A Vendor’s Guide to Renaissance Fairs Part 3: Product Planning
Hello, faire friend! If you’re reading this, then two things must be true: 1) you are a vendor who wants to sell your goods at renaissance fairs, and 2) you need a little help with your applications, your booth, product planning, and more. I’m happy to help!
In case you’d like to know more about me first - my name is Sara and I’m a leathercrafter who has been selling at local renaissance fairs in the northeast Georgia and South Carolina area since 2019. I literally picked the worst possible time to try to start a business, but it still worked out! In this series, I want to dive into my experiences as a renaissance fair vendor. Topics will include:
Product planning (this post)
Costumes
This may seem like an odd topic since in the previous post I assumed you already knew your branding, but renaissance fairs can be pretty strict so we’re going to go over several different elements of product planning as well.
Renaissance fairs are juried events
If you have never applied at a juried event before, this may seem intimidating, but all this actually means is that your application is reviewed by a jury, or at least two people involved with the planning of the event, and a decision is made based on your products on whether or not they will accept you as a vendor to the event.
There are three primary purposes to jurying an event from the event coordinator’s perspective (at least that I am aware of as a vendor who has never juried an event before):
Accepting high quality products
Accepting products that fit the event’s theme or mission
Not oversaturating the market with too many vendors selling too many of the same thing
I’m sure we have all been to fall festivals or other non-juried events where every third booth was selling 3D printed toys or tumblers with cute sayings on them. These items can have their place at renaissance fairs (I say hesitantly), but generally not only do coordinators try to choose the best vendors from among the applicants, they also want to give their vendors the best chance for success sales-wise. The last thing a good event coordinator wants is 10 candle vendors in an event with 100 vendors total. 10% of the event being one single medium isn’t great for anybody - vendors or the event itself.
Additionally, coordinators for renaissance fairs specifically are typically looking for products that fit the theme and vibe of the event. The majority of renaissance fairs generally seek out and prefer vendors who either sell items with a fantasy vibe or who work in more traditional or historic crafts. Fantasy items might include fairy wings, flower crowns, and elf ears, while more traditional or historic crafts might include handmade clothing, pottery, blacksmithing, glass blowing, leathercrafting (heyyyy), or something known as an endangered craft.
Endangered crafts were first identified by Heritage Crafts, a UK-based organization focusing on coverage of traditional crafts in the UK and the belief that practicing traditional crafts is more than just a nostalgic or whimsical pursuit. You can read more about these endangered crafts and download the latest report from Heritage Crafts’ website.
Some examples of endangered crafts include:
Armor making
Block printing
Horn, antler, and bone working
Kilt making
Bobbin lace making
Nalbinding
Sporran making (hey, that’s me!)
Now, if your chosen medium isn’t a more traditional craft, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to get into a renaissance fair. I’ve seen plenty of 3D printed toys and every event I’ve attended has had at least a half dozen jewelry makers, too. Candle and soap sellers abound, and there’s always at least one laser engraving and/or cutting board booth. Not only that, but I have never been the only leathercrafter at any event I’ve attended. (For reference, I have only attended one single “normal,” non-renaissance fair event in my time as a vendor.)
I only say this to help give you an idea of what these coordinators and juries are expecting from their vendors and what they are selecting for. Ultimately, if you’re not accepted, it may mean your products are great but don’t fit the vibe they want for the event, or it could mean they’ve already reached their limit for vendors in your medium. If you have high quality, on-theme products, whether they’re in a traditional or endangered craft or not, you will have a higher chance of success at these events.
Choose your medium
One thing I do recommend is choosing one medium and sticking to it. Whether that medium is leathercrafting, clay figurines, bone and horn jewelry, woodworking, etc., having a single medium will benefit you more than dabbling in several different ones.
I know you’re probably thinking that that seems counterintuitive. “But if I make stuff that’s leather, crochet, and 3D printed, I have a better chance of getting in!”
Again, it will depend on the event, and there are likely many single-day or single-weekend events that won’t care, but if your goal is to do renaissance fairs long-term, choosing a single medium will benefit you more. The reason for this is two-fold: a) you will show a dedication to your craft and becoming better at it, thus implying higher quality products, and b) you’ll come across more as a professional business and less like a crafter who wants to sell the stuff you make.
I’ve been to quite a few events, not just renaissance fairs, where there have been some vendors that have had multiple products available in multiple mediums. An example of this might be chainmail jewelry, crocheted items, and simple leather bags all at one booth.
Think about it this way: if you are shopping at an event and you have the above chaimail/crochet/leather booth in between a booth dedicated to only chaimail items and a booth like myself that is exclusively leather—assuming the chainmail and leather items at the combination booth are the same items at the dedicated single-medium booths—which are you more likely to shop at? Which one comes across as more professional? Whose products do you feel like you’ll be able to trust more?
I do want to clarify - I’m not saying this to specifically rain on the parade of the mixed-medium vendors, but single-medium vendors will see more success in the long run. I’ve seen this over and over in the various vendor groups that I’m a member of, both for general events and ren-specific events.
Choose your niche
Niche. There are numerous definitions for the word, but my favorite is this:
N. a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service.
One of the first things that you’ll hear the second you decide to start a business is to choose your niche, but it may not mean what you think it means.
