Shop Good Blog

Today I share a guest post from my friend, The Male Baker. Who doesn’t love baked goods, especially when lovingly created by a good-looking, young guy?! Read on for his recipe for lemon scones filled with strawberries & whipped cream (perfect to make for Mom this weekend), or check out his own site full of beautiful photography and delicious recipes!

Anastasia of Anastasia Photography, out of Whistler, BC, generously offered to take some photos to help us promote our blankets. With Mother's Day approaching, and her gifted experience in family photography, we thought it would be fun to shoot some moms & kids along with the blankets. What resulted is breathtaking, highlighting the vibrancy and richness of the blankets along with the tenderness of the relationships. Beautiful! 

If you are in the Whistler, Vancouver, or Lower Mainland area, contact Anastasia for a wedding or family session - you will not be disappointed!

As I’ve mentioned, we live in a cold weather climate, and in many ways, this winter has felt like a version of hibernation. This season has been a time of planning, preparation, and rest. Now I am so thrilled to finally present the first phase of our store’s expansion into more depth and breadth of product offerings.

Winter is… not my favourite.  But every year, I try to have a better attitude, vowing to “make the best of it”, “embrace the winter”, etc.  Usually, I end up doing some skating, some tobogganing, some winter walks, and a lot of drinking coffee inside & under a blanket. This year, I am just thankful that I have central heating, while typically-tropical Bangladesh is experiencing life-threatening low temps.

You can win a kantha throw by showing me how you dignify the winter! With skiing? Polar bear swims? Hot chocolate?

Here’s what you do:

I recently received a very direct and honest question: A friend had popped into a well-known fair trade shop and noticed that they were selling the same type of kantha-stitched throws as she had just purchased from dignify…for $24 less. “Of course I support you,” she affirmed, “but it might make someone ask… why are yours $98?”

Indeed.

Of course, I had heard vaguely about this before, and I knew from the start of the project that the cost-to-sale price of our blankets were considered “less than ideal” for importers/sellers like me. But I didn’t know the details, and I didn’t have an answer. Now I was asking, too! Not because I thought $98 was high, but because knowing that it takes at least 4 days of labour to make one throw, how could they sell them for so little?

Well, as Robin, the managing director of BASHA – who make our blankets – said: “There seems to be a wide range of what people in Bangladesh call ‘fair trade’.”

She offered many insights into the industry and how others, including that specific producer, compare to her operation. Read on for a more detailed look (in her own words) at the operation behind our own “fair trade” kantha blankets.