A Brand-New Pattern
Machine Shop Now Crafts Needles

By Doris Hajewski
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Even if your business is making widgets, sticking to your knitting can open up a new world of opportunity.

Cathryn Bothe, president of Bothe Associates Inc., a machine shop that turns out steel parts for manufacturers of all sorts of products, is about to launch the company's first consumer product: high-end knitting needles.

"They are like a piece of jewelry," Bothe said, displaying her first samples of the aluminum needles, in shiny tones of yellow, blue, red and green. "They are beautiful."

The needles will be available in a range of sizes, with three point profiles, including a stiletto for use with fuzzy yarn. In addition, buyers will be able to choose among three polished steel cap designs. They will retail for $24 to $28 per set, considerably more than needles typically sold in chain stores.

"These are fine tools," Bothe said. "They will become heirlooms."

This needle venture was borne of Bothe's hobby of 30 years, and she is hoping it will become a significant part of the family's 57-year-old machine shop business. In the face of competition from China, the job shop business is increasingly challenging.

"We have to find customers who need short cycles," Bothe said. The ability to turn a job out quickly is a competitive advantage for domestic manufacturers.

Bothe didn't start the knitting needle venture as a replacement for the shop's core business.

The idea stemmed from her frustration with her inexpensive needles as she sat at home one evening about two years ago, knitting and watching TV with her husband, Kent, who is chief executive at Bothe. Cathryn complained that the points weren't sharp enough for the yarn she was using.

"Why don't you take them to the shop?" her husband said, suggesting that one of the machine operators might be able to hone the points for her.

They ended up making a set, which she liked so much that she started thinking about selling them. She began studying the market.

"I was shocked," Cathryn Bothe said. "It is unbelievable how many people are knitting, and spending more and more money on yarn."

According to the National Needlearts Association, the average active needle artist spent between $700 and $1,300 on the hobby in 2004. People who shopped at chain stores for most of their supplies spent less than those who bought through other channels, the report says.

Convinced that serious knitters would be willing to pay up for finely honed needles, Bothe set out to launch her product. She knew there would be a big learning curve, because she had never sold anything directly to consumers.

She needed to research what was already on the market, determine how and where to sell her product, and how to advertise it.

"I thought marketing would be the learning part," Bothe said.

Staying out of China

As it turned out, the manufacturing process was the bigger challenge, even for the owner of a job shop.

For example, the jewel tones she wanted for the needles couldn't be applied in Wisconsin, because the state's environmental laws forbid it. So she found a shop just over the border in Illinois that could do it.

Each needle is hand-polished before the color anodizing is applied. During the manufacturing process, each needle must be hand-taped so that the ends can be polished. Size information is laser-etched on the side of the needles, which are made of a non-allergenic aluminum.

"I am committed to not having these made in China," Bothe said. "It's important to me that people here have the jobs."

While working out the kinks of the manufacturing process, Bothe and two managers at the plant, daughter Laura Bothe and Daniella Rosenthal, also made plans to sell the product. They ran focus groups of knitters to get input on the plan, and they hired a Web site design firm and an advertising agency to create marketing materials.

Bothe hopes to launch her Web site, www.signatureneedlearts.com, by mid-July. Her strategy calls for selling the needles online rather than in stores.

"I couldn't possibly have them in a store," Bothe said. "The inventory would be immense because of all the sizes and the caps."

There also would be less profit in selling the needles at wholesale prices to retailers. By selling direct to consumers, Bothe will cut out the middleman's profit.

Needles a niche market

Dawn Oertel, manager at Ruhama's Yarn & Needlepoint in Whitefish Bay, thinks Bothe will find a market for her high-end needles.

"I think it would be a more sophisticated knitter," Oertel said. "I don't think the price would scare somebody away."

But Oertel said knitters like to touch needles before buying, to get a sense of how they will feel to work with.

Cindy Imhoff, who owns The Quilt Shop in Cambridge, said her customers would balk at the price of Bothe's needles.

Imhoff said shoppers will refuse to buy yarn or other supplies from her if they think they can find the same thing for less money at a chain store.

Liz Lois, a Kenosha-based sales representative for a textile products distributor, agreed that it might be hard to sell high-end needles.

"Medium-priced ones are the ones that sell more," Lois said.

Bothe will kick off her Signature Needle Arts launch with a half-page ad in Vogue Knitting and another in Creative Knitting this summer. She also has taken a booth at the Stitches Midwest show in the Chicago area in August, where 20,000 people are expected to attend.

The needles will be the first complete product to be manufactured at the plant her late father-in-law founded.

"Werner always wanted to have a product," Bothe said. "I wish he could come back for just a minute and see it."