| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Quail By Mail |
Do you support rural manufacturing in this country?I operate a ladies fashion label which specialises in organic and Fairtrade cotton clothing which is manufactured in a rural area of Devon.
Do you think I should continue making clothing in Devon? Yes/No Or should I try and keep prices down and have my manufacturing done abroad? Yes/No
Check out my website and then get back to me here! www.quailbymail.co.uk Cheers Shauna Chapman Quail |
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| Silas |
May be wrong, but this looks like a thinly veiled trawl to me | ||||||||||
| sean |
It's of interest to roughly 50% of our members if it is. And one of the functions of downsizer is to encourage small/ethical traders. Stop being so grumpy Silas.
Welcome aboard Quail By Mail. 
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| Jonnyboy |
Welcome! | ||||||||||
| Quail By Mail |
P.S. Technically I am a downsizerI buy local.I recycle paper, plastic, cardboard, glass, cans. I have birdfeeders. I have a womery. I have a compost pile. I grow herbs for myself. I grow herbs to attract bees. I grow herbs for my neighbours. I give away seeds to my neighbours. I have a veg patch that covers 90% of my back yard. I have befriended the neighbour's cat which is afraid of its own shadow. I pick up plastic on the beach most days of the week. |
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| sean |
Just ignore Silas, everybody else does. | ||||||||||
| Rob R |
Who? 
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| gil |
Hi there, and welcome to Downsizer. Do join in !
Nice website,BTW |
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| Bebo |
Not sure but I think he might be a member of the same club as C-K-R and boisdevie. |
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| mochyn |
You're a rotten lot. He can't help being a miserable old *** who doesn't trust anyone! Hello Quail and croeso. Ignore them. Lads!
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| gil |
There would be pros and cons to both manufacturing in Devon or abroad. I'm sure you'll have been going through them yourselves.
For starters.... Devon +ve Contributing to the local rural economy Providing local employment, including out of tourist season Manufacturing close by where you can keep an eye on / control over the process Easy to do quality control for same reason Produce, warehouse and distribute from same premises -ve Cost of labour, and capital, if it's your machinery Public fixation on cheap clothing (rather like cheap food) Abroad +ve Cheaper labour and other costs Could contribute positively to an overseas rural economy, especially given fairtrade orientation Possibly closer to source of materials -ve Spatial/temporal separation from manufacturing Possible delays in shipping finished goods Maybe less responsive therefore to customer orders Best of luck - how's it been going ? Nice to see support for Scottish tweed ! Oh, and BTW, have you had much support from local enterprise bodies ? |
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| boisdevie1 |
Thanks for the ever so positive post Bebo. What club are CKR and I meant to be in? It might to help me understand why I feel that I've just been insulted. |
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| Stacey |
It is a bit of an odd post to put in the 'Hello' forum though 
It'll be interesting to see if Quail becomes an active member in any other way. Let's hope so
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| Frewen |
Gil has put it far better than I could. But for gut reaction, keep making clothes in Devon.
We are all quite friendly really - stay and join in
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| Bebo |
I thought you were all paid up members of the EWNB (End of the World is Nigh Brigade). It wasn't meant to be an insult and sorry if I offended. |
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| Silas |
Agreed - rather a strange way to introduce your first post though. Grumpy - moi? |
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| Silas |
You've been insulted! Bloody hell.......... |
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| Bebo |
Note that I only said might be a member............. |
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| Quail By Mail |
Comments n stuffThanks Gil for all of your kind feedback. Quail has had relative success selling online. First ever customer came from Paris, the 2nd from Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands...so I feel there is scope to sell products to everyone in between! Most customers have come from Wales!Yes, Gil, I do support Scottish tweed not only that but it's organic tweed from the Isle of Mull and the tweed is loomed on vintage machines and the organic wool derived from rare breeds of sheep. The idea of Quail is to have a product from all the British 'countries' so organic wool from Wales, organic tweed and deerskin/ponyskin leatherwork from Scotland, I operate and manufacture in England and I'm trying to get add value to materials from Northern Ireland and Ireland. *** Yes I it is odd that this post is sitting in the Hello section. It was my first ever visit and I didn't realise how large and layered the Downsizer forum was. Apologies! *** Although I'm operating a niche business customers are incredibly varied and like anyone selling something they have produced, I have the right to sell at prices I deem fair. There is a movement in the Western World for proper food and fairer wages for all and it is those people who understand these things that tend to be my customers. _________________ |
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| ros |
Hello Quail.
