*steps onto soapbox* —’cause I tell ya, I’ve had it…
You all know what I mean; get it the cheapest that you can without caring where it comes from. This method of consumerism sucks for people like me; artistic, creative, mindful, with original ideas, and with excellent craftsperson skills that deserve to be compensated. This mentality is part of the reason our economy is in shambles…we lost a lot of manufacturing jobs which inturn means, Americans have lost ways to take care of their families. I’m sitting here creating my own job, but I can’t make a living if I don’t sell bags.
Too often have I heard “your bags are so expensive”. What? Oh, really?
What am I supposed to do with that? Why in the hell would someone say that in the first place? So, am I supposed to lower my prices so you can feel good about getting “a deal” and I get the shaft from earning a living? No way, man. That is not about me. My skills have value. The creation of a bag design takes hours. Should I be doing that for free? Would you tell an architect or a lawyer to give away their time for free? I don’t think so.
All of this is about values. What do you value? Let’s do a little 5th grade math, shall we:
A bag made in another country that looks like 2000 others where the person(s) doing the sewing are paid a $2 (which goes VERY far in other economies, mind you) gets bought for $4 wholesale say, and is marked up above the usual 50% retail, and sells to you in an American store for $11. Wow, what a deal.
Let’s take my lunchbag: There are less than 600 Lorraines floating around the world. I know, I’ve sewn EVERY single one over the last 4 years. I make $8.33 on each one. Add materials and overhead and I can’t even sell my bag at wholesale for under $20. Then the retail markup is 50% which puts the bag at it’s current $40. 600 bags x $8.33 = $4,998. Divide that by 4 years = $1,249.50 per year I’ve made sewing lunchbags. Now I ask you…How far does that get me in our ecomony?
So, now here we are; You-with your $11 bag, feeling all smug and superior, the Other Country seamstresses who make $2 a bag are feeling pretty good because where they live $10 a week is excellent money, and Me-who makes less than $9 per lunchbag (when one sells). Care to rethink why my bags are “so expensive”?
I work harder than anyone has any idea about. Rarely do I get compensated for the hours and hours and weeks and weeks that I have put into my art. That is going to change here pretty darn soon. I know there are people out there that care about where they spend their money and who they buy from. I hope they find me. I have Faith about my abilities earning me an honest, well-deserved living. It has been my American Dream for as long as I can remember.
Do yourself a favor—the next time you have the urge to ask an indie-artist-creative type why there “such and such” costs so much, don’t. Value their work and the time it took them to make it. And maybe take a little time to think about whether it matters to you where your items come from, or how they are made.
*steps off soapbox* 😉