On the Talent Hunt: Craftsmen are hard to find, so we upskilled the ones we have to boost our 84-year-old leather goods business

  • 📰 TODAYonline
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 30 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 15%
  • Publisher: 99%

Ireland News News

Ireland Ireland Latest News,Ireland Ireland Headlines

As a retailer of luxury products, Kwanpen’s sales revenue came solely from physical stores. With most of our customers coming from overseas, our sales suffered a 90 per cent drop due to the lack of travellers during the pandemic.

Our products are made in Singapore, and it is labour-intensive work. It can take up to 50 man-hours to produce one bag and no more than 400 pieces are shipped in any given month.

Sometimes, we had to turn down orders to maintain our production standards as there were areas where only one to two staff possessed the skillset, and we couldn’t fulfil mass orders. Our craftsmen are now proficient in two or three skillsets, compared to just one before. For example, production staff were taught intricate techniques such as hand stitching on crocodile leather. They also learnt to use a skiving machine to craft prototype leather handbags.

We initially thought that we would face resistance from some staff, but to our pleasant surprise, everyone welcomed the idea.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 1. in İE

Ireland Ireland Latest News, Ireland Ireland Headlines