We at our parent company, No-Nonsense Business Solutions, LLC, and at Sarah’s Yarns, want to express our most sincere gratitude to JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers.
I have been a knitter since I was a child, and many years before I decided to go into the business of selling yarns I noticed that the yarn lines offered by these firms were unsurpassed in their textural and color consistencies, which is no surprise because these firms have invested years of research since the late 1800’s in order to accomplish these objectives. I can assure you that these JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers quality objectives continue to shine.
The JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers yarns are manufactured 100% in the USA, by really nice people in Maine. These people put their heart-and-souls into making sure that their products are of the best quality, because they believe in the USA and in not seeing our money go to other countries.
JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers have received world-wide calls from yarn resellers and retailers complaining about our pricing, and they never once caved in. They believe in the USA, and in the free-market policies that we, as Americans, are supposed to stand for. Sure, they give advice to our competitors about “how we do it,” but that is a good thing for all of us and we sincerely appreciate the competition.
All the best to the person from whom I’ve learned the most, Chuck Desmond, from JaggerSpun.
--Sarah Siegel
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26 comments:
Your comments imply like you are some huge longstanding sucessful company when you have only been in business a few months. What good business has this much negativity in their first few months? Angry emails, phone calls, threats? Your success is yet to be demonstrated. Maybe there is something to learn here and you should be a bit more open to the criticism. Maybe you are the one who is missing something. Like business 101 and economics 101
Hypocrisy! Your money doesn't go to other countries, does it?
It's great that Jagger will not cave to such petulance and supports the free market system. I just received my order from you and was so impressed. Your service is excellent! I cannot wait to order from you again. Thanks so much!
To The Anonymous Blogger Who Is Overly Concerned About "Size:"
Who said anything about “size?”
While it is true that after overhearing many conversations among my superiors, peers and subordinates during my 20+ year career on Wall Street I am now under the impression that a great deal of men seem to be overly concerned about “size,” we merely tried to express our gratitude.
I personally have been reselling yarns for several years. I started out as a sole proprietor. After working with my partner for two years under a different entity, I organized “No-Nonsense Business Solutions, LLC” under the laws of the State of New York over a year ago. It is true that we established the official name “Sarah’s Yarns” a few months ago, and shortly after that we released our website. But yarn sales are not new to me. And neither are knitting and certain related fiber arts.
So what’s wrong with trying to grow up?
If the angry e-mails, phone calls and threats were coming from our customers, we would be seriously concerned. However, these are coming from Yarn retailers and wholesalers that sell the same things that we do.
We are very open to criticism. Unfortunately, you have offered nothing useful in your post for us to consider. But I most humbly agree with you that even though I was fortunate enough to have earned a BS/MS in Chemical Engineering, an MBA in Finance, developed a 20+ career on Wall Street where I was a successful player, taught at Columbia University over a period of five (5) years during the early through mid nineties, bla, bla, bla, we must always remember that other people know much more than we do. Frankly, I’ve gotten the best advice in my life from the most destitute and unfortunate people that I have come across during the period in my life when I hit rock-bottom, and I only wish that I was in a position to truly give something back in return at the time when such advice was given to me. Oh, well, I guess that’s part of the nature of the Mysterious circle of Life.
Rest assured that I will be un-dusting my old textbooks. All the best!
--Sarah Siegel
To The Anonymous Blogger Who Is Asking About Whether Or Not Our Money Goes to Other Countries:
According to the 2005 CRB Commodity Yearbook, there are very few – if any –suppliers in the US who produce silk, let alone being able to meet even a tiny fraction of US consumer demands (which means wholesalers, retailers, the Fashion Industry, etc). Most of the world’s silk supplies come from (in order of size of exports): China, Brazil and North Korea. The aforementioned CRB further reports the World’s largest importers of silk during 2002 as having been (in order of size of imports): India, Italy, Japan and South Korea.
According to a variety of sources, while there are a few suppliers out there raising goats in order to produce Cashmere here in the US, they simply are too few and far between. Our US suppliers simply can’t compete with 40+ million Chinese goats. World Cashmere supplies come from China, Mongolia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, New Zealand, and Australia.
