Thank you for making this video. I am from China and wants to give you more context, as a crocheter myself, I know that crocheters are heavily exploited here. The main demographic of crocheters here in China are stay at home moms with a lot of free time, so whole sellers would outsource projects like a crochet ball, a specific crochet doll with a particular pattern to these women. The crocheters would make them in bulk, because the whole sellers would buy them in bulk so they want the price as cheap as possible; a crocheter might spend 1-2 hours or more on a crochet doll with 3-4 color changes (with attached parts that needs to be sew on, I wish I can post picture on TH-cam so I can show you how complicated that is), but they would be compensated 10-20 RMB (about 1.3-2.8 dollars) for each piece, and that is consider pretty good in the crocheting community. If that dress is sold for less than 200 dollars, I am very confident that the worker making this dress is getting paid about 2 dollars/hr
thank you very much for bringing this up from your perspective! i feel like it's so important to look at both sides of the coin. crochet should be treated as a luxury, not a cheap commodity, especially when it has to be made by hand unlike knit. i hope that chinese crocheters can be recognized by the expertise they have acrued over years and years and properlt compensated for the work that they do ❤
I’m currently living in China and yeah, the prevalence of crochet pop up booths at shopping centers that all sell pretty identical stuff in huge volumes raised my eyebrow for sure. It was wild and also disappointing because the one time I mustered up the courage to go up and use my Google Translate to ask where they got their yarn from they looked at me like I was insane. I wasn’t asking in some sort of gotcha or anything, I just CANNOT find out what to search for to find worsted weight yarn here and was hoping they’d have some pointers 💀
At the same time, as a Chinese person, I want to bring up the fact that American people and others are NOT buying good quality products made by Chinese people who have skills. Yes, we should bring low-wage labor to the forefront, but I would love for the international audience to invest in those that do sell good quality products. If a person is a skilled crocheter in China, there’s such a barrier to sell to the international consumers and they have no other means but to work for factories. If only western audiences pay more attention to Chinese crafters instead of overlooking Chinese productions in general, the Chinese artists could make more of a wage; otherwise, there is not much of a market for buying crocheted items as the US, so it’s difficult making a living wage from crochet.
That’s a really interesting point that I hadn’t considered, thank you for bringing it up! I’m sure Chinese crochet artists who make their own designs do really unique and incredible work. I definitely want to look into that now. Honestly, I am not someone who buys handmade very often…I love to support artists when I can but I’m a full time artist myself so I am super broke and usually make things myself or buy from the thrift store. I’ve never looked into buying crocheted pieces from someone else so this hadn’t occurred to me. I guess, at least here, people probably would purchase from within the US because of shipping costs/time to ship? I don’t know, but that is sad and I wish Chinese artists had more support too. 😔💛
There’s an additional barrier caused by being unable to access Chinese websites. In order to make an account on Chinese websites, you often need a Chinese phone number. In many cases you can’t buy things without a Chinese broker if you do manage to come across something you’d like to buy which is an additional fee + shipping costs. I’ve personally encountered issues with my cards being blocked on Chinese websites when trying to make purchases, even if they say they accept the card. People who actually care about handmade art are going to be more likely to buy from within the US because the Chinese government has made such an effort to keep their internet, credit and debit system separate that it’s difficult to buy from Chinese artists as a non-Chinese. The website I’ve had the most success with buying from small Chinese artists is Pinkoi but the website isn’t very popular in the US because that niche is filled by Etsy.
I can't speak to Chinese artisans trying to sell to a western market, but I can speak to what it is like to be a small business owner selling to fellow Americans. A friend, my husband, and I started a cheesecake business some years ago, and we rented a stall at our local farmer's market. I can't tell you how many people tried our product, praised it, then asked why they should spend more for our hand-made, small-batch, fresh cheesecake versus going to Walmart and getting "the same thing" for much less. The problem with a western audience is that, while they love the idea of small business/cottage industry/artisanal goods, they don't want to pay the prices required to keep those people in business. And then they're shocked when you tell them that between ingredients and overhead, the "exorbitant" prices are barely keeping the business afloat. That you aren't making a wage from it.
@@never-endingquestions3314these people should probably rely upon resold discounted priced crocheted items then if they can’t make it, get it as a gift, or afford an ethically made product for proper compensation for the work
@@peach-ic4jh Your comment gives the vibe of "you can't have nice things because you're poor." If you sell hand made crafts, if it is priced too high, it won't sell. Nobody cares about the time that goes into making it. You have to be sought after for people to pay high prices because people aren't paying for the item but the name. Louis Vuitton can charge unreasonable prices for a belt because people want to say it's Louis Vuitton, not because it's quality.
