Cloth capes, trenchcoats, etc.

I'm thinking about starting selling custom cloth items from felt. My mom says felt doesn't fray.
For example capes (like the Lego one) and trenchcoats. I'm not sure yet about if I will succeed and how much these will cost, since I have no idea how much the felt is. Does anyone know if felt is a good solution, and who would be interested in purchasing some?

I think if the felt is like TLC's, I would by some.

Well, their old ones frayed all the time and the new ones are some sort of fabric cloth I believe.

Yeah, the new ones are better. You should go to a hobby or craft store. That is where I think they would have some.

Yea that's what my mom said too.

Would the new ones look the same as the older ones?

Didn't TB do a trench coat. Are you going to base it off his design?

Gerrard wrote:Didn't TB do a trench coat. Are you going to base it off his design?

What? I'm making my own... TB never made one which he is selling...

Well... at least it's not more laminated paper, I guess. But c'mon, felt? That fuzzy, fluffy crap that plushies are covered in? The chances of this going well are pretty slim, if at all existant. Oh, and trenchcoats? They've already been done, along with most of your products, by MMCB. In durable LEGO-esque fabric, for the same price, no less! Frankly, if you're going to continue with this minifig-wear schtick, make some original designs instead of badly rehashing what's been done before. And no, this is not "Jinja being a mean-meany-pants to DP"; this is advice. Nobody's going to buy an inferior copy of something they can get for the same price elsewhere, so you've got to carve out your own niche to gain some appeal. Go back to the drawing board, think of something MMCB (or someone else) hasn't done yet, make it, perfect it and sell it.

Fine, forget about it. I didn't copy MMCB, FYI. All my items are made form scratch. By your explanation, MMCB should sue Lego because Lego now also made pauldrons and kamas. But he doesn't. MMCB doesn't have copyright on this. Neither does Lego, neither do I.
I think you're just jealous that I can and have made these items, and earned some money or Lego with it. There's nothing wrong with 'laminated paper'. I agree, it is cheaper than fabric clothing but does the trick too. ASK PEOPLE WHO OWN IT. THEY ARE HAPPY WITH IT AND THINK IT'S DEFINITELY WORTH THE MONEY. I've never received a complaint here.
Seriously TJN, stop doing this 'advise'. It's only bullshit. I'm seriously tired of your non-sense crap you say in all my topics. Get a f* life, and stop annoying me and others here.

Mod or Admin, please delete this.

If you are talking about the general hobby felt that is fuzzy/fluffy on both sides, then your mum is correct, it won't fray from normal use. However, it will stretch and it will molt (from constant play). Like any kind of fabric, you can make it fray by picking at it, but that is consided extremely abnormal wear and tear. Your other concern is that felt is quite thick. Whilst you can re-attach minifig arms through the felt, they don't move freely and the felt then stretches out of shape. If it's being used for a cape, it might look too bunched up around the neck because of the double thickness.

Just some food for thought.



On a side note:
Do I care if you start making capes and/or trenchcoats.......no. There are a number of people out there that make them and sell them and yes, some of them have even copied my designs. Is there anything I can do about it.......sure. Is it worth all the trouble and hassle trying to police the issue, definately not. Am I going to loose sleep over this, definately not.

I do agree with TJN in that you should try and come up with something that fabric can't handle well. What that is I don't know. But I'm sure that there are a number of things that can't be done well in fabric......your backpack for example

Thank you MMCB. Your post was really helpful, as I now know the downsides of felt, which made me rethink my idea.