One of the prospective entrepreneurs was Beryl, a young mother producing wonderful scarves- hand-knitted in the U.K. to the highest standards (by local grannies no less!) from thick merino wool- beautiful, high quality, and durable. But boy were they expensive. To be able to offer a high quality piece of knitwear, hand-made in the U.K. our budding entrepreneur had to charge up to £200 a scarf. Ouch. You've got to really love a scarf to pay that much...
Yet, although Beryl could get such an item manufactured in bulk in China, and with a lower grade wool, to sell in this country at a much more accessible pricepoint, in much greater volume; the lady was not for turning. She was adamant that she did not want to compromise the USP of her products- the quality, durability and sustainability that was only possible with goods lovingly produced in the U.K.
And I think she had a point, ( High street fashion retailer Jigsaw agreed- placing an order for 200 pieces to be stocked in their stores), one which relates to a larger issue we have in the U.K. presently.
Where possible we must move away from our reliance on goods mass produced at low cost, low quality, and low reliability from the Far East. There are important economic reasons for this e.g.
Our dependance on imported goods leaves us vulnerable economically, we need to support UK enterprises to aid growth in this country, and we need to re-build our manufacturing industry in this country to reduce our dependance on Financial Services... etc
But as important for me as these, is the fact that we need to become more socially aware and responsible in our shopping habits.
The environmental cost of our obsession with buying low cost, low quality items is significant- the use of resources in manufacture, the freight of imported goods, and also in the disposability of the items- their requirement for more regular replacement (buy cheap, buy twice as they say) and impact on landfill.
The human cost is also not to be forgotten- in terms of the exploitation of the workforce that allows some factories to churn out goods at such low cost, and also consideration of the safety breaches regularly reported in low quality imported goods.
And finally- it's a matter of national pride! Back in the days before I was even a twinkle in my mother's eye, the U.K. had a manufacturing industry known for design, quality and durability, which is now all but gone, with those still around struggling to survive. We should be proud to support local industry- where we can afford to pay the extra cost for the design, quality and durability that British manufacture affords, we should- it will pay for itself in more ways than one.
On trips to Ireland I've always been quietly impressed by the undeniable sense of 'collectivism' (a focus on the community/society, group goals- the whole being greater than the sum of its' parts etc) within the country, exampled by the many 'Buy Irish', 'Support Your Local Farmers' etc signs within shops and supermarkets.
I'd like to think that the current economic climate is causing us to re-evaluate our purchase priorities, and that perhaps as we think more about what we buy, our focus will change from individualism (focussing on the individual goals and desires) to considering the wider impacts our purchasing decisions can make.
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