I'm planning to sell hemp jewelry at festivals around London in the next couple of months. I was just wondering whether it is necessary to get some kind of permit or whatever, i'm afraid of being hassled by coppers if i dont have a legit permit. does anyone have any info on this? thanks people peace
I want to do the exact same thing and I haven't a clue! (but not round London specifically) sorry i'm not much help x
It's my understanding that you would have to contact each festival individually. There's a good website here for a guide to UK fests: http://www.efestivals.co.uk You can do a search with London as a Keyword. Here's another website, although I've not explored it. It looks good: http://www.virtualfestivals.com/ Also, you'll find that many hipforumers are going to one of the best festivals of the summer here: http://www.beautifuldays.org/ Good luck. ~
if you want to sell stuff in general then a peddlars licence is a great option. it costs £12.50 and you go into your local police station, fill in a form and it gets sent to you a week later. this entitles you to legally sell handicrafts etc on a little stall on the streets, providing you're meeting local bylaws about not blocking throughfare etc. it covers the whole of the uk for a year. i dont think you can use it inside festivals, but for things like street festivals, carnivals, etc its great. its also great wherever there are big gatherings of people, for example, when the carling weekend is on, reading town centre is absoloutly packed and you'd do really well selling there. likewise for winchester hat fair, brighton fringe festival, sailsbury festival etc. just check them out on the net. if you want to have a stall in the main area of a festival then you need alot of money to begin with because it is generally a good idea to have loads of stock. people wont come over if you only have a few things on display. then you have to pay to have the stall there. how much you pay and how far in advance varies from festival to festival. the cut off date for booking at glastonbury was jan 10th. you can sometimes get away with paying for a ticket into the festival then setting up on the floor somewhere inside the festival. again, it depends on the festival as to whether or not you get away with it. whatever you decide to do - good luck and hope it all works out for you! peace and love stardust xxx
Good point about having lots of stock, Stardust. I really think to sell at festivals I'd need to join forces with someone else. Have you got loadsa stuff Zeppelina?
hey thanks for all that info Stardust! I'll sure look into all those soon...thanks very much! well, i only started making hemp jewerly last weekend, i havent got much stuff now, but I sure will in a couple of months...I plan to sell it at the cannabis festival in london (if it goes ahead as planned) and If i'm still around London in the summer, i will probably sell at other festivals, but i think it's more probable that i'll be selling my stuff around europe by that time.
if you're planning on making enough to sell then i would recommend starting some time last autumn. another path to go down is wholesalers. buying at cost etc. if you check out job lots on ebay there are some really good deals to be had on celtic jewellry, braclets, rings, etc. i bought some beautiful elephant insence holders at around a quid each with a retail value of £2.50. if you stock up on little bits and pieces like that it will be alot easier than making everything in time though you need cash to begin with. a good combination is handmade supplemented with stuff from wholesalers. if you do go to ebay you can follow links from some of the sellers to their own websites where you can also get some really good deals. peace and love stardust xxx
Hey stardust i was thinking about getting a peddlers licence a while ago. I was wondering if you'd like to join me in brighton some time in the summer. Along the sea front where all the tourists are is usually a good spot from what i can see. things like henna or jewelry do really well. I know how to do henna (im guess you would too as its not hard ) and we both know how to do hair wraps or braiding. Also we both know how to make things. do you wanna go into a mini buisness or something?
the brighton festival is on for the whole of may or june (cant remember which month!) and i was thinking of heading down for that coz the place will be crawling with people and all wanting to part with their money! have an ask around and see if you can find a parkup where i can leave the caravan and i may be down, though as with all my plans it will be open to change! if you go down the local cop shop with £12.50 in your purse and ask for a peddlars licence they should send it to you within a week. i didnt need ID but it might vary from station to station so i'd take some with you anyway. peace and love stardust xxx
