The State of Jefferson Alpaca Association - Re:SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux

SOJAA Forums

home | post reply | threaded view | help

Boardwalk :: Forum List

State of Jefferson Alpaca Association Forums

Fleece and Fiber

<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

Gateway Farm
Admin

Admin

Posts: 100

SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux - 2006/02/01 19:27 Adrian started a thread discussing the idea of a SOJAA fiber mill that had to be locked down due to technical problems.

Here's hoping that we can get the discussion going again as a new thread.

John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
http://www.gateway-alpacas.com
Alpaca, a natural elegance... John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
Alpaca, a natural elegance...

| | The administrator has disabled public write access.

Adrian Stewart
Visitor

Re:SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux - 2006/02/02 09:11 Well lets get this rolling again...

Call it brainstorming but I was thinking why not have a SOJAA fibre mill?

Process the fibre locally and sell the completed products locally.

John who is on the board of the fibre coop explained that the economics might not be too good once we rent premises and pay wages....

My reply was that maybe we go further up the value chain and rent two shops one in Ashland and one in Bend where we sell our products and some other products that we buy in.

After all cashmere and mohair are great products but its the brands like Ralph Lauren and retailers like Daks 5th Avenue that make the big money not the guys farming goats...

Thats kind of where we got to...

Adrian
http:///www.mulberryalpacas.com

| | The administrator has disabled public write access.

Adorabella
User

Hembra

Posts: 19

Re:SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux - 2006/02/03 12:26 Who would run these two shops? I think we must first processd in getting yarn, felt, and raw fiber made up and marketed then grow into the area of retail. Just thinking that within this group alone we have over 1 ton of fiber that can be processed.

| | The administrator has disabled public write access.

Lynn Roy
Visitor

Re:SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux - 2006/02/03 20:27 I read an article in One Voice about an AOBA affiliate that has a skirting day. They all get together and skirt their fleece that they put into a pool. The fleece is then sent off to a local mini mill that gives them a volume discount. The yarn is then given back to the members at cost for them to resell. This is part of the groups buying power. Now what if you could take this one step further and take the output of a mini mill and get a sock manufacturer to produce socks for us. I personnally buy about 200 pairs of socks a year that I resell. I bet SOJAA alone buys about 2,000+ socks a year. These are goals that can be obtained without large capital expenditures. It's all in the volume buying power.

| | The administrator has disabled public write access.

Moon Dancing
User

Macho

Posts: 34

Re:SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux - 2006/02/10 23:10 SOJAA has a Mini Mill in members Lynn and Jim Roy. SOJAA's April meeting will be at the mill in Fort Jones. Now we need a member to front a sock machine. There is tons of grant money available from the USDA for small farms and value added endevers, such as a sock machine. (is spell check an option here? Or am I dead in the water?)
Alpaca Farms in the Redding/Red Bluff area are reaping the benifits of joint selling and co-operation. It cuts the overhead and it increases the products available to the public. It gives us all better exposure. We sell each other items like they were our own. We have also changed the focus from trying to sell alpaca products to alpaca people and are focusing on the general public is small shops and are getting into trade shows. If there is a Teddy-Bear show in your town co-op a booth and sell felting needles and your raw fleece or rovings in all 22+ natural colors. There are many options to better serve us all. This website is one. Thanks John.

| | The administrator has disabled public write access.

Adorabella
User

Hembra

Posts: 19

Re:SOJAA Fiber Mill Redux - 2006/02/12 12:03 Then John, tell me when AFCNA is going to show me some return on my investment (clip). If SoJAA alone would support the Roy's, they could outgrow their operation to where they need more machines and maybe another avenue of manufacturing--socks. This group buys alot of them. Holding some of the profit in house could be a possiblity. Your points are well taken and in any business plan a "devil's advocate" is needed to open the lines of communication.

ps/ could you put a spell check in this section?

| | The administrator has disabled public write access.

<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

Boardwalk :: Forum List State of Jefferson Alpaca Association Forums Fleece and Fiber

Joomlaboard Forum Component 1.1.3 Stable
Two Shoes M-Factory