In answer to your question, keep manufacturing in Devon. Because of the made in England tag, I would be happy to pay the prices you are asking,. --- Actually compared to much "ethical" clothing available your prices are rather reasonable. However I shan't be placing an order just yet as (and others have said this already) you don't make shirts/blouses big enough for me
Wellcome to Downsizer, hope to hear more from you in other topics |
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| Stacey |
Re: Comments n stuff
If you're after anything produced in Cornwall gimme a shout
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| Blacksmith |
Welcome to the forum, as you can see there is a fair amount of banter, pi$$ taking and ever some very useful advice.
Keep going, "Made in Britain" is something to be proud of. (Brixham is lovely too) |
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| gil |
This thread originally appeared in the Welcome section of the forums. I have moved it into Small Business Chat, as that is more relevant to the topic under discussion : whether to manufacture in rural areas of the UK or abroad. | ||||||||||
| Brownbear |
Just nod politely and offer him a stoat. |
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| Quail By Mail |
The ReasonI asked whether you, the Downsizer, supported rural manufacturing. It appears that some people are quite interested in Made in England etc etc.I was curious to know whether people give a damn anymore about where something comes from, the provenance of things. These days people really are obsessed with cheapness of things! I intend to continue to manufacture Quail By Mail stuff in Devon. thanks |
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| mochyn |
Re: The Reason
Glad you're keeping it British. I've recently decided to use only British fibres and yarns in my knitting & crochet. It limits me (no cotton or silk) but I can live with that. I'll be supporting British producers and hopefully earning a bit too. As for being obsessed with cheapness: not such a priority here, more good value. Cheapness does not always equate with that: I'd rather pay twice as much for an item that lasts three times as long: better value in the end, and if I'm supporting British businesses at the same time then I'm happy. You've probably noticed that a lot of us are into seasonal/local buying for food, and that extends to other purchases for many of us too. Keep it up, and if you want some good quality, hand-knitted garments made from British yarns there are plenty of us here who can do that! |
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| Jamanda |
Re: The Reason
We try to buy as much as possible locally sourced, and don't use the big supermarkets at all. As such, yes I would be very interested in locally produced clothes (we live in Devon too). I think your prices look very reasonable. They just need to fit
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| Frewen |
I like quality, sourced and manufactured as close to home as possible. If I can afford it I'll buy the above criteria over cheap any day. | ||||||||||
| Quail By Mail |
From time to time I offer commissions to hand knitters. Some of your may have seen the flower corsages and pillows made from organic Welsh wool on my website. The lady who made both styles lives in West Yorkshire but as a new mother she doesn't have the time anymore so I can't offer her any more work.
I source the wool and come up with the concepts that might work as a product. For the moment I have enough stock but I'll know where to 'recruit' in the future! ** I'm glad that forum readers aren't put off by prices. I took part in a temporary Fairtrade shop for Fairtrade Fortnight in March. I had a lot of terribly excited people come up to me and say good things about what I was doing and how I was doing it. Being new to the town, I was encouraged to have customers, fans, feedback and support. However I didn't please everyone and some old ladies had words to say that I couldn't repeat here! |
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| MarkS |
If you don't mind me saying so, I think you could do with better pictures on the website. | ||||||||||
| Stacey |
I had some old ladies be very rude about the price of my work. I told them to go to Primark. |
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| Brownbear |
Was that before they were rude, or after? |
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| Stacey |
Definitely after - I'm ususally very polite to people - even the rude ones but they got me at the end of a very long hard summer. |
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| Jamanda |
Do you? I like the pictures. I wondered if one of the models was yourself Quail? |
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| MarkS |
Actually - looking again I was able to zoom in, and see details - which is what I wanted. All this new fangled web tech stuff is obviously too much for me. Still think the lighting could be better though, its a bit cold imo |
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| Quail By Mail |
Constructive feedback is always good. I'm trying to improve the photograph brightness on the model with the darker hair {photoshop}. It was a dull, blah day in the studio and my husband and I did the photos ourselves.