We can thus sadly conclude that there are indeed a great deal of American dollars flowing to other countries through the Yarn business, with the exception of 100% wools, where the US is actually a major player and exporter.
My understanding is that JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers are therefore forced to import some of their raw materials (silks, in particular). However, all of their manufacturing (spinning, plying, dying, winding, etc.) is handled right here in the US, unlike other wholesalers who just outsourced their entire operations overseas. Because of this, the quality of their product offerings, and the free-market policies that the company adheres to, JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers lines constitute our “staple” product offerings around which we want to build.
We recently started doing business with ArtYarns, and during conversations that I had with them we have come to find that they import a great deal of their raw materials from Italy (their merinos and cashmeres) and Japan (their silks).
Companies like Tilli Tomas, Jade Sapphire Yarns, and most other wholesalers simply outsource almost everything overseas.
So to conclude, you are right. US money goes to other countries through the Yarn business. That just seems to be the nature of this business. That's why companies like JaggerSpun and Jagger Brothers are really important to us.
--Sarah Siegel
You are a bit of a nut.
Keep tooting your own horn.
To the last anomymous bloggers:
I guess we live in a Society where expressing one's gratitude is viewed as "nutty" or "tooting one's own horn."
Too bad. When I was growing up, I was taught to thank people.
Times have indeed changed.
--Sarah
Sarah it is not your thanking people that anyone has a hard time with. It is your long responses to the anonymous posters. You seem to be missing much of what people are saying to you. Or trying to.
Um, it's her company blog, why shouldn't she toot her own horn? And she's doing so in the comments section in response to some pretty childish attacks, it's not like she's front-paging her education and degrees. Get a grip.
I think that certain yarn retailers are lucky that Sarah hasn't published the IP addresses of those that are making these childish, petty comments and are threatening her via email. It's really easy to track who's writing what and I doubt these silly, petty people have been using an IP anonymizer gateway. It'd be interesting to see the results of a good IP address detective session. It's fortunate for them that Sarah does not appear interested in dragging the level of discourse to their level.
To The Anonymous Poster Who Says That My Responses To Anonymous Posters Are Long And That We Are Missing What They Are Saying Or Trying To Say:
We do not respond to most of our Anonymous posters. Some of these are derisive at best, and a few are downright insulting. However, when an Anonymous poster’s comments include misstatements of facts and/or outright lies, then I personally feel compelled to respond. As a matter of respect for the Anonymous poster, our customers, and whatever yarn consumer(s) may be viewing our Blog, I believe that our responses deserve complete factual explanations based on credible sources. In some cases, these particular responses may end up being long. Sure, I could probably convey the same information using fewer words, but English Writing is not one of the subjects that I studied and it is not my particular strength.
Going forward, I will take your suggestion to heart and will try my best to say the same things with fewer words.
I will be most grateful if you can elucidate what specific facts you feel that I am missing from what these Anonymous posters are saying, or trying to say.
--Sarah
I am a retail business owner in another market and an avid knitter, so I have been following this subject with great interest. What's happening in the yarn world is no different that all other areas of retail. Sarah, you need to understand that to be a respected business in the LONG TERM, you need to gain the RESPECT of not only your customers, but your peers - the other retail yarn sellers and manufacturers. I would think you would want manufacturers to respect and admire what you are doing with their products - not the other way around.
I have been in the retail business for over 11 years, 6 of those on the internet. Discounting products on the internet will only make products more scarce in the marketplace. Eventually manufacturers will not allow any internet sales if they cannot control how their products are represented. And, since you will have stamped yourself as a discounter, there will be few, if any, manufacturers willing to sell to you.
Start planning your next business venture, because this one is short lived.
To the last Anonymous post that refers to LONG TERM RESPECT:
I must clarify that we are not “Discounters.” We simply price our offerings based on our costs and on the characteristics of the individual yarn lines that we carry. We pass our savings on to our customers. That's very different than just plain "discounting."
We have been contacted by many manufacturers who want us to sell their yarns because they see the commitment that we put into each of our lines, as is evident throughout our website. For example, a lot of yarn wholesalers do not have color cards available to sell to us – so we produce them ourselves for our customers.
Are we perfect? No way. We can do much better, and we will surely try to do so.
