Making Hammocks isn't cheap!

[BackPackHiker]

I have been testing out a lot of hammocks in my series 12 months in a hammock on youtube. I thought to myself, "self, you should try to make one of these camping hammocks, everyone says it is pretty cheap". So I looked into getting all the materials and discovered it is not that cheap in fact it is kind of expensive.

A question for all you hammock companies out there, how do you sell your products at the prices you do? Do you purchase everything at a fraction of the cost?

When I go to local fabric stores I am looking at 100$ just for ripstop. I am in Canada so I don't know if maybe it is cheaper to get these supplies in the states.

Does anyone have any advise or tips on how to find cheap suplies for hammock making? or a list of wholesale suppliers?

Thanks

[Pendule]

A question for all you hammock companies out there, how do you sell your products at the prices you do?

I always amazes me too. I came to the conclusion that cottage manufacturers are mutants who can thrive just on fresh air…

Sorry, I can't help you, I have the same problem here in Switzerland.

[lymphocytosis]

It's where you're shopping. If you buy from Backwoods Daydreamer you can get enough ripstop for a 1.1 oz double layer for about $25. Suspension if you make it yourself is about $20.

[CatSplat]

I have been testing out a lot of hammocks in my series 12 months in a hammock on youtube. I thought to myself, "self, you should try to make one of these camping hammocks, everyone says it is pretty cheap". So I looked into getting all the materials and discovered it is not that cheap in fact it is kind of expensive.

A question for all you hammock companies out there, how do you sell your products at the prices you do? Do you purchase everything at a fraction of the cost?

When I go to local fabric stores I am looking at 100$ just for ripstop. I am in Canada so I don't know if maybe it is cheaper to get these supplies in the states.

Does anyone have any advise or tips on how to find cheap suplies for hammock making? or a list of wholesale suppliers?

Thanks

Economies of scale, buying materials directly from suppliers, no big stores with large staff and overhead, etc. When I was starting my DIY materials purchasing, I looked into buying locally. (Fabricland, etc.) Nope. Prices here were 5 to 10 times higher than ordering from DIY Gear Supply including shipping to Canada from the States, so I bought (and continue to buy) the vast majority of my supplies from there.

The only exception to that rule was that buying down from Feather Industries in Ontario was cheaper per oz. than getting it shipped from the States.

[Pag]

You can start to get wholesale pricing on fabric at the 1 roll mark at some places now. Of course the accounts, shipping and research can really add up if you're only going to buy 1 roll at a time. On larger orders of some materials I have seen pricing close to 25% of retail. Stores like joanns, fabricland, Hancock all have overhead and get their fabric from a central warehouse with overhead and the warehouse gets it from the mill. Sure is nice to buy mill direct. Most of the cottage vendors here likely buy from a clearing house. Clearing houses buy a standard set of fabric from mills to maintain a relationship and then purchase mill overruns at deep discounts. With that strategy and minimal overhead they typically are able to offer 50-60% of retail pricing on orders like 1 roll.

Mill direct usually takes 1-2 thousand meters minimum per color though for most synthetics. So I doubt many cottage vendors do that.

I will say that even at Hancock in my area a hammock is like $30 in ripstop. Maybe that bolt was mis marked.

[Brute1100]

I am just getting onto making stuff... I bought my hammock from www.tableclothfactory.com free shipping and a 10% coupon was less than $12 for the hammock itself... The rest of the stuff, bug net shock cord for making my top entry bugnet and premade whoopies, and enough quality poly string to redo my ridge line and tie outs my next order is about $60 or so... And that's with a lot of material left over... I think its just where you are shopping...

[Boon Booni]

I made a $12 138"X58" hemmed, gathered end hammock from Nylon Ripstop (unknown weight) with fabric from Hancock and a 50% off cupon.

[Ramblinrev]

It also depends on what you are looking for...

Grand Trunk has a hammock for 19.99. You still have to add the suspension. Admittedly it is not for everyone. Kind of short at 9.5' but the price is hard to beat for a commercial piece of kit. Not saying you can't do it on the cheap. But if that's all you want there are commercial options.

[Morgoroth]

I am just getting onto making stuff... I bought my hammock from www.tableclothfactory.com free shipping and a 10% coupon was less than $12 for the hammock itself... The rest of the stuff, bug net shock cord for making my top entry bugnet and premade whoopies, and enough quality poly string to redo my ridge line and tie outs my next order is about $60 or so... And that's with a lot of material left over... I think its just where you are shopping...

+1

I have a 156" by 90" beast I made for about $30 including ridge-line and suspension.

It's the table cloth for the fabric and then mule tape and amsteel for everything else. I also went the more webbing and less amsteel approach to save some cost.

If I got a smaller size hammock and used mule tape, I could probably get it down to $20.

The real problem is that once you start buying AmSteel, it's hard to stop...

[BrianWillan]

A question for all you hammock companies out there, how do you sell your products at the prices you do? Do you purchase everything at a fraction of the cost?

When I go to local fabric stores I am looking at 100$ just for ripstop. I am in Canada so I don't know if maybe it is cheaper to get these supplies in the states.

Does anyone have any advise or tips on how to find cheap suplies for hammock making? or a list of wholesale suppliers?

Thanks

As you've discovered, fabric in Canada isn't cheap. I've ordered material from DIYGearSupply / BackwoodsDayDreamer at pretty reasonable prices even including shipping. Many of the Southern Ontario DIYers get their fabric from Lens Mill.

Good luck with your projects.

Brian