That, Byron, is the point I was trying to make. Sometimes the fly shops do charge a lot for products which are pennies if you know where to get them. There is one material which a standard pack contains about 0.048 UKP worth of material. That material comes in 1.230 x 50 meter rolls. The standard pack contains a piece about 50 by 150 mm, and sells for upwards of 2.00UKP. I use a lot of this material and know 1 standard fly tying pack will make 60 to 80 flies. That means that one roll will give you almost 8000 packs. It is available in 15 colours, meaning minimum stock order is 120000 packs or enough material for 9 600 000 flies. That's just the numbers for one material. After packing costs you would turn an investment of around 10k into about 220K (or 110K if you wholesale) It sounds great but do you want to spend days cutting it up and bagging it? How long will it be before an investment like that shows a profit? Most retailers don't sell 10 packs a week. I know if I had a spare 10000 UKP I wouldn't be investing it that material! I doubt I'll be around long enough to see a return.

Fortunately, as I work for a major retailer of it, I get what I need at cost, unpackaged. I am probably the major end user of this material for fly tying in the UK. I struggle to get through 50 packs a year. Mind you I am also, it seems, the only one with the common sense to cut it up in such a way as to get the maximum out of each pack. To quote from the rag trade "A good layer out is worth their weight in cabbage". ("Cabbage" is the material left over when a pattern is cut out from the cloth).

Anyone still want to get into the fly tying material business?

Cheers,
A.