No the models are not me but two local girls who are students from the local college and born and bred in the area, which is what I wanted. I have since found a mature model who is in her late 50s and is an ex-model. So look out for her over the summer! The photos are taken inside our fisherman's cottage though. The rude ladies were not actually in a pack of rude ladies but individuals that came up to me during my two week stint taking part in a temporary Fairtrade Fortnight shop with some other traders. They all looked like they were at least in their mid70s or older. They had to give their two bits over prices and have a dig at the same time. One told me to "**** off and go back to where I came from", "You're not selling, you're stealing" (Her body language gave me the impression she was going to hit me with her cane so I stepped back a few feet so she couldn't), "You have no right to be here, **** off!, and horrifically "You're selling crap made by N***ers!" (Though the cotton is Indian and we manufacture in Devon). Four cantankerous ladies I can handle but I think they were watching too much Gordon Ramsey! Being a newcomer with no relatives buried in the local churchyard, I had it coming for sure! I had a lot of lovely comments and loads of people came up to chat and banter but the best comment by far was a massively tall, middle aged man dressed in steal toe boots and probably just came off one of the fishing boats tip toed in and took my hand and whispered shyly "I just came in to say, I read about you in the paper and what you were bringing to the town and I love what you're doing. Don't leave". |
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| Cho-ku-ri |
Hi Quail By Mail, love your idea, clothes and web page and hope you do well. As far as I can gather, some people really struggle for work, especially out with the tourist season in your area, so I guess you have chosen a better place than most to set up a manufacturing base. With the Euro strengthening, and import costs going up, perhaps you are in pole position for a resurgence in British clothing manufacturing. I hope the 'RED TAPE BRIGADE' give you an easy time. Good Luck.
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| Northern_Lad |
Indeed - they're lovely. Where can one get one? The garmets look great, too. |
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| Quail By Mail |
The clothing business will be a slow burning ember for me. Feast and famine will be the name of the game for a long while I expect. 6 sales in a row and then zilch for a week and then someone from Paris blasts in with a lovely big wholesale order just when you start losing the will to live! That's business.
The Devon manufacturing thing doesn't seem to have any measurable effect on buyers, thus the reason for posting this post in the first place. The made in Devon thing is more an unexpected added bonus to all but a handful of buyers. All ladies like stunning clothes + cheap prices and any niche 'reason for buying' just trickles down from this fact. |
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| Northern_Lad |
Couldn't agree more - they're beautiful and femine (IMHO) without being girly. And at more than reasonable prices. I just wish I had one of the models to buy said clothes for. |
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| judith |
I love the Lucy dress.
Do you think I could wear it with wellies? |
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| sean |
Don't, Northern Lad's already getting over excited. |
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| gil |
Have you seen this thread about how far one is prepared to compromise one's principles to make a business run ? I thought the suggestion made to me by marketing tutors about working the USPs for the market you are in / want to be in was interesting food for thought. |
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| Quail By Mail |
Yes I saw and read the thread Gil refers to with great interest. I've had similar experiences.
When I first started out I was trying to promote myself in my local area (South Devon) like a woman posessed. Making calls to the council, the tourist board, what's happening here, there, everywhere, surfing the internet for ideas on schemes, markets, networks to take part in. It seemed that the more funded a scheme was, the more useless, beaurocratic and out of touch they were! So I've ditched this approach and I now do my own thing and am getting better results. Unique Selling Points sometimes amuse me. For example, when the Devon press write about Quail they rarely mention that the clothing is manufactured in Devon, and even if they do...it appears towards the end of the article. USPs might be in the eye of the beholder. Funny Judith should suggest wearing the Lucy Dress with wellies. I have a photoshoot coming up with just that image in mind! |