Couple uses sewing skills to find niche in bag market

Every person can learn a skill that he can use to live a comfortable life.

For couple Newton and Susan Duhig, sewing is a skill they made use of to earn enough income to support their family.

Newton Duhig used to work as a sewer in a company in Mactan manufacturing clothes for export. Through the years he learned all the tricks and techniques in sewing things, including bags, which soon became their main business.

“We started in 1997 with only one sewing machine and P800 as capital,” said Susan Duhig.

Converting the first floor of their home in Sitio Laray, Panagdait in Cebu City into their manufacturing base, the couple started making bags for nursing kits, seminar kits and nursing cap cases.

They then went to different schools and universities in Cebu to offer their products and services.

Duhig said that they decided to offer bags because it’s less common than sewing clothes.

“There was a market for personalized bags then and we want to take that opportunity especially in that we have four children to support,” said Duhig.

Soon the couple started accepting orders from companies, government officials and individuals who wanted to have their own choice of bag in terms of design, color and material.

From just the two of them working to grow the business, the couple soon required the help of other relatives who they hired as sewers to help them cope with huge volume orders.

They also added five more sewing machines to finish more bags in one day.

“We usually cater to job out orders that comes in huge numbers so we needed the help of extra hands. Now we have at least four relatives helping us with the bags,” said Duhig.

According to the couple, they make sure that their finished products are of the best quality so that their customers will keep coming back to them or refer new customers to them.

“We also make sure that our rates are affordable so that we can compete better. We source our raw materials from those that sell them the cheapest and we buy in bulk as well,” said Duhig.

At present, Duhig said that they are working on a knapsack bag made of recycled tarpaulins for Totol Batuhan which they think will be used for the coming elections.

“We sometimes also accept single orders especially during slow months. Our customers just give us the design and tell us what materials they want for the bag and we then come up with the proper costing,” said Duhig.

The peak months and seasons for their business start as soon as the “ber” months come in, school opening and election season.

“We have many orders before December which is used for giveaways and from May to June for the opening of classes because some parents find it more financially reasonable to just have their children’s bags sewn by us.”

Since 2013 is fast approaching with campaigns starting real soon, the couple said that they expect more orders coming within the next two months.

“Our bags here are good deals because we can charge as low as P20 each bag to as much as P250 each bag only depending on the design and materials used.

“We once made a small backpack which we charged only P20 each and that’s already very affordable especially for institutions that give bags and school supplies to students before opening of class,” said Duhig.

If business is good, the couples can earn at least P30,000 and for off peak seasons, they earn at least P10,000 every month.

“This has helped support our family. Through our earning we were able to send our kids to school. One has already graduated with a course in Hotel Management last year.”

According to Duhig, they plan to have their business registered again so that they can start participating in biddings especially that most companies in Cebu nowadays require bags for giveaways.

“Now we are only limited to catering to job out orders and individual orders that don’t require official receipts. It’s an opportunity lost if we go on and just settle with what we have now and not get registered,” said Duhig.

Duhig is one of the winners in Kapamily Negosyo Na season 5 which she said has helped them a lot in learning in how they could further grow the business.

“Our children are already helping us in the business; they know how to sew and I think we need to grow it more so that they can earn enough for their families here,” said Duhig.