunched” at the moment – and wasteful – so not the most ecologically friendly of solutions.
Option three, make the bridles up but bag and bubble wrap them in disposable packaging – not as exclusive as option two – but at least you get a complete bridle with all the bits in the right places without the extra cost …
Option four, to send them in branded cotton tote bags for travelling, then you can use the bag afterwards (with our logo splashed all over it) – but we cant find bags quite the right size made up so we would have to revert to the flatpack idea
And here I am back at the beginning of the loop …
I actually found out that pizza boxes only cost about 56p - pity our bridles are not pizza shaped ! - all suggestions gratefully received – email helen@equestrian.co.uk
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed a new look to equestrian.co.uk – this is just the first of many new innovations we have planned for the months to come in our bid to play our small part in dragging the equestrian industry into the modern era.
This represents a complete overhaul to the website and I am aware that there are still a couple of bugs walking the corridors of the pages but I wanted to get the site new site live as soon as possible – as with all new IT stuff you could just spend forever in “test” and never go live. So if you find something wrong please do let me know and we will endeavour to iron out the creases.
If you like the new look let me know, if you have any suggestions to things you would like to see or do at equestrian.co.uk then let me know that too. Email helen@equestrian.co.uk
Everyone else is doing it, so we thought we would have a go a blog.
We plan to write about our lives running equestrian.co.uk, and The Tackshop; our plans and our problems. We aren't sure if this will be successful; or if we can even do it. And if we do, will anyone want to read it? Only time will tell.