They litteraly did not say thst at all lmao You give me the vibe of someone wgo believes artists dont deserve to be payed fairly for their time@never-endingquestions3314
@@never-endingquestions3314 but the meaning of affordable needs to be changed. just because its not affordable to poorer people doesn't mean it should be made to be. i don't care if i sound like "you can't have nice things because you're poor" because with certain things, that is true. handmade crafts, whether you like it or not, ARE a luxury, and no, not everyone deserves luxury, that's why it's called a luxury. there ARE some things that are luxuries that shouldn't be, but no one NEEDS homemade crafts or clothes and if you WANT them you need to be prepared to pay the upfront costs. yes, if you price things too high, it won't sell, but that's the PROBLEM! what IS a necessity is people being paid fairly for their work. if people started seeing the value of handmade items they WOULD sell for that much, because as you said, people buy from luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton just because of the brand label, so why not create a shift where more people would buy handmade goods because it has the label of being handmade (and is probably better quality)? telling people to keep their prices down so other people can afford it is just creating exploitation. Real, "affordable" crochet is affordable not to the average person, but to somebody who is willing to pay full price for someone not devaluing their work.
As a knitter, folks who are raging over items being sold as "crochet" when they're actually knit is baffling to me. Like, look, I'd rather everything be on the level when I buy an item... Obviously. But when I see a tag that says "crochet" on a $30 sweater and I grab it for a closer look, I'm ALWAYS happier to see it was actually knit and not actually crochet. I do not care if a machine made my affordable item in an affordable fashion, I DO care if someone isn't being compensated fairly for what is actually a very difficult skill. Crochet (and hand knitting) is HARD on your body, it takes years to develop the kind of speed and tension control it requires to hand make an item for a mass market. Not to mention, its a skill you only keep by taking proper breaks and making sure to stretch and do nerve glides to keep yourself healthy. Even when you're skilled, it takes hundreds (if not thousands) of hours to complete something like a dress.
I think we have the same point here and I’m not sure that anyone is upset to not have real crochet going for $30. I think everyone who knows what it takes to be a maker in any medium is happy to know that those Target items were machine made and hopefully didn’t take a real human 30 hours to make. If machines could replicate crochet I wouldn’t be making this video. I’d be happy to know people weren’t being exploited. They are probably being exploited though, because it is real crochet, and that’s why I made the video. I totally respect knitters and the toll it must take. I’ve knit one time and it was such a long process that I finished maybe 2 inches of a round and gave up, the project is still on the needles in a bag somewhere. It’s hard work and you are very skilled! I would always advocate for knitters making a fair wage as a professional artist. I was just speaking on one particular dress and the thing I know, which is crochet and the fact that this dress had to be handmade and people need to know about it so they can decide for themselves who they want to support.
I feel the same way. I am amused by imitation crochet and think its quite silly that fast fashion stores try to pass it off as the real thing. But im glad theyre not selling actual crochet at crazy low prices. And if they are i get very annoyed. Haha
I think part of the reason people get so annoyed is that the tags to specify crochet style or imitation. Thus giving the impression that not only is it real but that actual makers are way overcharging for their products. I'm sure as a knitter it's frustrating to see similar stories about creators trying to sell hand knit items and factories selling knit for way cheaper giving people the impression it's not really worth that much. It's sucks that creators have to compete with the impression mass produced items give
It makes me happy when it ISN'T crochet, but at the same time, the reason I rage is because there are people that don't know it's actually not crochet, and then they expect to see real crochet everywhere else for that same price, causing further exploitation of people because of other people being ignorant :/
As soon as I saw that pricing, I flinched. I've been crocheting less than a year and still know that is completely unethical. Plus the Shein information, the secondhand sweatshop practices, etc. I was already aware of all of that but I am glad you highlighted it in this video as well. Very well done.
I remember buying doilies back in the 80s. A 10” round intricate handmade….$25. The woman said “Oh I just do them while watching my soaps.” She definitely undervalued her time.
To be fair, she probably didn't undervalue herself at all. I regularly just give away things that I make that I consider easy or I did while preoccupied with a show or whatever because... well, for me, it was just something to do with my hands. I wasn't about to calculate time and costs and such to make is a 'self valuing' price because I couldn't and that would take nearly as much time as the item itself for my quickest bits. My mom is much the same as a crocheter, just doing it when busy watching a show, or waiting on the slow cooker to finish, or because she has nothing better to do. Quite a lot of us crafty people have zero interest adding a business aspect to our items even once we decide our friends were right and we could totally sell some stuff at the next farmers market lol.
