Wolf's Den

The general misconception that simply because some of the supplies can be cheap, the finished product needs to be as well.

How do I put this...

I do this for a living, or try to. I KNOW what they cost. I also know exactly how much certain fiber reactive dyed for use with those scarves cost, what it takes in terms of my time and my energy to create ONE of my scarves. I also know how much it costs to simply list a scarf and sell it (20 cents to list, 3.5% of the sale, on Etsy), as well as how much it cost for packaging that I use and what it costs to ship.

Now, given this is my JOB, if I don't pay myself, then, yes, I could probably sell a scarf for roughly 20.00 and make a profit. Especially if they or I don't donate anything.

But given that I value my time, my energy and my talent far more than that, and given the fact that I donate 50% of my proceeds from each sale, I simply cannot sell a scarf at bare bottom prices. Which is what a lot of people do.

Yes, Dharma is relatively cheap, IF you only buy the Habotai, IF you only use certain sizes. I don't just use Habotai, I don't just use the smaller sizes. I use Crepe De Chine, Stone washed Crepe De Chine, Habotai, Charmeuse, etc, etc... as well as a wider range of sizes.

That adds up.

Then you add in the cost of certain fiber reactive dyes, that I do not buy from Dharma, and in order to get any sort of profit from THOSE, you need to buy in large quantities, and for certain colors, THAT adds up.

Add in Soda Ash, Synthrapol, PVC pipe for Shibori if you decide to go that route, string for shibori, Thioxurea for discharging, beads, FireLine, charms, semi precious stones, whathaveyou if you decide to embellish them, whatever soap and fabric softener you prefer to hand wash your finished piece in after rinsing the excess dye out, your water bill, your electric bill, and gee, it's not simply 5.00 to create one scarf anymore.

But customers don't see that. They see a gorgeous scarf at a low price, and they see another gorgeous scarf at a higher price and automatically want the cheaper price. And expect that everyone should sell at the cheaper price.

That's where I'm coming from.

Yes, it is a nice thing they are doing, donating their profits, etc. But for them, this appears to be mostly a hobby.

I don't.

I do this as my job and people coming in saying, oh it only costs such and such amount to create one of these, is wrong. That would be like telling a famous painter that because their paints were so cheap, that their canvases were so cheap, they should sell their artwork cheap too. It doesn't work that way.


Let's break $20.00 for one scarf down-

I mean breaking 20.00 down...

That's-

2.00 for the scarf blank.
2.00 for the mailing of said blank to you.
2-3.00 for a 2oz container of ONE Procion MX dye color, depending on the color, of which you can get maybe 2-3 scarves out of IF you skimp on the dye, so say 1.00 for dye.
maybe 10.00 for the water and electric you use to dye the scarf.
maybe 50 cents -1.00 for packaging, depending on packaging.
then 2-3.00 for mailing if you just stick it in a plain envelope and go regular mail.

Total- 18.50-19.00. You make ONE DOLLAR. That's it. That's not even minimum wage.

That's not even paying yourself for your time or the cost to list the scarf.

IF you list the scarf at 20.00 on, say, Etsy. Well, there goes another 20 cents right off the bat. You sell the scarf, there goes another 25-30 cents, roughly. You use PayPal for receiving payments, there goes ANOTHER 25-30 cents.

That's another 70-80 cents.

You make exactly 20-30 CENTS. That's it.

Could you make a living on 20-30 cents per item sold? I sure as hel can't.