Jackie Week 6

This week I did some research about possible outlets to sell the skate bag.  I looked at how to sell at Brooklyn Flea and The Market NYC on Bleecker Street.  Both options are a little costly.  Brooklyn Flea charges venders between $120 to $225 for a day.  The Market NYC on Bleecker does offer a special deal of weekend participants, $180 for the  three days. They include: wifi, storage, tables and chairs, all we would need to do is bring our bags to sell.  While the prices are possibly doable I am more interested in pursuing these options with another group from class so the cost is less.  It will also require some advance planing to book the space, as well as actual product to sell.  

I also have a square card reader and account.  So we are ready for those mobile sales with credit cards.  Square takes 2.75% of the cost but there is no membership fee.  We can use my Employer Identification Number (EIN) for tax purposes.

During the break Huy had two art works up for auction at Skate Night presented by KCDC, VILLAIN, REDBULL, 5BORONYC in collaboration with the Skate and Draw Collective.  The entertainment of the evening was DJ Benrobey of Ninjasonic and Rob Bryn of Wild Yaks preforming a Solo Set.  The space even had a mini ramp set up!  The event was a benefit for the Rockaway Skatepark to be rebuilt.  

Experiencing the community around skateboarding culture was wonderful.  I even ran into a colleague form work.  She had previously interviewed a group of White Mountain Apache skateboarders for a documentary and was really surprised to learn about the sense of community and the prominence of art in skateboard culture.  So chatting with her at this event reinforced the sense of community I was seeing first hand.  I was also able to talk to a couple of skaters and tell them about our project and they are interested to see what we produce.  

The event got me thinking.  What if we donated a portion of the proceeds of the bag to help rebuild the skate park.  Huy and I talked about this at the event as well.  I think if we could donate about 25% (or more).  Part of my thinking behind the percentage we can donate is this: We came into this class without the goal of making a net profit of $1,500.  Any money we make after covering costs is bonus (and the goal).  If we are splitting the profits four ways each person takes away 18.75% vs 25% it is a differences of 6.25% that will allow us to donate 25% of profit to aiding the community that we are marketing towards.  Not to mention this will set us apart from other skate bags.  

I also took a look at NYSkateboarding.com to get a better understanding of what is going on in NYC skateboard culture on the internet.  I found that NY skateboarding has free stuff Fridays.  I would like to give them a bag to give away and tell them our story.  That we are making this bag as a class project.  The story of how it is inspired by Huy’s first hand experience.  That the bag is made in NYC and that we want to use the money we made to help the skateboard community rebuild in Rockaway.  

Some next steps will include photographing the bag and making some to sell.  We can also reach out to all the people involved in the Skate Night event.