Niching down is generally specific to products/services. In general, a lot of people would assume a leatherworker who sells their goods at renaissance fairs is niched down enough. I say otherwise. There are many elements to a niche, such as your chosen medium, but it doesn’t stop there. When it comes to my products, I don’t just make leather goods. I specifically niche down into primarily wearable costume pieces at a mid-level price range that are affordable yet long-lasting and well-made.
Mushroom purse
But wait, there’s more!
I don’t just make belt bags, teacup holsters, and potion bottles. I make a whimsical array of products that focus on being long-lasting and well-made without sacrificing aesthetics. And I don’t just stop at people. As of when this post was written, I am also working on adding dog armor and chamfrons, which are the face plates worn by horses, so your pets don’t have to sacrifice aesthetics, either.
Ok so I know that may sound vague or a bit more abstract. But - which would you rather have, a regular purse made of faux leather (aka plastic) that you can buy at a department store for like $60 “on sale” that’ll fall apart in a year, or a mushroom-shaped purse made of real leather that’s $250 but that will last you 10x as long as the department store purse?
My products absolutely aren’t for everyone, and they aren’t going to fit into everyone’s budget. I do try to have some lower-priced options like simple drawstring bags, but I tend to have the most success with things like the mushroom purse, sporrans specifically, pirate hats, teacup holsters, and armor pieces.
Prices
That brings me to the next section: prices. This section is entirely my own opinion, but an opinion I have formed by spending a lot of time browsing my neighbors’ wares at these events, and from reviewing my own bestsellers after events.
If possible, I do recommend having low, mid, and upper range priced items. What this might look like could be very different based on what you sell, but here’s an example using my own products:
Low range - keychains, hair barrettes, bracelets
Mid range - belt pouches, small armor pieces, teacup holsters
Upper range - pirate hats, large armor pieces, mushroom purse
This way, if a customer sees the mushroom purse from a distance and beelines into my booth only to find the price is out of their price range, they still have the option of choosing something smaller, like a mushroom belt pouch or even just a mushroom keychain or hair barrette. I have had so many of these sales.
And - if I’m being honest, that’s exactly what I intended the mushroom purse to do. If I never sold the mushroom purse, but I still took it to every event and a dozen mushroom girlies a day saw it and raced into my booth to look at it, then it did exactly what it needed to. It got customers into my booth. That brings me to my next point:
Strategize your offerings
When I say strategize, I mean exactly what I did with my mushroom purse. I made it, not really expecting to sell it right away but knowing it would be a huge crowd pleaser and pull people into my booth. I wasn’t joking about “a dozen mushroom girlies a day” either. Usually what happened is they would look at the purse, see it was out of their price range, then look at other things in my booth, and usually I’d say 50% or so would make a lower price purchase.
Another way you may strategize your offerings may mean adding a new product for a specific event, or even leaving some products at home. It may be part of your acceptance that you’re allowed to bring items A, B and C, but item D needs to be left behind because another vendor who sells something similar has already been accepted. This may also be determined by your booth size, too. It’s certainly a lot easier for me to have a robust product line available and on display in a 10x20 booth than a 10x10 booth.
My favorite way to strategize your product is to consider add-ons. This may be something small that isn’t in your chosen medium but that complements it well. For example, I don’t ever plan on making any kinds of soaps, lotions, etc., but what I do make is leather conditioner. It’s not made of leather, but it complements all of my leather goods. I hand pour my own mixture into 2oz tins, then every purchase gets a care card with a discount code and a free sponge applicator. Another add-on I’m considering is reusable fabric totes with my logo on them. These would probably be something I sold for an extra dollar apiece, or possibly something I just give away for very large purchases. Again, not a leather product specifically, but it’s adjacent and benefits my customer in the long run.
You may also strategize by working together with other vendors in your area. I have a friend who is a blacksmith and he will forge me some buckles in exchange for some leftover leather he can use as sheaths or handle decorations for his knives. Having custom forged buckles on some of my belts adds to the experience for customers, as well, since I can tell them that the entire product is fully hand-made.
One of the biggest ways I strategize my offerings, though, is by observing what other leather makers in my area are selling and planning accordingly. Now, what this mainly means is that I don’t make dragon products (specifically from the pattern maker Creative Awl) and I don’t make acorn bags, but it can also mean developing my product line in a different direction. For example, there is another leather maker in my area who also makes teacup holsters and fan holsters. My teacup holster pattern is very different from hers, as is my fan holster pattern. I had been wanting to make a new fan holster pattern for ages, then an idea came to mind one day a few months ago and I put half a dozen together for my next event. I ended up selling out completely because people loved the holster design I’d created.
And that brings me to the final topic I want to touch on:
What to do if someone else is selling something similar to you - or the same as you
First thing’s first - don’t panic. This is inevitable. For me, as a leathercrafter, I know I will never be the only leathercrafter at any given event, no matter how few vendors get accepted, because it is just that popular and accessible of a medium. I rely on everything I’ve discussed above, especially strategizing my offerings, along with my branding to make sure that I stand out from my peers, both in general and from other leather makers specifically.
Once you discover that someone is selling something similar to you, take it as a learning opportunity. Is there something you can do better or differently to differentiate yourself from them? When it comes to the renaissance fair circuit, there is a high likelihood that you’ll see each other a lot. It’s best to try to be respectful of your competitors, even if they aren’t respectful of you (which I’ve found is rare in this particular niche, thank goodness).