@@lorescien4148but then adding in the aspect of selling the item takes away from the joy of creating it too. You have to work to a timeframe and can’t be creative. Then have the moments of no crojo, putting everything down for a couple weeks, then starting a new project. 😂😂
$25 if you adjust for inflation was a lot more in the 80s. I ran it through an online calculator and it’s roughly in the area of $80-100 in 2024 purchasing power. She didn’t undervalue her time.
"We make sure to keep our margins low to be able to continue to work towards our vision of providing our (global north) customers with thoughtful designs at an accessible price" is really SO funny. I'm from Brazil and work as a software developer for an outsourcing company. My team is comprised of people from Brazil (outsourced) and from Europe (in-house) and the difference in how we're treated and how much we earn is substantial - we once got news that "our" team got an award for being one of the best performing teams in all of [company who outsources their work] which meant that our European coworkers got a hefty cash bonus and us Brazilians got... well, nothing. In-house employees also enjoy getting the company's expensive tech hardware for free and we don't even get like, coupons to buy them at more affordable prices. I do earn triple of Brazil's minimum wage, which is a "livable wage"; however, that doesn't really make it any less infuriating, and tech doesn't even come CLOSE to being as taxing on the body as crocheting at a factory scale. It's honestly insane to me that anyone would try to spin this as being an acceptable thing after watching this video!!
@@Letitsia Thank you for this insight! This is so interesting. As a self employed artist I wouldn’t have really thought about something like this happening in normal people jobs. And that really shows that we are all experiencing such different worlds and speaks to why it’s so important to hear each other’s stories. I hate that you’re treated so unfairly in comparison to your European coworkers, that’s such bs. And I don’t know how people find it in themselves to defend this stuff either, it’s wildddd! I think the only people defending it are the super Swifties who can’t hear anything past Taylor’s name or handle the fact that someone is criticizing something she did (probably unintentionally but she obviously has to be connected to the story 😅😂).
@@lizfoolery Yeahhh that kind of fanatical Swiftie scares me tbh 😭 they're not the majority of Taylor Swift fans but they sure do stir up enough trouble to make up for all of the other reasonable fans and some more. I figured I'd add my perspective because whenever the outsourcing of labor to China is mentioned I see people saying things like "well the cost of living is lower in China, they earn a GOOD wage compared to the average, they should feel thankful that they even have this job!!" and it makes me soooo mad. Like... not everything in life is about how much money you make??? There's this thing that human beings tend to really like, it's something called "feeling valued", not monetarily but just in general... feeling like others value the work you do and the time you put in to make something happen. I personally think this is 100% unattainable when we're talking about people HAND CROCHETING a garment and the company responsible for outsourcing this work specifically mentioning that they keep profit margins low to achieve their "vision" of providing "thoughtful designs" at an affordable price. If this was about thoughtful designs they'd be selling crochet patterns. Nothing about this arrangement is thoughtful for anyone other than people who have 'saving money' as their only care in life! When it comes to the team I work with, I have absolutely no complaints because they do treat me as an equal and value the work I do. But many things aren't up to them, things that come from way up the corporate ladder... and I know that when it comes to that, I'm seen as nothing more than an opportunity to cut costs. I imagine other workers in outsourcing situations would have similar feelings. Also, the fact that they actually went ahead with restocking this piece is fucking bonkers 🫥
@@Letitsiaoh definitely! The standard of living thing gets on my nerves too. I used to work for a fashion company that outsourced to China and Bangladesh, and I know for a fact the workers got paid crap. The company made that same argument about them making more than average. Well, the average was still crap so the workers were still struggling. Nevermind that we also knew that those factories also outsourced to other factories that had even LOWER standards. It’s just horrible.
Yes , the same happens with Indian Techies, a lot of out sourcing from Western countries happens in terms of manpower and raw materials both hand made and machinery products. Techies do earn a bit more than the average but compared to the profit they make by out sourcing its just negligible. Plus the fact that they have to work overtime weekends and so on.
I'm a crochet artist in the Philippines. That dress is roughly PHP 6000 on our currency (which is actually around fair price bc of cheaper yarn) and 100% would definitely go to the artist BUT that dress costing $119 dollars under an Australian fast fashion boutique, that's definitely cheap labor. That dress being cheap means they got it for an even cheaper price. Thank you so much for covering this issue!
Thank you for bringing this to forefront. Thank you for advocating for the fact that handmade crochet cannot be mass produced. I wish that more people understood this!
Thank you so much for watching! I am happy to add to the conversation and try to educate people about how things are actually hand made. Makers deserve so much more respect! 💖
I will say as a crafter who works at a yarn shop, the amount of people whos jaws drop when i tell them i charge $25 an hr and a teeshirt takes about 20 hours. Then they ask about our samples, and its always the one that's 50 years old and looks like the big Lebowski sweater, and i tell them $5k. The question the price and im always happy to explain the value of a crafter. Its so sad how uneducated people are. Even new crafters!
