Gateway Farm
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Re:I am just curious so I want to ask all of you.. - 2006/04/17 04:51
I can assure you that our clip is not "too small" to attract commercial proccessors.
The co-op is engaged in commercial processing, using US mills, even as I write.
Does a 10,000 pound lot of fiber being processed at one time sound commercial enough for you?
For reasons that escape me, there are a lot of myths about "commercial" processing in the US that simply are not true.
The natural mix of different shades of fiber that the co-op collects process into a beautiful rose grey yarn when combined. This is usable in a variety of products, including our heavy duty socks (in production) and hats, scraves glvoes and blankets (prototypes either in hand, or being developed).
Hand knitting yarns can be made in commercial quantities in any number of colors out of the current clip. (Hand knitting yarns are a niche market)
The big problem facing the co-op is neither the amount of clip, nor the processing aspects, but rather the cash flow problems that are created by the long manufacturing pipeline. It takes from 6-18 months between initial clip collection and sale of finished product. That means $5-$10 a pound (depending on product) are tied up for that length of time.
In other words, if the co-op starts processing of 10k pounds of clip, we have a minimum of $40k committed for a minimum of 6 months to cover variable costs (processing/marketing/etc.) and another $10k per month to cover fixed costs (warehouse, insurance, utilities, salaries for two staff, etc).
That is somewhere between $100k and $160k cash tied up, which is not chump change. Potential gross sales on that will easily exceed $200k.
But, as they say, cash flow is king, and right now it is cash flow that is the biggest challenge to the co-op.
What we need is to find ways to see that the co-op survives and overcomes the difficulties created by poor past management.
What we don't need is to waste our energy reinventing the wheel.
Hundreds of man hours have been invested over the past two years in developing connections, relationships, contacts and resources between AFCNA and US textile manufacturers. If we could re-establish the credibility of the co-op in the minds of the producers there is little that we can not accomplish together.
John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
Alpaca, a natural elegance... |
