10/06/2020
I just read another Queensland boutique’s post where yet again someone exclaimed in the comments attached to the post that that clothes they found in that boutique were made in China. I felt impelled to post...
Firstly I want to say that over the past 12 years, where possible, Soul Diva has always tried to champion local designers and manufacturers. This has got harder and harder over the years.
Then came COVID. Since re-opening we have been lambasted, accused and sneered at for offering clothes and accessories that are made in China.
Come on ladies! Did you think that we could immediately change our entire stock from one origin of manufacture to another in a few weeks? Did you think we could ring our suppliers to say please take these clothes back and remake them in Australia or New Zealand? Did you think that the clothes we stock, source, buy well in advance of the season, before pandemics, around local and international manufacturing, distribution cycles and supply chains - conscious of cut, fabric and ethical production, would suddenly be different to the ones you find in our boutique after we re-open... just three weeks later? Please!
Like everyone, I applaud locally-made and Australian-made products. I still offer fabulous labels that are made here ... Rant at www.sustainablefashion.com.au and Vigorella and parts of collections from Sacha Drake and maiocchi. I’m constantly championing and searching for locally-made labels. But they have to exist. They have to be exclusive to a geographic area so you don’t find them ‘everywhere’ in the same town. Lastly, you have to be prepared to pay for them to be manufactured here.
So please, before you open your mouth in the shop or sneer online about Made in China. Think. Or ask what we have in stock that is made in Australia or New Zealand so we can talk your ear off on how that is made, the fabrics, how we know the designer, their studios, their agents if they use them and in many cases their favourite drink! But for the lovely labels Made in China or India or elsewhere, we also know the designers, the fabrics, their agents if they use them and their favourite drink!
I would love to say everything in our shop is Australian or New Zealand-made. But it isn’t. Please think before you vent at a boutique owner or employee without knowing what is involved in getting beautiful pieces into our stores and into your wardrobe.
Rant over... shop local... shop well