Oh, goodness. Even the _yarn_ for that style of sweater would cost a ton. I swear people base their understanding of these things on the price of Super Saver at Walmart.
The thing is, items sell at what consumers can afford and how in demand something is. Just because you list something at 500-5000 doesn't mean it can be sold at that price. I sell artwork and make more on prints than actual paintings.
Yes, it’s expensive. I’ve knitted for nearly six years now (at first knitting with acrylic cheap wool/yarn) now using much nicer and expensive yarn to make wearables. They take a long time to make and learnt the value of making them, not just in terms of skill but also quality. A high quality product made by hand should be priced higher, not just for the quality or yarn, but also for time spent making it. The Taylor Swift crochet dress should’ve been more expensive if what they say is true.
@@Meskarune for sure thats why so many people also make patterns or have affiliate links to make money in the crafts. But the markets there. Im also a hairstylist and the biggest thing we say is you may price yourself out of budget for many people, but those whos budget your in will find you.
The cost of this dress hurts Etsy and other crafting selling sites. It takes me over 100 hours to make a four repeat pattern lace shawl. I am a fast, experienced crocheter, and I have made these shawls so many times that I can practically make them in my sleep.
So many people tell me I should sell my creations and I won’t because a lot of people can’t afford my time . I make my creations and give as gifts . Someone said that it was expensive what I would charge . I told them I am not a slave laborer and they went completely 18:01 silent . Thank you so much for pointing this out . I love this dress . That comment about the size is horrible . Freakin troll . You look adorable in your version of the dress .
I feel you on this completely! People ask me all the time to crochet them the items I post online…and I want to respond and say sure, for like $700! 😂 I am a self employed jewelry maker full time and I charge $30/hour and I even feel like that’s too low sometimes. I know my worth when it comes to metalsmithing, so there’s no way I’d ever be ok with cheaping out on my time when crocheting! Gifting your art is perfect! I don’t think non makers understand that when you spend so long on something it really becomes like a piece of your soul and that’s worth a lot, especially in a day where everything is mass produced. Thank you for watching!!! And ugh yeah Yolanda is a rat. 🤣 It’s always an anonymous, faceless account.
I gave a breakdown once using the price of the yarn I was working with. I was making a baby blanket in Lion Brand's Basic Stitch. I had five (I needed one more) skeins and I had started before traveling but I was in the airport three hours early, I was on two flights equaling about six hours, and I had been crocheting while someone else drove/at the Airbnb for an undisclosed about of time. I had gotten the yarn on sale too but I used the original price to demonstrate just the material cost and even the cheapest material would be above what someone would pay for a baby blanket. Then, to add on at least seven, though closer to ten hours of work (which would be more when I got the last skein,) at the federal minimum wage put the blanket easily over $70. That's why only hats, scarves, or other small accessories are at craft fairs; you could get a decent hst pattern down under an hour and the skein can go further than one hat to be economical. Blankets are the equivalent to quilts, which no one wants to pay the price of either.
Same, I crochet and have a friend that was "trying to drum up business for me" because I would never charge the outrageous prices she was seeing from online makers. I sent her a breakdown of the shawl I gave her. Boom, no more pics or complaints about the prices of other makers. 😂 Of course now she wants me to build up an inventory so I can "get rich". Love Her.
I've been crocheting for 40 years now, my mom taught me when I was 7. Friends have encouraged me to sell pieces over the years, but no one would pay for my labor or even the materials. I love fancy sock yarns, but can't afford the prices at my local LYS. So, I save up and purchase 10 100g un-dyed skeins and dye them myself. I've had people who wanted me to sell them, but when discussing price said I was too expensive. Now, I only put them in a yearly silent auction for a non-profit, where they fetch the right price, because they are bought by makers who know the value of the yarn. What I crochet is only ever given as gifts.
i have a friend commissioning a bag and have been wigged trying to discuss pricing with her the whole time. it's a detailed chameleon amigurumi bag with pockets and lining and a zipper and im very lucky that she is a very kind artist herself and has been so patient with me to get it done
Also, using repetitive motions like one would crocheting this dress, could definitely cause physical problems especially since the makers might be crocheting as fast as they could.
This is very true. When I got into crocheting I went at it too hard and after a few months, I had over strained the tendons in my hand that holds the tension because my hand isn't used to holding that position. Thankfully (kinda) I know how bad ignoring tendon strain can be and take months to recover from if you push it. So I had to take a few weeks off to completely heal. Now I wear compression gloves when I crochet. You have to take breaks and make sure you don't over do it. Same with typists getting carpels tunnel. So do waitresses that pour from heavy pitchers of water.
