8 years ago when were were shopping for our first automated rhinestone setting machine, Molly and I flew up to Canada to demo this one series of machines. The guy running the company was totally scammy and just really shady. BUT – we were taken aback by the quality of Korean rhinestones he used in his own shop, and to demo the machines (one reason would have been that he wants the machines to perform well, so you want to use really good, round stones for the demo).
We’d been using only Korean stones since 2006, and the quality was good, but these were great. The color, consistency, clarity, shape and facets were like none we’d seen outside of machine-cut stones (which are too expensive to use for everyday jobs).
We weren’t really impressed with the machine, and wanted to find out more about the stones. Of course, Mr. Man wouldn’t divulge his source, but promised to give us the name of his supplier in Korea if we purchased a machine.
And we did. For $40,000 after all was said and done, including shipping from the East Coast, where it was residing at a trade show at the time, to Los Angeles.
And even though we hardly used that machine – mostly as a backup – we don’t regret that decision one bit. It was our “foot in the door” to the next level of rhinestone & stud quality, and it really made a difference to our business.
We’re mighty proud of the rhinestones & studs we carry. They last the life of the garment (often longer) and just function great, day in and day out.
And while we don’t plan to share our supplier’s identify (we were offered $10k once for it), you can rest assured that what you buy from BlingFORCE will use these incredible stones. You should share the same pride with your customers as we do with ours.
-Brian