Starting An Upholstery Business? Here’s Everything You Need To Know
If you are planning to set up an upholstery business, but don’t know how exactly to start and set it up, things can seem extremely overwhelming.
There’s a whole world of new entrepreneurs struggling with their amazing ideas. But don’t worry. We know how and where to start.
In this blog, we’ve listed everything you need to know about running your own upholstery business.
Identify Your Target Market
First Things First, determine your audience. Do you want to offer upholstery services to your local market? Is it going to be on a national or international scale? What’s the age group of customers you are targeting? What are their likes or dislikes? Are you opening a brick and mortar store or an online business or both? Who are your target customers -- antique dealers, interior designers, vehicle restoration shops, furniture stores, corporate customers seeking bespoke furniture upholstery services?
It’s important to answer these questions in order to develop a customer persona.
Estimate Demand
It’s equally important to find out whether there is enough demand for your business. This entirely depends on the range of upholstery services you are planning to offer. Are you planning to offer upholstery and reupholstery of furniture items? Do you also want to reupholster Vehicle seats? Modern equipment? Seating arrangements for all types of restaurants? Will you offer made-to-measure covers, curtains and blinds? Will you be selling upholstered items? No matter which upholstery service/s you plan to offer, you must perform a competitor analysis. You need to understand where they stand, what they offer, how much they charge and the area they target.
You may have multiple competitors, if you want to stand apart from them, you must have a USP.
Research Trends
Find out what’s trending in the market. Login to Pinterest and browse the trendy fabric options. Get in touch with furniture designers & interior decorators to get the hang of the evolving customer needs and changing trends. Look out for cheap designer fabrics and fabric stores offering upholstery fabric at affordable prices. Understand what your customers want. Conduct surveys, ask your friends, family or colleagues about how often they use upholstery services.
Gather Tools And Supplies
Whether you want to upholster new furniture items for the domestic or commercial sector, craft bespoke furniture pieces, or reupholster seating arrangements, you will have to gather a range of different upholstery and decorative fabrics like Swavelle Mill Creek fabrics.
You will also require some tools like:
- web stretcher
- staple and tack removers and lifters
- ripping chisels
- yard/meter rulers
- staple and glue guns
- hammers and mallets
- scissors, trimming knives, splitters, punches and other cutters
- workbenches
- regulators
- needles and skewers
Whether you need upholstery fabric by the yard, bundles or fat quarter, All About Fabrics can supply quality fabric at competitive rates.
Final Thoughts
As you plan on launching a startup, you may face roadblocks. But always remember, that’s not the end of the world. Hard work and dedication will definitely pay off.