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[PrimitivArtific]

I'm trying to get back into leather crafting but this time I really want to combine my love of leather craft with my nerdy hobbies. Cosplay seems like a perfect outlet for this. The problem is, I don't know what I could make out of leather exactly or, more importantly, if people would even be willing to buy it.

Leather is expensive, there's no two ways about it, and despite the quality I know I could provide in my construction I don't know if people would be willing to spend the extra money for real, high quality leather goods when they can get cheap pleather, ect. Of course I will be trying to sell my goods for as reasonable a price as possible (I still have to make some profit), the quality would be good, but the overall cost will be higher than faux leather and whatnot.

My question then is this; do you think you or others would want to buy legit, high quality leather goods for their cosplay?
And can you think of any items in particular that you would like to see rendered in real leather?

Thanks for any help guys =D

[o01101011]

I think it really depends on the items.

Godsavethequeen works with real leather all the time, from boots to gloves and sometimes bodysuits.

[Pocketfightr]

I always see a booth at the cons around here selling leather bracers, hats, bottle holders and other stuff usable for medieval and steampunk costumes. I always see people looking, I have no idea how much in sales they make. I know I always like to look at stuff with lots of neat leather details but can't think of anything offhand.

[PrimitivArtific]

It's good to know some people work with leather. Steampunk is probably the best bet as leather is sort of indispensible to the aestetic of it. I suppose I'll be having to focus on accessories and footwear.
Thanks for the replies guys

[AshofRebirth]

You'd be surprised. There are people that would rather buy leather than cheaper pleather. Hey, if they're a big enough fan of it.
Pleather just doesn't have the look of leather. As hard as it tries to lol

[ShinobiXikyu]

If I had the money, I'd work with genuine leather. As my budget stands, most of my leather cosplay items are pleather. Only genuine ones I own are a pair of bracers, a pair of boots, and an errant pouch. My belts/leather strappings, other pouches (I have numerous cosplays with pouch-filled belts), torso armour I made for my boyfriend, two of my cheaper shoes/boots and a bag I'm planning are pleather.

[CapsuleCorp]

Oh, there's a market for it, but yeah, your best bet is steampunk and original designs. If you can wet-form for hard leather, and/or do a lot of quality tooling and dye effects, that will go over big. People do like leather, but they're more likely to open up their pocketbooks for things they can't actually make themselves. Armor-grade leather and actual leather armor, and nicely tooled items, are a big investment for a newb (as I'm sure you know) so most people just looking to make a leather item once aren't going to put the money into tools and supplies to make their own when someone out there can make them one and they can just plunk down the credit card.

Play your cards right and you may be able to make yourself available to have people commission actual cosplay items from you. Your bread and butter may be stuff for ren faires and steampunkers, but once in a while someone may ask you for something from a video game or whatnot. As long as you're open to taking custom orders like that, it'll help, and will allow you to broaden your horizons.

[PrimitivArtific]

Yes, it seems a focus on steampunk or fantasy is the way to go. I have a lot of research ahead of me. In the end I'm looking to make ends meet no matter the genre I go into. I want to be able to hit a few fests and cons during the summer to support a bunch of work during the cold months (I've heard quite a few leather crafters live off of 2-3 festivals a year) but I'm just worried I'll drop a bunch of money and end up with no profit. I'm good at my craft but I'm terrible at business x_x

Thanks for the advice and information guys, it is greatly appreciated.

[BruisedBlood]

for my hitman reborn cosplay im getting my pants in leather and so my jacket because in pictures his pants are leather and his jacket because it has that shiny feel to it

However im getting it made for me in hong kong so its only $90 since they already have the material not bad on here they wanted $250 x__x dont have that kind of money lol

[PrimitivArtific]

I dunno man. I'm looking around at cosplay shops online and I could make quite a few of these accessories for significantly cheaper. Then again, my profit margin is also probably much smaller.
I think focus on props, accessories, and masks (one of the things I used to do anyhow) might yield some good results. I'm all full of ideas now =D