This is a wild video for me to watch as an Australian who actually used to shop at the original verge girl shop years and years ago! I find the price that vrg girl sells this piece at especially galling when you consider that the minimum wage for a skilled textile worker in australia is somewhere in the ballpark of 30AUD an hour, meaning that if it was being produced here it would be retailing for 4 figures. Obviously that price would be out of range for many of us mere mortals, but for Taylor Swift? Chump change. Anyway, thanks so much for the tutorial! I'm excited to make my own soon!
That’s super interesting! I hadn’t looked into the wages in Australia but I assumed it had to be way out of their budget to hire anyone there. It’s pretty gross! What was their store like back in the day? Do you remember seeing any of their hand dyed piece? 😂 I’m so curious about that. Thank you for watching! Definitely make one! It’s winter there, yeah?? This thick yarn I used would be perfect, I was dying wearing it in California summer weather. 💖
@@lizfoolery Idk about Verge Girl but I have seen other Australian designers/makers start off making things here and then outsource production to China to compete with all the other stuff imported from China. Peter Alexander pyjamas is one example. He began making them in his mum's basement but now everything is made in China. Western consumers are so used to buying cheap crap most of them won't pay for locally made products. There is a small trend in the other direction but it is niche. The sad fact is most people have no idea where their clothes / food / electronics etc. comes from or how it is produced.
@lyrebird9749 also because it's expensive to manufacture in Australia. No one here wants to spend 120 on a dress when you can go to smart and get a variation for 30. As a business you need to be able to balance your books. Im not saying it's right but its a thing. There are more than one side to this extremely complex topic.
That dress is so cute and I loved your commentary. I honestly don't think anything Taylor Swift does is ethical but this especially is heinous. Considering she completely has the ability to only buy hand-made clothing where she can personally ensure the proper compensation for the maker I find it abhorrent that she even considered buying this dress. I also think the certified factory thing is kind of useless...idk how much it really means. I wish people would take this attitude towards crochet and and transfer it to other clothes as well because the truth is all clothing is handmade.
Totally, I would love to see a sew-er bring this same kind of attention to other clothing! I was interested in diving into this just because I know the amount of time and energy and back pain that go into crocheting a large project and I was appalled by this pricing! I can’t believe anyone tries to justify it, but some people have a hard time hearing anything past *Taylor Swift*. She certainly could do better and I would have a lot of respect for any celeb who hired an artist and paid them the wage they actually deserve to make them something unique!! That would be so cool to see. Thank you so much for watching!! 💖
I think it is that people don’t respect crochet…this isn’t the first famous person to wear a crochet product and it won’t be the last. And you have to remember China is all about China not about the people or anything else it is about the government and we all know how Covid was handled by China not to mention the decades of killing of innocent babies so why does anyone expect them to be fair and ethical about labor rights?
I agree with you. Also her private jet use and the fact that she has the platform/resources to speak up about issues around the world and just... doesn't. Awful.
@@lizfoolery There is a sew-er I follow who talks a lot about the garment industry, labor, fast fashion, etc. Their name is Haley Marie Vintage if you're interested. Great video btw. The dress is so cute & you're commentary was spot-on.
Im so glad you made this video. Ive seen others top about the topic, but the fact you made the same dress and showed your own process really proves your point. Handmaking clothing takes so much time. fast fashion and handmade should not exist with each other. I didn’t really understand that until i started knitting. Love the dress btw
It really is hard to understand until you do it! I think more people should be talking about it and showing their process and being transparent about why makers deserve the prices they charge for their skill, time, blood, sweat, tears, etc! And thank you for saying all of that, that’s exactly what I was hoping for…that making the dress in the same video would give a deeper understanding of how exhausting it is to crochet that much! And then doing that every single day, making multiple dresses a week? Sending my thoughts to their frickin backs and necks and wrists. 😭 I truly HOPE they are happy and well taken care of. But I also hope people can learn from things like this and not give makers such a hard time when they have to charge double+ for a similar item.
I love the dress and I immediately thought she must have ordered it from an independent artist or an expensive fashion house that pays the artists at least $40 an hour. It would take me about 30 hours to make a dress like that and I’m fast. I’ve made similar garments many times and know how much work goes into it. Not to mention. When I saw the price tag I was blown away. Each dress is at least 20-25 hours of labor. Splitting it between four people still means the labor. Taylor especially has the resources and the intelligence to know she shouldn’t have bought that.
