If you love dressing up and keep a close eye on the latest fashion trends, you might just be the right person to start a bracelet business.
This is a hobby for those who love to experiment with their style and believes a bracelet is the best way to finish an outfit.
Handmade jewelry is becoming increasingly popular, particularly with gift-giving. So, how do you get started in the bracelet business?
Find out more below!
Who Will A Bracelet Business Appeal To?
Want to try making your own bracelets to wear or sell? This hobby will appeal to anyone who is good with their hands, has an eye for fashion, and likes to be an original!
First Step: Find Your Bracelet Niche
There are a lot of different bracelets already on the market, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find your place. Carefully consider exactly what style of bracelet you want to make.
Are you a fan of leatherwork? Do you have experience creating glass beads? Or do you want to try a newer trend, such as resin bracelets?
When you have a broad understanding of your business, you can start to define your product. Think of your ideal customer and the bracelets you would make for them.
Spend time researching the competition in your niche. This will help you understand what sells and help you set a price point.
This is perhaps the most important part of starting your bracelet business. If you don’t know your product, then you can’t start selling it.
Luckily, you probably already have a good idea of the kind of bracelets you want to sell. So if this is you, read on!
Bracelet Business Start-Up Costs – $$
The primary cost in starting up your bracelet business is going to be purchasing materials.
One of the advantages of going into the bracelet business, compared to the jewelry business, is that you have a limited selection of necessary base items.
And because you’ve chosen a niche already, you can purchase only the materials you need. With your materials chosen, it’s time to start marketing.
I recommend dedicating time and money now to defining your business and marketing plan, rather than overlooking this factor and struggling to catch up later.
Bracelets are eye-catching items, and the brand needs to match the product! If you’re going into the bracelet business, you should have a creative eye for both.
You can cut costs by doing some development and design work yourself. Once you know your branding, you’ll need to select and buy packaging.
Unlike earrings and necklaces, bracelets are relatively easy to ship, and require minimal packaging.
Choose a packaging option that matches your product. For example, you can keep packaging minimal if you make cute charm bracelets for children.
But if you’re selling premium bracelets to adults, you’ll need jewelry boxes to match as it’s part of the experience.
The start-up costs of a bracelet business will vary massively depending on your chosen niche. Leather, glass, and fine jewelry will all come with high start-up costs.
But for the charm and beaded bracelets, you can potentially keep costs down.
What do You need To Get Started In The Bracelet Business?
To start a bracelet business, you’ll need to purchase the materials to make your bracelets. The best way to do this is with wholesale or bulk buying.
Bracelet chains can be purchased in long lengths of cable, to be cut and altered as you need. With the very basics purchased, it’s time to invest in your accessories.
From gemstones, to beads, to charms, you have plenty of options. Alternatively, you may be purchasing raw materials such as leather, resin, or air dry clay.
You’ll also need to purchase some tools. For most bracelet styles, you’ll be able to use fairly basic jewelry-making tools.
If you’re building your business out of a bracelet-making hobby, then you potentially already have the tools you need! With your bracelets ready, it’s time to think about shipping.
You’ve made some fabulous bracelets — now they need packaging to match. You might want to invest in branded boxes if you’re creating bespoke pieces.
Otherwise, cardboard bracelet boxes or cloth bags can be bulk bought at a low cost. Finally, you might want to invest in a mannequin hand for displaying or to just show off your work!
Where To Sell Your Bracelets?
With all your products ready to go, it’s time to start making some money. The obvious place to sell your bracelets is Etsy. You can read how to open an Etsy store here.
This selling platform has become almost synonymous with handmade jewelry, and setting up an account is relatively inexpensive.
There’s also plenty of room for expansion as your business grows. Other online options include Amazon Handmade and Aftcra.
Alternatively, you can set up your personal online store. Shopify is an incredibly popular platform for this.
The advantage of opening your own store is control, but building a customer base on an isolated platform can be difficult. And, of course, you can try selling in person.
Check out craft stores and marketplaces in your area to see if there are suitable options for selling your bracelets.
Handmade bracelets can be an impulse buy, so a physical store is an excellent way to make money.
Finally, don’t forget to utilize social media! Instagram has become one of the best ways for crafters to get their products noticed.
Make the most of the algorithm by emphasizing hashtags and creating a social network.
Bracelets are part of an aspirational lifestyle, so compliment your promotional posts with non-promotional posts. You can gain more followers and increase engagement.
What To Do Next?
If your bracelet business has been a success, there are many ways to expand. The obvious option is to start offering more styles!
Bracelets are hugely versatile, so you can keep creating gorgeous designs to attract new customers. Alternatively, you might want to branch out into other jewelry niches.
Earrings, necklaces, rings: bracelet styles are often easy to adapt into other forms of jewelry.
Or, you can start offering personalization services! Personalization is a hugely popular trend in online jewelry and an excellent choice for a premium product.
Final Thoughts
A bracelet business is a natural niche for crafters with an eye for fashion. Pick a bracelet style and figure out exactly which materials you want to use, and get busy making.
Once you’ve nailed your product and brand, start creating, and start selling!
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