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WalliteWallite is an ultrathin, ultra-durable wallet that launched in May 2014 with four Outdoor Adventure designs by three Boone residents. You can read the story of founder Travis Critcher's misadventure-turned-opportunity on our website, www.wallite.net. Local retailers Mast General Store, Stick Boy Bread Company, Footsloggers, Local Lion, as well as regional outfitters Nantahala Outdoor Center and Sunrift Adventures were among the first to support our sales efforts. Our first year of sales attest that Wallite is a viable product.
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Our team goal for the coming year is to complete our second print run. We have identified the following opportunities: add more designs to our Outdoor Adventure Series, create private label wallets, and test the collegiate sports market with an Appalachian State University wallet. We face two major hurdles for our next print run:
1) Post-print assembly is time-consuming and complex.
2) Outsourced graphic design costs are the greatest expense in our per-unit cost.
Wallite’s greatest asset is its versatility: any graphic art can be printed on the wallet. Furthermore, digital print technology makes it feasible to print an infinite number of designs. While the Outdoor Adventure series reflects our personal value and enjoyment of the great outdoors, especially of the Appalachian Mountains, we have an ambitious goal to step into the arena of collegiate sports, an endeavor estimated at $30,000. To attract that level of investment, we want to test and prove Wallite’s marketability by creating an Appalachian State University wallet, estimated design costs $400.
Also, one of our core goals is to provide local employment opportunities for the staff at Watauga Opportunities. The present assembly may be too complex to outsource. Our Wallite team of industrial designers have teamed up with industry experts to make a Wallite 2.0 that is less costly and easier to assemble. All that remains is finalizing the 2.0 prototype and creating a new manufacturing die, estimated $700.
The long-term sustainability of Wallite depends on finding an Artistic Director. We plan to use the second print run to vet a graphic designer who could join our team in exchange for equity. Presently, we are in a position to balance much of our design overhead by attracting private-label wallets, covering design costs through pre-sold orders.
How SEAM can help: Fund the ASU design and help us test the collegiate sports market with a homegrown ASU wallet. Fund the 2.0 manufacturing die and help us decrease our assembly cost and achieve our goal of providing local employment through Watauga Opportunities. These two projects, totaling $1,100, are pivotal to the future of Wallite and turning a profit in our second year of sales.
We are thankful to be a part of this community and to SEAM for the vision of supporting local entrepreneurs in a strong local economy.
1) Post-print assembly is time-consuming and complex.
2) Outsourced graphic design costs are the greatest expense in our per-unit cost.
Wallite’s greatest asset is its versatility: any graphic art can be printed on the wallet. Furthermore, digital print technology makes it feasible to print an infinite number of designs. While the Outdoor Adventure series reflects our personal value and enjoyment of the great outdoors, especially of the Appalachian Mountains, we have an ambitious goal to step into the arena of collegiate sports, an endeavor estimated at $30,000. To attract that level of investment, we want to test and prove Wallite’s marketability by creating an Appalachian State University wallet, estimated design costs $400.
Also, one of our core goals is to provide local employment opportunities for the staff at Watauga Opportunities. The present assembly may be too complex to outsource. Our Wallite team of industrial designers have teamed up with industry experts to make a Wallite 2.0 that is less costly and easier to assemble. All that remains is finalizing the 2.0 prototype and creating a new manufacturing die, estimated $700.
The long-term sustainability of Wallite depends on finding an Artistic Director. We plan to use the second print run to vet a graphic designer who could join our team in exchange for equity. Presently, we are in a position to balance much of our design overhead by attracting private-label wallets, covering design costs through pre-sold orders.
How SEAM can help: Fund the ASU design and help us test the collegiate sports market with a homegrown ASU wallet. Fund the 2.0 manufacturing die and help us decrease our assembly cost and achieve our goal of providing local employment through Watauga Opportunities. These two projects, totaling $1,100, are pivotal to the future of Wallite and turning a profit in our second year of sales.
We are thankful to be a part of this community and to SEAM for the vision of supporting local entrepreneurs in a strong local economy.
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