Leather, Leather and MORE Leather!
Hi - Elf DeAnn here!
For the last 3 weeks I have been on a journey to clean, organize, sort, cut and determine the use of our leather inventory. We have over 46 in stock leather colors/types and several hides of each. There were big pieces, small pieces, beautiful pieces and some pretty homely pieces-- colors everywhere! Even though I have worked with leather every day for 7 years, this process has been a very good learning experience. I have found more about the leather I cut every day and how to use one hide more efficiently. When you "read" a hide you have to determine what you can get out of it - such as size of shoe, if it is the right weight for that design, and if there are scars that will hurt the integrity of the shoe. In a addition - is it too hairy, too much marble, too many lines --- oops! missed that little hole. Because each and every order is a unique and custom creation, we have to be very clever about how we cut the hide and not waste material. Trish got us containers for all our orphaned shoe pieces awaiting their calling to become someone's adorable little Soft Star Shoe.
Our leather shelves are a beautiful array of colors now, and our containers are loaded up for Leah to match and make that special shoe. I believe with the new system in place we will have no more scrap boxes (yeah!) and that we be much more efficient with our leather / less scraps. (Sorry crafters :-). Don't worry - there is always a little left. We donate some of it to local schools, tour groups, Playful Pancake construction and fashion some of them into star kits, wands and little crowns for the kids. It has been many hours of work (not all fun) but it feels great to be done and I am looking forward to a new day.
Soft Star Shoes is a family friendly company located in Corvallis, Oregon. Viewpoints in this blog are those of individual workshop elves, and do not necessarily represent those of www.SoftStarShoes.com
Growing up in rural Wisconsin, Tricia spent her summers running around barefoot with her sisters and brother. These early memories later inspired her to build a brand which embraced the joy and freedom of childhood with the health and science of minimal footwear. After 20+ years at the helm as C. Elf. O, Softstar proudly transitioned to employee-owned, and Tricia became the C.F.O. at Softstar. She is a frequent expert panelist for both e-commerce and entrepreneurship conferences.
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