100%! It’s so much work! I’m still tired from making just one of them. 🤣 These people are incredible and it’s sad to know they’re not being valued as such. I totally thought it had to have been a one of a kind piece too! I couldn’t believe someone with so much power and influence would be wearing fast fashion crochet. 😩 Hopefully the message gets back to her and she is more careful moving forward. Thanks for watching!! 💖
I expect a stylist bought it for her. Still, hopefully the response to this has somehow reached her as she has a huge platform for promoting more ethical choices.
I quit selling my crochet items because other makers won’t price their items in an appropriate way and I refuse to work for pennies. An item that takes me an upwards of 10 hours to make and $30 in yarn….i am not going to sell for $20.
just gotta make what you want for you and then sell excess when you have too mamy handmade items. definitely not a profitable craft, but, doing it for you and then selling excess is healthier, at least. but it is sad that it simply can't be a reasonable career right now.
The corporate communication you shared is a splendid example of lip service. The simple truth is that in a better world, we can’t have unlimited cheap-ass clothes. As consumers, we have to discipline ourselves to choose value, and to fill our closets with fewer things. If it means those things are better, and the makers of those things can live better lives. A lower price point makes a difference because so many people want cheap. But, if you make something awesome, plenty of people will shell out money for it. Plenty of idiots stand in line all night for the privilege of paying thousands of dollars for sneakers. It’s kind of like dating jerks versus dating good people. You just have to raise your head, know what you are worth, And let the right ones choose you.
i hate the “accessible” claim! i’ve seen it time and time again to defend fast fashion. no one is ENTITLED to the latest trends or bespoke handmade clothing pieces. they cost a lot because they should value the labor on the other side of the transaction. CROCHET is accessible! you can MAKE IT YOURSELF
Taylor swift is a billionaire, she should be spending her money on ethically priced crotchet, and smaller creators! Also you are very talented - I feel like this dress would look nice in a thinner weight cotton - but god that would take ages…Maybe I might make a crop top in the same design ahah!
As someone who’s worked in production, the shadiness that happens is unreal. Subcontracting happens more than you realize. I know so many local designers that closed up shop due to the arrival of H&M. Video’s like this are important to educate consumers to make better choices or inspire to take up crocheting 😊
As a newbie at crochet, been doing so for less than a year, I know how long it takes to make garments and a dress is no small garment to make. I keep hearing from coworkers, as I proudly show off my latest creation, that I should start selling crochet pieces. But I keep telling them that in order to make it worth my time and effort, I would have to charge quite a bit more than the average cost for a sweater that you can just pick up at the local fast fashion store and I would have a really hard time selling my clothes because of that. That's without even considering the cost of materials which, even when it comes to 100% acrylic, is quite expensive in and of itself. I'm glad you're talking about this stuff in your video and shining a light on "affordable" crochet. Also glad I found your channel because of it!
yep, the constant "you should sell, you should sell!" darlin, nobody wants to buy what I'd charge if i started doing this FOR money. also, it's a fast way to kill your passion, to tie income to it
@@reda-exe omg yes, I never agreed with the "do what you love and it won't feel like work" rhetoric. That's a sure fire way to kill your love for it imo. Work is work, a thing you do to pay the bills. Save the things you love for your own enjoyment, I say.
I made 5 hats as presant for some children i know .the mother said thank you so much the kids love them they look like they were bought in tk max.she thought she was giving me a compliment.😂
A tip for when you go to sew up seams: put your yarn up against the seam it is going to join, triple it, and give yourself the amount you would if you cut the yarn and were intending to weave in the ends. For some projects, this is a bit too much but I have found it to be correct more often than not. If you don’t know how much you would weave in, go ahead and give yourself an extra 1/4th of what you are measuring until you get a feel for what works.
TL;DR Guestimating labor cost of the dress - $14.86 I just want to give perspective as a person whos worked in manufacturing and product creation, so if that dress is $119, the whole sale is $59.50. Typically good margines for labour is 10-30%. 10% is usually non American manufacturing. So. Lets be generous 25% of $59.50 went to labour. That includes cost for the managers mind you but to keep it simple $14.86 is the price they paid to make that dress. So for 13 hours someone made just over $1 an hr.
Wouldn't the retail-doubles-wholesale markup not apply since the wholesaler is the retailer? Not justifying the practice or price, of course (the reality could be 10x your result and I'd still hate it) -- just seems to me like this estimated math may be taking into account a factor that would normally apply but doesn't seem to apply here
@@ItsAsparageese common practice is to double or do 125% mark up. Rarely is it less than 100% increase unless its on steep sale. So if anything it lowers my numbers. If this dress is marked up 200%, wholesale would be $29.70 and if 25% of that went to labour $7.437 in labour. So just at 50¢ an hr.
