VaprLoft Quilts – M50/Apex/SevenDS

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Kickstarter (limited time offer)
First 10 customers receive special pricing, get the quilts before anyone else, and plus a 20% discount on the next order. Lot of new gear coming soon!

[John Mc]

I have a Montbell Thermawrap that has exoloft insultaion of 50g/sq meter. So at 28 gram/oz, your 4 oz insulation sheet is approximately 112g/sq meter? I'm just trying to get an idea of how warm it'll be.

John

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

It's 133gsm.

[John Mc]

Thanks!. That's great warmth for the weight.

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Hello everyone,

If I didn't believe that I could offer better quilts then what is currently available, then I wouldn't be in business.

You can support me by participating in this easy survey with just one question. It can be as quick or as lengthy as you'd like to make it. You have my word that I will personally read every single response.

Click here to take survey

[Curry]

Your logo is cluttered and hard to read. The "L" gets lost becasue the bottom part looks like a handle for the grey triangle in the middle and makes it look like a meat clever instead of an "L" and a mountain – which is what I guess the grey triangle is?

Might try different colors or fonts or even a differnt name as a last resort.

+1 to the comments about you being an unknown at this point. I think your market will be South Asia realistically. With the price of shipping between India and North or South Americas added to the price of a quilt, I don't see you getting very many direct mail orders from those locations, unless you find a local distributor.

I think you need to identify your target market, competitors, etc before launching. Seems like there are too many unknowns in your business model and product line at this point to know how you stack up against other competitors that post on BPL.

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Thanks. Thats a very encouraging post.

I guess being a member of BPL for 4 years with over 1000 posts doesnt count anything.

Shipping for the quilts is only $15 from India to anywhere in the world by EMS. Takes less then a week and is trackable online. This isnt much more then what competitors offer.

[jas l]

The cheapest way to ship a sleeping bag from US to Canada is by USPS, that cost me $35 and took over 3 weeks, there's another $45 for taxes and custom charges upon arrival. My orders from Dealextream.com that some times ship directly from China with free shipping but took months. 10 years ago a pair of heavy ski ship from US to Canada by FedEX only cost me $20, now it would go over $100. Also 10 years ago I shipped 300 gram coffee sample to Japan with 5 day delivery cost $60, I can't imaging how much it would cost today. I don't think $15 shipping within one week from India to north America is realistic.

[Nathan Watts]

"I guess being a member of BPL for 4 years with over 1000 posts doesnt count anything."

I'm not sure how that would translate to making higher quality quilts than say Tim Marshall for example.

Maybe you should give some examples of how yours are the best. So far we've seen some pics of unfinished quilts, some estimates on finished weights, and the only review so far is from you – which no doubt has some bias to it.

Edit to point out that nobody has seen a finished quilt – in fact, when asked about a picture of your foot box you sent a link to MLD's website and said it would be like that. Do you own that MLD quilt so that you can offer direct evidence that yours is higher quality? And how so?

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Are you complaining because I am offering a good shipping price? :) I guess its hard to please everyone.

I just rechecked, and the price has indeed increased. To ~$18.

Here is the link to the shipping calculator: http://www.indiapost.gov.in/SP_Int.aspx
Type 750 gram and select USA as destination. Speed Post aka Express Mail international take about 5-8 days.

Here is the link to the OLD prices:
http://www.indiapost.gov.in/SPInternational_Tariff.aspx

Those who have placed an order or asked prices by email – dont worry. Prices remain the same.

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Hi Nathan, I suggest you wait and see.

[Jerry Adams]

"I guess being a member of BPL for 4 years with over 1000 posts doesnt count anything."

I think it's just that people are skeptical about small businesses early in their life.

People are concerned they'll pay you and not get a good quality product.

I can think of small businesses mentioned on this site that have made good products, but then people started complaining that their orders weren't being delivered as promised.

Something that you have to overcome as a new business.

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Hi Jerry, I know. I am not going to give up.

