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THE BEST OF KANTHA FOR ALL!
Recently, I received an email from a customer who expressed concern over whether the value of our blankets is legitimately “ethical”. With so many places to find kantha on the web from etsy to Amazon – and at a wide range of prices – what makes dignify’s blankets worth the value? Are we simply using the word “ethical” as a marketing scheme?
It sounds a bit cynical, sure, but these questions are valid & reasonable – the questions we should be asking.Not just of social enterprises, but of everyone for whom we open our wallets.
As a self-run business from an admitted amateur, I realized that while the stories of Basha (our producing partner) and dignify are thoroughly integrated in my operations and thought process, I haven’t always communicated them adequately.
But the truth is, Basha is the real deal! It is run by caring leaders who guide the artisans, and teach them, and check on them when they don't show up at work, and run workshops for their husbands about why not to beat them. It is a good place.
An acquaintance just contacted me after her husband, who works in prosthetics, had traveled to Bangladesh for some work & training. Her words:
“He managed to stop at the Basha facility and was completely blown away. He and the fellow he travelled with were almost in tears by the kids' affection for them. They had a tour and bought some blankets. Absolutely LOVED it! “
For more specifics, I have tried to address some great questions & concerns below. Please feel free to comment or contact us for more discussion on these or other questions.
> Here is what we've said on the subject before. It is a great primer on wages, benefits, and product quality of our blankets. It is also over two years old!
Why Aren’t Your Blankets Fair Trade Certified?
There is a reason why dignify uses the term “ethical” rather than “fair trade” when referring to our blankets.
To be certified as fair trade, a business first has to qualify in its own country to the national fair trade network, then further by the international body. The application in Bangladesh was ~80 pages in length; each of these applications also carry a cost. As consumers, this is excellent news, as it means that not just any organization can be certified. But, on the business side, it poses a challenge for businesses like Basha who use all of their money to pay women's wages, and have few spare administrative hours.
At this point, Basha has been accepted into Bangladesh's local entity, Ecota Fair Trade Federation, and is working on their application for the WFTO. This includes attending training sessions and working on the application, all of which require time & money.
However, Basha has incorporated fair trade principles into their values from the very beginning. You can read here about the 10 fair trade principles and how Basha’s operations support each one.
What About Foreigners? What about the Bangladeshi Women – Isn’t it Better if They’re Empowered to Run their own Business?
The managing director at Basha is named Robin Seyfert. She is a social worker by trade who initially began her work in Bangladesh with MCC, working directly with women trapped in, but wanting new life away from, the sex trade. Currently, she runs the Basha operation, which also employs 3 other foreigners: all of whom are not paid by the revenue of the business.
While the vision of micro-financing and self-motivated entrepreneurship is excellent, in this circumstance, there are too many barriers for most of these women for this option. Many of the women are still reconciling severe trauma (or have other barriers to employment) and need leaders to care for them and help them to simply work.
Women who are motivated and excellent in their work absolutely do advance to management roles within Basha. This is welcomed - there is certainly enough work to be done!
Where Does the Money Go when I Buy a Blanket?
The price of a Basha product pays for:
On dignify’s end, the price goes into making the business a viable avenue by which to distribute Basha’s products.
These are good questions with (I hope) even better answers. If you want to add to the conversation, let us know your own questions about the product, process, or people, and we would love to address them.
Dignify’s origin story has long been included, in brief, on our about page, and I refer to it whenever I’ve done interviews or podcasts or if I meet someone in person who inevitably asks, how did you get into this?
I'd like to share a bit of a wider panorama of the story, and an update. I have heard some tremendous stories from customers about the meaning that their blanket has had in some aspect of their life or a relationship. I'm so inspired, I would like to share more of mine, too. The story of dignify is very intertwined with my friend, Kathy.
I've taken a Halloween approach (thus far) that is almost entirely of a free-for-all. As in: Go trick-or-treating, have fun, eat candy, keep it in your room, go wild... and usually by two weeks in, it's all gone, forgotten, or lost its lustre. This week, though, our three kids brought over 1200 candies & chips back into our house (!!!). It was, to understate things... a bit much.
When you find yourself with an abundance of junk food, the idea of throwing it away feels inconceivable (at least for me). Maybe it is that candy is non-perishable, and there is a sense that throwing something edible in the garbage is abhorrently wasteful?
A little behind-the-scenes insight here...
As a store owner, there are loads of resources out in the wilds of the internet, ostensibly to help me succeed in my business. Did you know that I start hearing about Black Friday (as in "are you prepared to break through on Black Friday?") in the summer?
It is SO EASY to find ourselves as consumers in the maelstrom of other people's (and corporations') marketing efforts, and not even remember how we got there, or even notice these (very intentional) forces working away on us.
Here are some actions we can take now to simplify the noise before the noisiest time of the shopping year: —
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