When you have a bad day, what do you value the most: that your friend sends you a message or that he goes to your house and keeps you company?
The same goes for the difference between mass and artisanal production or local commerce. While the first is much easier, faster and more impersonal, the second involves more work, is more laborious, done over low flame, customer service is much more personal and the result is not perfect, but surely unique.
And we ask ourselves: Why are we able to spend an amount of money on the last viral brand garment but we don't give that value to items that have been treated with special care? Shouldn't it be the other way around?
The artisans are not only selling a product, they are selling their work, since they have participated in the creation and production process. They look for the best refinements for each item. They produce as if they did it for themselves, for its friends or family. Large companies do not have that capacity because industrial production does not allow special attention to each of their products.
Why we do not bargain with these companies but we do bargain with artisans? Do we stand on a large commercial center and ask for a discount? We live in a consumer society, it’s true, but we must be aware of the way we consume. Sometimes we buy things that we do not even need, we are continually consuming products to use and throw away and we do not even consider whether these purchasing decisions are really made by us or we do them by inertia.
At Labienhecha we work with great care and effort so that our product is unique, good quality and, if we are wrong, we recognize it and we find a solution. We spend many hours in a small workshop, we look for the best raw material, we care that each one of us has a decent job &mdashwe care and we do it, this is never negotiable&mdash and we commit to this project because we believe in it and we think is valuable.
When we take out the bienhechas, we usually find some shy bargains, but sometimes almost professional ones! We do not like anyone to take a bienhecha thinking that he has overpaid it. We like to take care of you, and that is why our refusal to lower prices is not in vain and we strive to explain to you why a good deal costs what it costs.
We understand the position of the client because, we are customers too and we understand that sometimes it is necessary to look for the best price, but it is also necessary to consider what there is behind the stand in which you are and reflect on how the product has arrived there keeping in mind the cost of manufacturing, among many other things. When you think about bargaining the artisan, put yourself in its place and value its work because she values you as a customer.
By buying a bienhecha, you are not only taking a bag made with all the love &mdashand a lot of work&mdash, you are collaborating to promote a project, so that all of us involved can have a decent job, to create employment, to boost the local economy, to expand our ecological message... For that and more, you are making a team of women who dedicate all the effort and illusion of the world to their bienhechas very happy.
The most curious of it all is that it costs us a lot to higher up a price. It is as if we were ashamed to ask what a bienhecha is worth or costs (we are sure that many trade and market partners understand this). But, the truth is that everything is worth, at least, what it is actually worth. And we start from there.
In another post, we won't mind sharing something like: what do you pay when you buy a bienhecha. But this is another story.
For all this that we are telling you and for all the artisans with whom we share experiences, we ask you, from the bottom of our heart, that before you bargain a price to an artisan, think carefully, because you too &mdashas a client&mdash are key in all this that we call sustainable trade.
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