We carefully select the wholesalers and manufactures that we buy from, for a number of reasons. Of paramount importance to us is the fact that we will not do business with any firm that dictates “keystone pricing,” or price fixing, because we refuse to break The Law and hurt yarn consumers through artificially inflated prices.
If gaining RESPECT from our peers means that we have to break The Law and consequently hurt yarn consumers through artificially inflated prices, then you can count us out. We will just have to live without our peers’ so-called “RESPECT.”
Based on the post that we were asked to publish on our Blog for the Consumer Friendly Yarns website, it appears that there are a lot of “peers” out there that operate following the same philosophies that we do.
--Sarah Siegel
P.S.: Why don’t you Anonymous posters just outright state who you are? We have nothing to hide. Why should you?
You are DEFINITELY discounters. Come on! Call a spade a spade. It is simply ridiculous to say that you aren't. I agree with the last anonymous poster. Take some heart in what the person is saying to you because she or he is very wise.
You do NOT have the respect of your peers which includes fellow yarn retailer, internet and storefront. I think people will now not support ArtYarns if they continue to sell to you. It isn't a good thing that you sell ArtYarns for 4 or 5 less a skein than everyone else? Or any other yarn. Why would you want to attempt to hurt others businesses like that just to get more sales. You don't run a tighter ship than others. That is an excuse. You are just willing to make much less on each skein while others can't afford to.
To the last Anonymous Poster who is now complaining about our Artyarns Regal Silk yarn sales:
You are saying that we are selling this yarn for 4 to 5 less per skein than everybody else -- that would imply that "everybody else" is selling it for $20.50-$21.50. That is simply not true.
Go do your market research, and go pick on the other guys as well. And when you make your calls to Artyarns to complain about us, complain about the other guys in addition to us.
I am sick and tired of all of you whiners. Get your facts straight before you whine. Maybe you whiners out to work more and whine less. And you should also have the guts to state who you are.
--Sarah
To all the whiners who post Anonymously to our Blog:
You are right, I have no respect whatsoever for whiners.
I don't sit on the phone all day like you do calling my suppliers complaining about other resellers and asking my suppliers to "stop selling to so-and-so or we won't buy from you anymore." Instead, I work my butt off all day -- like I'm doing now at 2:30am here in Brooklyn after working 20 hours straight.
Grow up.
--Sarah.
Wow. I had no idea that yarn retailers, both online and storefront, had so little respect for their customers. Seriously, whining to Sarah "you don't respect meeeeeeee!!!" over this? Pretty pathetic. Let the woman do business how she pleases, in peace. Don't try to sabotage her relations with manufacturers just because you cannot or will not run as tight a ship as she does.
Spinning my own is looking better and better to me at this point, if this is the attitude of the online retailer community (with the exception of Sarah).
Two thoughts:
1. It seems that most retailers list prices that are in the $21-22 range for Artyarns Regal. Most, but not all. But if we assume that customers flock to the lowest price first, then when that retailer runs out of stock the customers will go to the higher-priced retailers if they want that yarn, right?
... and if the customers *don't* go to the higher-priced retailers for that yarn, then it suggests that customers don't think the yarn is worth that price, doesn't it?
2. Does Anonymous, etc. send similar messages to KnitPicks and Elann, who are selling private label yarns that come from some of the same mills as brand-name yarns?
Answer to J.’s Comments:
Very interesting comments; here’s what I think:
1. I’m not sure what you mean by “retailers.” Based on a market study that we did on Artyarns products when we first considered their product lines – as they are indeed beautiful – the national average list price for Artyarns Regal Silk is $18.00. This national average includes all Internet sources, and LYS’s. Most LYS’s sell Artyarns Regal Silk within the $21-22 range.
Consumer Behavior is the subject of constant and universal market research. Some people really want something, and they want it now, and they’ll just pay whatever it costs just to have it. However, as the US Economy has been progressively hit by inflation (which the government didn’t talk much about during the beginning of this cycle), by rising energy costs, the disasters that occurred when the hurricanes hit, etc., the trend seems to be that people have become much more discriminating when it comes to how much they are willing to pay for things in general. I have learned from my customers the true meaning of the word “shopping,” as most of them carefully research and compare prices before they make a purchase, without rushing into anything.