@@ItsAsparageese oh i also misread your first bit. No they would still mark it up. Theres no profit if you sell an item for wholesale. Wholesale zeros out your expenses to make the item. Ie target raising prices to lower them so they still make their profits
Considering that celebrities get free things all the time and make plenty of money, I think the least that they can do is support smaller creators and not buy fast fashion that is likely created by slave labor. I am not saying no one should buy things from fast fashion because there are people who depend on those jobs and even though the conditions suck it might be the only thing keeping the people from starving. I am not advocating for it. I would like to see changes. But we also have to be realistic in that there are people who depend on these jobs and we can't simply take them away without providing alternatives. People don't work in these conditions unless it is necessary. However, in regards to people like Taylor Swift, she absolutely should be called out for buying from a company like this and not buying from people who are getting paid fair wages. She should be standing up against these policies and companies. She has a very powerful voice and should be held responsible for the part that she plays in not lifting people up out of their poverty. She shouldn't have to give handouts or whatnot, but she should be criticized for wearing something that was made by cheap labor in, most likely, unsafe circumstances. That is on her, and her stylist. Even if it was a gift from the company for promotion, it is, once again, on her. She knows what kind of an icon she is and she is aware of the power of her wearing a specific dress. She is advertisement for a company and is complicit in the continued negative practices.
A couple other points that I wanted to make in this video but ended up cutting for the sake of time… - Just because I’m talking about crochet, which is the medium I am familiar with, doesn’t mean I’m dismissing the problems with mass producing and fast fashion-ing other handmade items. I would love to hear from some knitters/seamstresses about their experiences with the time/toll it takes to do what they do. - Talking about/bringing attention to one instance or brand doesn’t mean you are expected to be perfect all the time. Not everything I own is ethical and I should totally do better too (granted though I’m not the most famous person in the world and there is some extra responsibility to be cautious of what you promote when you are such a massive influencer…I saw one girl on tiktok saying she didn’t even like the dress and only preordered it because Taylor wore it 😂🙄). This has made me really want to start looking into how other things I use/wear are made (although I can’t remember the last time I bought clothes anywhere but the thrift. - Yes, the cost of living is a lot lower in China. I did a lot of research into this but decided to cut it because it’s really hard to pin down what people might pay for rent/utilities/food due to differing family sizes/lifestyles/areas of town as Guangzhou is massive, etc…) I tried to reach out to a couple content creators who live in Guangzhou to get an inside perspective, but I never heard back. Feel free to do your own research and see if you think it’s fair!! Besides that, though…even if the workers can comfortably pay their bills…claiming to be all about creativity and women and confidence and charity and love and then doing something that makes people question the worth of a makers hard work sucks (in my opinion). People will likely struggle to sell their pieces for a fair price because people who don’t know any better will think, “But tswifts hand crocheted dress was only $119 so wtffff??”…it makes the market confusing and it hurts artists. I’m a metalsmith and the same thing happens with cheap jewelry. It makes people not want to support someone who puts their blood, sweat, tears and soul into their work because the first search result on Etsy is a $20 “turquoise” ring that doesn’t seem much different to them. ANYWAY, thank you for watching and for discussing this with me and being respectful and kind!!! I’m not an expert, this isn’t a perfect video, I’m sure I missed some good points and maybe made some bad points but I appreciate you sticking in! Stay tuned for something fun and drama free next time. 💖💖💖
As a seamstress, people are never willing to pay for my things. I was making things for family and friends a few years ago. When I would tell them to buy the supplies and I would sew it for them (meaning my labor was free) they wouldn't take me up on it because just the supplies were so expensive. And I would help them to find where they could get the supplies for cheap and how to reduce the costs. Fast fashion makes it hard for people to value handmade because it is so cheap. This is obviously not a new issue, but it is one that we are having conversations about and I am hoping that we can see some changes. Unfortunately everything right now is super expensive and it is frustrating to see the prices of fast fashion items in thrift stores being more than they were originally. Especially when they are donated in the first place. We, the people, need to keep speaking out, and doing what we can to make changes, and hopefully corporations and governments will follow suit. At least in America there are laws against the factory conditions that were prominent in the late 1800s and so there is hope that the same came be done for China and other countries in the future. We just have to fight for them.
@@adaynasmile Thank you for this perspective! I’m sure that’s really frustrating. If people don’t stop and think twice about the crochet they’re buying, I’m sure it’s 1000 times worse with sewn items. I’m sorry you haven’t had support on your work! 😔 I hope people do keep talking and we can create some change. I’m tired of Shein hauls. Thanks for watching and your shedding light on a seamstresses perspective! 💖
@@vickinielsen3810 I don’t either. But mostly because, being a self employed metalsmith for so long, I know my worth as a maker and I’d never crochet a large project for less than $30/hour. It’s a privilege to have the time and money to be able to crochet and give it away for free, though. I suspect the workers in China don’t have much of a choice, if they’re willing to do it for so little money.
