Sonrise Manufacturing

Thanks to Judy Clark, I am now "in the know" about Sonrise Manufacturers in Dallas! I called them at 7:15 this morning thinking I'd be leaving a message, and I was when Candice answered the phone! I tried to sound like I have a clue about what I'm asking for, but low and behold, she knew what I needed because.... they make one of my competition's products! How crazy is that?! I had no idea the competition's business is based in Dallas. I was concerned that I'd have to go find another manufacturer, but they've agreed to make mine too! I can totally see how God worked that out... they know exactly what a sling is, but they'll need to see my pattern to learn how to make mine. The downside to all of this is, my sling has so many features, I doubt they'll be able to make one every 8 minutes like they do with the competition's. : I'm working on getting some new materials together to have them make a few samples for me so we can see how long it will take. Not bad at $35 a pop!

And, for those wondering, they have a 100 unit minimum order and they charge $35/hr., but if you order more than 300 units they charge $25/hr. They also offered to help me get my patterned polished and hook me up with a professional pattern maker if I needed it. And, they plan to help me get a professional marker made (plastic template used for cutting out the fabrics).

I'm wrestling with importing materials from China. That's the cheapest option, but I'd prefer to give jobs to Americans. Maybe I'll have to do a trade off... Materials from China and manufacturing in the USA? I'm trying to do my part to help the economy!

I'm also looking into product packaging. I have an idea as to what I want, but I'm new to this too. I've got to get a lot of ducks in a row simultaneously (it seems) to get the intertia going at the speed I want!

And, last, but not least... I'm considering an LLC. Again, money, money, money, is needed for all of these steps. *sigh* Any investors out there? ;)