My Hat Idea: Suggestions Anyone?

[quoteguy]

Hello Friends,

I work as a bartender on the weekends at a popular restaurant in Miami Beach. They sell some merchandise such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats.

I love to wear hats but we are only allowed to wear a hat with a the company logo on it. The hats that we sell are hideous though. I handle the inventory count at the end of my shifts and we have sold 2 hats in the past month.

I really wanted to wear a hat so I bought one of the ugly hats and cut the logo off and put it on one of my mesh trucker hats. It came out really good. Every employee including the managers commented on how much they loved it. I've been wearing it for my past four shifts and I'd say between 65%-70% of customers have made a comment about it. Some wanting to but the hat off my head.

The owner is away on vacation for another 3 weeks or so, and I want to present the idea of selling these trucker hats at the store. I think it would do very well.

What I want to know is if anybody knows how to go about finding a company that can make these hats for me at good price. Should I try to find a way to do it myself? Maybe some suggestions for presenting my idea.

This idea has potential. It's a very popular bar. There are seven other locations throughout the states. If I can pitch it at my location, which is the main one, I think it will fly with the others. Plus they are now starting to franchise, so if I get in early, I will be able to supply for all the new locations as well.

Let me know if you have any ideas. I've been doing searches for wholesale hats but haven't found too much. Thanks for listening.

Quoteguy

[silicon toad2000]

i don't know if it's worth getting a patent on the design, to ensure you get some coin from each hat sold, otherwise you'll just be an employee with a good idea.

[cdn2wheeler]

Here's an option:

Silicon toad is right, so far you're an employee with a good idea. Best you'll probably get is a, "Good idea. Thanks," and leave you out of the profit loop. Reason is that basically you're acting as an agent of the company and, as such, anything you do to bring the company income is simply part of your job description. In a very real sense, you're not actually a "person," you're an "employee."

It's as if an employee came up with a way of saving the company $10,000 a month. Certainly, the company would be thankful (well, one would hope so anyway) but try to get a cut of those savings.

Ain't gonna happen.

So here's what you might consider doing:

Approach the management for permission to use their logo on clothes you'll design, sell & market. For each item of clothing sold, you'll cut them in for, say, 10% of the profit. Create a website with pictures of the clothes, linked from the bar's website (if there is one) but retain ownership of the website on your own. You'll be acting as a strategic partner with the bar, instead of being an employee.

If somebody wants a hat, give them your card with the web address on it.

An alternative is to have a similar agreement with the bar for use of the logo, and have someone else hired by you - NOT a bar employee - to sell the hats at a booth or something at the bar.

Point is to make a clear distinction between you as an employee and you as a strategic partner. If you're an employee, you're just doing your job in helping the bar become more profitable. But as a strategic partner you retain the rights to manage your own little business on your own. It just happens that the logo you'll use is the same logo as the bar uses.

But before you do anything, anything at all, I'd strongly suggest contacting a business attorney about this to cover yourself in case the bar tries to rip off your idea and cut you out of the loop.

[Jennihul]

People wear mesh trucker hats???

Jennifer

[quoteguy]

Originally Posted by Jennihul

People wear mesh trucker hats???

Jennifer

People still love 'em.

[quoteguy]

Originally Posted by cdn2wheeler

Here's an option:

Silicon toad is right, so far you're an employee with a good idea. Best you'll probably get is a, "Good idea. Thanks," and leave you out of the profit loop. Reason is that basically you're acting as an agent of the company and, as such, anything you do to bring the company income is simply part of your job description. In a very real sense, you're not actually a "person," you're an "employee."

It's as if an employee came up with a way of saving the company $10,000 a month. Certainly, the company would be thankful (well, one would hope so anyway) but try to get a cut of those savings.

Ain't gonna happen.

So here's what you might consider doing:

Approach the management for permission to use their logo on clothes you'll design, sell & market. For each item of clothing sold, you'll cut them in for, say, 10% of the profit. Create a website with pictures of the clothes, linked from the bar's website (if there is one) but retain ownership of the website on your own. You'll be acting as a strategic partner with the bar, instead of being an employee.

If somebody wants a hat, give them your card with the web address on it.

An alternative is to have a similar agreement with the bar for use of the logo, and have someone else hired by you - NOT a bar employee - to sell the hats at a booth or something at the bar.

Point is to make a clear distinction between you as an employee and you as a strategic partner. If you're an employee, you're just doing your job in helping the bar become more profitable. But as a strategic partner you retain the rights to manage your own little business on your own. It just happens that the logo you'll use is the same logo as the bar uses.

But before you do anything, anything at all, I'd strongly suggest contacting a business attorney about this to cover yourself in case the bar tries to rip off your idea and cut you out of the loop.

Thanks for the ideas. I'm glad I came here first. I would have certainly been taken advantage of. I think I'll see about getting an attorney first. I like the idea of setting up the website.

Does anybody know if I should set up with a company like shopify as opposed to keeping all the inventory at my house and shipping it myself? Shopify is one of those companies that you can sell your products on their site and they get a percentage. I would love for it to be automated, but I'm not sure how to go about that. Thanks again for your input.

[OnionJack]

Hey quoteguy,

I had a friend in the same position, except they sold t-shirts this summer. From what I've heard the person made, CASH. People love both t-shirts and hats. It's an extension of who they are. As another aside, someone I know another, who moved this year. Their new company made more from t-shirt sales, than from their main product.

An attorney, isn't going to do s*** for you. The logo is the owners property. Any representation is going to be you climbing an insurmountable wall.

Put the hat away for the last two weeks, while owner is away. Get the owners permission, as mentioned above for a strategic partnership. IN WRITING, get them to say, Quoteguy has X% of GROSS/NET(depending) revenue of sales, from all HATS sold. DO NOT EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHAT HATS YOU WILL BE SELLING, OR WHERE. THEY DO NOT NEED TO KNOW.

I disagree with cdn2wheeler. Seems to pessimistic. Take a risk with it. It may not pan out. But you may have found a new opening in South Beach merchandise, that another owner may be open to(I REPEAT DO NOT LET THEM IN ON YOUR PLANS THOUGH, MYSTERY is your friend). If you try to lock a small-time bar/shop owner into yourself with one product(that you have to outsource all parts to begin with) your at the disadvantage if they say no.

If they try to discard you and run with it themselves. Most will fail as the idea will fall into a position behind the rest of what they want to do VS what they will do. In many cases is stagnant.

-OJ

[silicon toad2000]

with your question about seting up with a partner company like shopify, now you're starting to get to the stage of needed a business plan and answer questions like
how big is this going to be?
how much stock will I need?
how long will it take to sell the minimum order quantity?
ultimately, if you set up with shopify, what are you bringing to table, why can't your employer just do the same thing and cut you out.
To make this attractive to them it helps to do some of their work for them, like ordering, holding stock and despatching.
But down the track, how big is this thing going to be? what happens when I'm no longer employed there?
Do you see yourself as taking over their merchandise operations or marketing arm?

[quoteguy]

SiliconToad2000, OnionJack, and Cdn2wheeler, these are some great suggestions for me to think about. I appreciate your replies. I have to think about how I should present it to them. I have a friend who can make the website for me.

My intention was to make some extra money during our slow season. I know that it will do well. The owners are a skeptical bunch though. For me to form a partnership with them I would have to make sure everything is laid out perfectly for them to see. How would I go about not telling them exactly what the product is and how I want to promote it?

This is going to be my biggest challenge. They are very stuck in their ways. I have some work to do. Thanks again. Any more suggestions are surely welcome.