This week I had a working lunch with a young Argentine fashion designer and co-owner of Vihuela, a company who make incredible handmade leather guitar straps, belts, custom designs and accessories.
Vihuela - Handmade guitar straps, belts, leather custom designs and accessories
Vihuela’s products are so unique and of such high quality that they are in high demand here in Argentina, and soon to be throughout Europe as the girls look to expand internationally.
Vihuela Handmade Leather Guitar Straps
But other than their products (one of which I am wearing as I write this), what I really like about Vihuela from a marketing perspective is their story.
They started out selling custom handmade leather guitar straps, that were extremely popular with local Argentine guitarists.
But while guitarists is a relatively small niche, guitarists with any money is an even smaller niche!
So Vihuela looked at their guitar straps, and realised that there was a similar product that they could easily make that would have a much larger target market.
Belts!
Vihuela Handmade Leather Belts
It is simple really, more people wear pants than play guitars.
And why would you trust the quality of belts from a company that makes guitar straps?
Even seen how pissed off a guitarist gets after their strap breaks and their prize possession smashes on the floor?
You cant afford to make guitar straps out of poor quality leather.
Now, belt sales well exceed guitar straps sales for Vihuela, but they still stay true to their musical roots in their designs, and the brand is stronger than ever.
Following the same theory, Vihuela have now expanded into handbags and other leather accessories.
If you want to find our more about Vihuela, before anyone else does, check out their website, MySpace page, or Facebook group.
Note: All sites are in Spanish so you may need Google Translate
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