How to become a successful horse tack distributor?

[dominionTack]

Hi, My brother is in India and around an year back he started manufacturing horse tack (headstall, breast collar). But he is really getting a hard time finding buyers. He did a trip to US (Washington mostly) and visited local shops for buyers but no luck.
I reside in US and want to help him find buyers. How should we proceed and where can find contact for importers or distributors? We are even ready for small orders. Our product quality is good, prices are less but we don’t know how and where to approach.

Any pointers appreciated. Thanks

[Scribbler]

If you can’t find tack shops that want to order your product, then my guess is that the quality is not in fact high enough, or perhaps you are not making items in the styles that people currently want.

How much horse experience does your brother have? Typically, successful tack companies are started by people with a lot of experience in the sport, who know the niche they are trying to fill.

As well, North American riders want extremely high quality and durability in their tack, and many want a recognizable brand name. Many riders would prefer to buy good condition second hand tack from a quality brand, rather than new tack from a generic brand. And Indian-manfactured tack doesn’t, right now, have a very good reputation for quality or durability.

[shayaalliard]

I work for a tack wholesaler, and we do sometimes order from india, but our more popular lines are USA made. IT will help your case a lot if you use american hides rather than the water buffalo that india tack is usually made from. Our last india order is USA hide made in india. If you want to pm me some samples of his work, if it is good and prices are good I can put him in contact with some larger players in the market, but it has to be good quality and it has to be cheap- that’s how india made tack competes.

[BeeHoney]

There’s a ton of Indian made tack out there to compete with. Some of it is somewhat hidden–you have to investigate very closely to find out where the tack is made and it definitely isn’t used as an advertising point. OTOH, Bobby’s tack is well known and does not hide the fact that its products are made in India (though again, many Bobby’s items do not list the country of origin on the tag IME).

People definitely do look for a name brand when buying tack. I would say even more so nowadays when much of what we buy is ordered online. So much of quality is in the in-person look and feel of the item. It is very difficult for a customer to assess the quality of a piece of tack from a new maker online. I think a lot of customers would be reluctant to go out on a limb and order a new piece of tack from an unknown maker–there are so many details that could be disappointing, from the finish and feel of the leather to the sizing.

A shop that deals with a lot of customers in person might be more willing to take a chance on some nice tack that is reasonably priced. Style is so important, so if your brother wants to compete he would need to probably go over some high end bridles and copy some of the details. “Close enough” won’t cut it.

[SnicklefritzG]

I think the tack market is very difficult to compete in. Any new player in the market will have to compete with high end tack makers from Europe (French, German mostly) or high volume suppliers like Horze.

I bought a nice halter from Horze at a very good price. I don’t recall where it was made but I thought the quality was decent for the price. I don’t think I would consider buying from a new company in India unless they offered something special compared with the other companies. What could that be? Better leather, better prices, etc? I don’t know what new things people could come up with that isn’t already out there

[StGermain]

If becoming a successful anything was as easy as posting for advice on a message board, there’d be a lot more successful people.

Maybe you should send him some US tack catalogs.

StG

[littlebaypony]

Go online to find Tack n Togs and WESA to get information about wholesale shows that occur usually in January/February and again in August/September. You could run a booth for him and gain exposure to hundreds of tack shops and wholesalers in 4-5 days.

[no.stirrups]

He needs to check out organizations like the American Equestrian Trade Association (AETA), British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA), and SPOGA horse.

[StormyDay]

Indian made tack is not discriminated against because of where it is made, but because it is usually made from water buffalo. Water buffalo is not as soft or durable as cow leather, which is why consumers don’t want it.
If you brother can use cow leather instead of buffalo, he will be much better off and will most likely be able to get in with a distributor. He will need to advertise that it is cow leather. However, I understand he may be totally repulsed by the idea of using cow. If this is the case, I would suggest he not make leather products at all. Instead make high quality nylon hatters, bridles, synthetic girths, etc. just make sure they are high quality, if possible he should model them after some name brand ones.