Something that we learned from the Tilli Tomas experience was that as we developed our own yarn color cards and sent them to all first-time customers in order to promote these product lines, our customers started to like the products. Of course they didn’t want to pay the artificially inflated prices that their products continue to be pegged at, so they tried to buy from us first. However, when they really wanted a color or line that we didn’t have, they would go to their local LYS and just pay-up. Until everybody became aware of just how artificially overpriced these products truly are.
As a side note, I would like to point out that all of our hard work in developing color cards for and in promoting Tilli Tomas products not only benefited Tilli Tomas, it benefited the LYS’s, as we actually helped increase sales of Tilli Tomas products for LYS’s in general!
Another thing that we’ve learned is that consumers in the fiber arts markets are very savvy – they certainly know much more than we do, and can gauge the “real” value of a product right away. I’ve learned a great deal from the many conversations that I’ve had with our customers. So yes, maybe if they don’t go to the higher-priced retailers it certainly is because they don’t think the yarn is really worth that higher price.
2. I don’t know the answer to that question, and it is a good one.
All the best.
--Sarah
By the way, J., you have some really cool stuff on your website!
--Sarah
What I love about all this is how all the disparaging remarks are made by anonymous commenters. How can they expect us to respect anything they say when they themselves are not willing to stand behind their words publicly? You are a more open woman than me, because if I found people to be posting like this on my blog, I would prohibit anonymous comments. Not prevent people from posting their opinions, but at least require them to take responsibility for their words. The anonymous posts just reek of cowardice.
Sorry I'm reading this so late, and reading the somewhat puerile comments... I bought a cone of Zephyr from you last year while you were doing it on eBay, it's a great yarn and nice to know it's from here in the US. If you want American yarns, would you consider Brown Sheep yarns from Mitchell, NE? I have no association with them, in fact their wool and mohair Lamb's Pride is spun too loosely for the garments I make, although their Cotton Fleece is terrific. Just my opinion here.
Any business owner has the right to stock merchandise of his/her choosing, and to price for what the market will bear and what will net a projected profit. There are a lot of internet yarn shops whose overhead expenses are such that they can sell more cheaply than my LYS, even after paying for shipping. Who isn't using the WWW to find the best prices?
Sarah - you just keep on doing what you are doing.
Thank God we live in the USA where folks can (or at least should be able to) speak their minds without the fear of retaliation or censorship ... (oh, I know, now someone will post something criticizing who / how I choose to thank)!
Sarah, Discovering your business has enabled many people in this economy to purchase lovely yarns, specifically JaggerSpun, and please don't cave in to greedy competitors who lose out to you because intelligent customers recognize not just fair pricing, but QUALITY serivce, honest professionalism, and a pleasant transaction in an all too greedy world! I'd take on your anonymous bloggers any day, and I do have a doctorate and post-doctorate, business experience, and a very good touch of the world of knitters and weavers. Many who cannot "do it" themselves are left to criticism.
Thank you very much to the last post for your very kind words.
I must humbly admit that it has been a challenge in this economy to maintain fair pricing while continuing to most cautiously expand our existing yarn lines and/or bring in new 100% luxury natural fiber yarn line offerings to our customers. However, the most tiring challenge for me in particular has been working within this Industry: putting up with phone and email threats from our competitors, and emails loaded with viruses to bring us down. We have traced these and we know where they come from, but we will not fight back in like kind because I still believe in human decency. And every time we make a move our suppliers continue to get inundated with phone calls viciously complaining about us and Yours Truly. As a result, we have security guard dogs watching our building, and we have to pay some security people money to watch over us as well.
Forgetting about the fact that our competitors can't deal with competition: the most alarming aspect of their behavior is that they continue to want to ignore the critical issues that we are facing today in our country, in particular, the effects of inflation and the Sub-Prime crisis that our country is attempting to deal with, and the effects that these and related issues have had on our Economy and on the buying power of everyday Americans.
So the nerve to sell nice people yarns priced so they would have to pay $250+ to make an average sweater ... making things yourself is supposed to cost LESS, not MORE.
Yes, greed is a most powerful force as it seems to blind a lot of people.
But I still refuse to give up.
Best wishes!
Sarah Siegel
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