I am just in a bad fix. Instead of ordering few yards of insulation to make more prototypes, I spent a lot of money on ordering a 50m roll. At the time of payment I was told that it will ship by air and will reach me 10 – 15 days. But then they said that PO couldnt ship a package of this size (63X24X24 inches) by Air. So they shipped it by ocean. It been 5 weeks and can take another 2-3 weeks.

[Ken Thompson]

This is only my opinion. Which has been wrong plenty. But here goes.

Americans want to support American cottage industries. This will hurt you. Americans have seen so many jobs going oversees. If we can find a quality product made here it will often trump similar products made elsewhere in the same price range. You have to offer what nobody else in the world is.

People here want to say, "Check out this great quilt. Made by this guy in (insert state) right here in the USA." Saying check out this quilt that some guy in India makes will be a hard sell IMO.

Since you majority audience here is from the States, you will need to work out some marketing spin on why we should buy from you instead of ????.

And you will have to do better than those 2 photos on this thread. I am sorry but they don't look like anything special to me. A waterproof inner sounds awfully clammy to me too. How does this actually feel in the field?

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

>You have to offer what nobody else in the world is.

I am. If you want to find out more, just send me a email.

[Nathan Watts]

"I am. If you want to find out more, just send me a email."

Any particular reason you don't want to share publicly what makes your quilts better than anyone else's? To me this comes off as a bit shady.

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

I dont want my ideas to leak before I launch my products. I share more details on condition that it is kept confidential.

Scepticism is good, but you must also keep a open mind.

[Nathan Watts]

In that case I will take your earlier advice you gave me and wait. Good luck.

[Angelo R.]

Send one to the BPL staff for a review.

[Curry]

Huzefa,

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you or your efforts in any way. My comemnt on shipping was based on my recent personal experience with shipping prices. If you really can ship something like a quilt half way around the world for $18.00 USD, that's really great.

Best of luck.

Susan

[John West]

I too suspect the shipping price for a quilt internationally is going to be a bit more than $18.

We have shipped 10-15 bivys internationally now, and even though they only weigh ~6oz, they cost $18 to ship across seas. That is in a small flat rate priority box though. If you used First Class (which I choose not to anymore, as it takes up to 4-5 weeks in some cases), the bivys were still costing $13 to ship in a small 6x6x6 box.
For a larger item like a quilt, I would suspect you'll be looking at at least $30.

Good luck with it all though, looks like you have the ambition to be successful, just need to build a reputation to get this off the ground.

[Miguel Arboleda]

Prices for shipping out of the States are actually very expensive compared to other countries, especially with the recent price hikes. I just sent a 400 g (14 oz) package to Huzefa from here in Japan to India, via 1 day express (EMS) and it only cost ¥1,100 (about $13.77 at the exchange rate, but in terms of value within the States, about $9.00)… much cheaper than what you can get in the States. So I think this evaluation of shipping costs through the US lens is distorted. Besides, most people in other countries nearly always pay more for things than in the States, so the "outrageous" prices you are seeing are considered normal elsewhere.

[Franco Darioli]

A 750g Air Mail parcel with signature required at the other end from Australia to the US via Australia Post will cost you $36.50 plus $9 security charge (required) so a tot of $45.50 (about $46 USD)
But of course Aussie customers think that US postal charges are high (that is the ones that don't send parcels to the US…)
Franco
http://auspost.com.au/apps/international-parcel.html

[Curry]

It sounds like the price differs between the same two locations depending on which one is the origin. I can't remember what I used to pay to send boxes from China and SE Asia, which I'm sure has changed in the past few years anyway.

I recently sent a sleeping bag from Honolulu to US mainland and it cost me almost $40.00 due to the size of the box. The weight listed on my receipt was over 10 lbs, which was obviusly not the actual weight of the item. The postal clerk pointed out that they bill by the size of the box as well and estimate the max weight it should hold, and that's how the rate is calculated.

Moral: Size matters. Go figure.

[Huzefa @ Blue Bolt Gear]

Indian post doesn't use dimensional weight, fortunately!

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