Why so many shaitel brands?

gp2.0

Wed, Sep 19 2012, 6:42 pm

Happy18 wrote:

gp2.0 wrote:

I suspect lots of these brands are clones, coming from the exact same manufacturers, with a different label slapped on. I know that's how it works with food. People will swear that one brand of fish sticks is dry and horrible and the other brand is moist and delicious and the truth is they both come from the same exact factory.

I dont think custom sheitels work that way, which is probably why many people prefer to buy customs.

I didn't say I think all the sheitels are exactly the same. I said I believe many of the BRANDS are the same. Meaning, one person will say they love Kiki, one person will love Rachel and hate Kiki, and the truth is they can both be coming from the same exact factory, made of the same quality hair, using the same methods.

zaq

Wed, Sep 19 2012, 7:47 pm

Manufacturers also have an interest in using multiple names to create an illusion of competition. Don't like the Kiki? Try the Hiki or the Shtiki. The name is different, the mfr is the same, the customer feels she has a choice, while what's really happening is the mfr. gets the business either way.

Hey, I once lived in a place with three different pharmacies. What few people knew was that all three were owned by the same person, but only one was run by the owner. The other two were run by managers, each of a different ethnicity and attracting a clientele of a different ethnicity. If you got mad at the owner of your shop, you marched out and went to one of the other shops. That showed him, all right! Showed him all the way to the bank.

Grandmama

Wed, Sep 19 2012, 8:48 pm

I personally know one direct importer of custom wigs, who sells to many shaitelmachers. They each put their own names on the wigs. But they all come from China, and they are all basically the same. They have been doing this for years now, as I guess they are making a lucrative business out of it. They call it European hair, but it is woven and made in China, and that they don't tell anyone. Sometimes it is being made in Thailand or other places. Most of it is done in China. By now there are Jewish people managing those factories in Hong Kong or China, so there is a bigger markup to support the middleman who is living there. But these wigs run a few hundred wholesale, and sell for a few thousand.....And the women selling them make it seem as though it were custom made right here for you.....

ceo

Thu, Sep 20 2012, 6:33 am

I have a friend in the sheitel business. this is what she told me:

1) Many of the mid-priced brands (ie- around $600ish) are all made in the same few factories in China. There might be a chinese guy (let's call him Mr. Lee) who is the middle man. Mr. Lee is buying "mongolian" hair, and making sheitels out of them, then selling them to various companies in america. Mr. Lee does very little quality control, but he does try to keep the customer happy, so she will continue to buy from them. When I say "customer," I don't mean the end user, but the lady who is running the sheitel company. So among the mid-priced brand of sheitels, I think that most are being made this way

2) Higher end sheitels: this is a little different. A sheitel manufacturer will buy hair of different qualirties and go through each hair to make sure that the cuticle is itact, etc... Then she will (or not, depending on the wig maker) send it off to the factory in china to have it made.

So among the lower price brands, I really don't think that there is too much difference. And in fact, this particular friend of mine was once selling another brand of sheitels with her name on it-- the wholesaler wanted her to do that! But with more expensive brands, that's the general idea. Now,if someone is selling you "European" hair that's pretty cheap, this is probably why: Mr. Lee is buying "European" hair and manufacturing it into a sheitel. but again, there is very little quality control, or whatever.

This is just what my friend told me about the business. Please take what I said with that understanding-- I could have very easily made a mistake or gotten wrong information., but I tihnk this is the general idea.

First Lady

Thu, Sep 20 2012, 6:40 am

gp2.0 wrote:

Many food companies actually have a few names for this very reason. It's like they have their regular brand and then their outlet brand. If a food item for some reason did not yield the expected results they will put it under their other, cheaper label.
So sometimes it is true that one brand is better than the other even if they are coming from the same manufacturer.

Cookies n Cream

Thu, Sep 20 2012, 8:18 am

First Lady wrote:

gp2.0 wrote:

Not necessarily.
Think about all the Heimishe companies.
There's no way that they can all have the $ and facilities to produce every food item they sell. They therefore DISTRIBUTE with their labels, but they are all coming from the same place.

Fox

Thu, Sep 20 2012, 9:59 am

Ah, yes! "Video killed the radio star."

Why so many shaitel brands and options? Because technology is flattening the world.

Twenty years ago, importing any type of product was a relatively big deal. You had to have introductions to the right people; establish a relationship with the manufacturer; learn about shipping, customs, and tariffs through experience.

Today, you simply go to www.alibaba.com or an equivalent brokerage site, and bam! You're in business. Granted, it takes a bit more work and research than that . . . but not a whole lot!

And if you want to sell "custom shaitels," you simply hire people to put various finishing touches on higher-end shaitels.

I would argue that, in fact, there are fewer middlemen in the process today than 20 years ago. Despite this, the prices have not remained constant: they've increased under the pretext of various (and often dubious!) value-added features. The distributors/brand-owners are making huge profit margins, and if the distributor happens to be the primary saleswoman and stylist, the profit margin increases even more.

There have been a number of threads in which posters have reported a particularly positive experience with various shaitel companies: "I wasn't happy, and they replaced it with no questions asked." I always want to ask, "Mamaleh, why do you think they're able to do that?" The answer is not just because they're mentschen, but because they can afford to do so. If you're making 300-700 percent profit on each sale, you can be a lot more accommodating than if you're making 5-10 percent profit.

Of all the indictments against our schools, the most universal seems to be that students regularly escape without any understanding of the laws of economic behavior. The reasons that shaitel brands are proliferating is because the profit margins are huge. Even a comparatively unsuccessful brand can still end up in the black.

Note that this is not an indictment against shaitel importers, distributors, or stylists. If I had even a smidgeon of talent in that field, I'd be all over it myself. However, I do question the smarts of so many women who pay premium prices for marginal differences in value. If you prefer to pay a premium because of a favorite stylist or because you love the feeling of being pampered at a posh salon, then that's perfectly understandable. But be honest with yourself: you're not paying for the shaitel; you're paying for the experience.

BTW, if you're in the market for a shaitel, I highly recommend checking out a business brokerage site to get a feel for the wholesale value of your shaitel. I'm not suggesting dickering with shaitel machers, but you do need to be an informed consumer and know whether a "good deal" is good for you or good for the distributor.

Finally, if anyone is looking for a business, I think the time is right for a "cost plus" line of shaitels: all shaitels are sold for cost plus 10 percent. All additional services can be purchased individually, including coloring, various customizations, cut, etc. No refunds after the shaitel is customized in any way. This model might seem counter-intuitive because, after all, people like to feel pampered, but then, that was what all the department stores told Sam Walton, their noses lifted high into the air!

Grandmama

Thu, Sep 20 2012, 4:50 pm

Fox, it is not so simple. If everyone started wearing snoods and refused to wear wigs, prices would come down pretty fast. Many people switched to synthetic wigs a few years back, and they are selling for up to a few hundred dollars for "the experience" but they do look terrific, at least for a short while. (They probably have a value of under $30.) But some people have found wholesale links where they can buy the wig for under a hundred. Problem is that for the cut/styling they still charge a few hundred or more.
Most of the wig manufacturers are perpetually crying, and are struggling to sell as best and as much as they can. I used to be in this business, so I know a little bit about what is going on. Although things have changed, many things are still the same.

rachelbg

Thu, Sep 20 2012, 5:58 pm

Grandmama wrote:

brilliant!