@@adaynasmile I learned to crochet as a child and did so throughout most of my early adulthood. I could count in one hand the number of pieces I sold. Most of my projects were things for myself and gifts I wanted to make for someone who didn’t ask me to. Whenever someone would ask if I could just make them ‘this amigurumi I saw online’ I would smile and say ‘sure! Just buy the yarn’ I don’t remember anyone actually doing it. 😅 People just don’t understand nor appreciate what actually goes into handcrafting.
I really loved this video and I really love Taylor Swift. I think doing a deep dive into ethical fashion no matter who is wearing it, but honestly especially when people who have huge platforms are wearing it, is necessary to educate everyone on the harm of fast fashion. You didn’t go much into the environmental impact, but it people are interested that’s where I’d direct them next. Something you said also really stood out to me - I don’t think this is just an issue with devaluing artists. It’s an issue with devaluing women, women’s labor, and historically female arts (often minimized as hobbies). If we were to look at who in China is most affected by slave labor and sweat shops and poor wages in the textile industry, especially with handmade crochet goods, it’s almost certainly women. I don’t think enough people think about that especially in relation to Taylor as a powerful woman herself.
You have hit every single point I’ve been saying! It’s the fact that not only does she have the money to pay a creator to make it for her. This company is making crochet into fast fashion! Crochet is the absolute opposite of fashion and is truly an art form, Let’s keep it that way!
My mom makes crochet amigurumi to pass time, and lately has been really into making dragons. People always tell her she could sell them because they're amazing, but as it turns out they don't really get how long it takes to make em. The local facebook marketplace is full of people trying to sell amigurumi and other people complaining they're too expensive. Thank you so much for going in depth on this! I'm glad you went into the history of the company as well, and about valuing ones own time vs compensating others for theirs.
Lots of good points here, Liz. I really hope that everyone who bought the dress treasures it as the handmade item it is, & thst thrift shops aren't flooded with them in a few months...
Just want to say that this video was awesome! Love the combination of talking about the producing of the original dress and then in "real time" showing the time it takes to crochet. Love the way you told the pattern as well, it is a skill to freehand crochet garments 😊
You're absolutely right - 4 people each spending 1 hours is the same as 1 person spending 4 hours. I haven't crocheted this dress but I crochet a lot. This dress would take 30 hours minimum to make - it should be nowhere south of £300 in price. And that's me being very very lenient with pricing.
I appreciate your input on this topic and how respectful you were. As a Taylor fan I’m disappointed to hear that she purchased something from a company that has a poor policy on creating quality products. She herself has fought hard to own her art and wants us to support her. I hope she can find a way to make this right. That being said, I’m glad I found your channel and will continue to support you.❤
This is a really well done video and your dress turned out really cute! I think it's important to talk about the ethics behind it, lots of people have no idea how long it takes to crochet something. I didn't know it either until I started crocheting. Have a great day!😊
Totally, I didn’t know either! I’ve been crocheting for like 15 years but was always too overwhelmed to make anything larger than a bag/scarf/hat. I just recently started making dresses and coats and bigger projects and I can’t believe the amount of time and dedication it takes…and the strain it puts on your body on top of that!! Thank you for your sweet comment and thanks for watching! 💖
Your video came up on my recommended feed. I was impressed by how much research you did and how well you presented your commentary. The dress looks beautiful on you ! Thanks for sharing your commentary and showing what goes into making this dress.
I’ve been a cook/baker for 15 years, still only make min when working for a business. I agree with you. People just don’t appreciate the knowledge. I also do other crafts and people usually want cheap
Swifty friends asked me to make their concert outfits. One of them wanted the dress. It took me pretty much exactly 15h to make it and 80€ worth of yarn. When I sell crochet wearables I price it with material + ½ of minimum wage in my country. I knit or crochet as a way of stimminng, so I do it everytime I have free hands anyways - the income is just a nice touch because I'm basically getting paid for doing nothing and relaxing lol. But that would still come out as 80 + ~160 = 240€. Obviously I don't charge my friends, especially because I know she can't just drop an additional 240€ but Taylor has more than enlugh money to pay 10 times the amount. I was sos ure it's a designer dress that was maybe even exclusively for her. I was so disappointed when I saw it's just a regular store bought item :/
A guy that I knew wanted me to crochet an American flag throw for his couch.i told him I’d calculate the cost and get back to him. I searched for the best price for the yarn. I guessed at the amount of time it would take and calculated the price. Guess what? He didn’t want it after I told him the price.
GIRL. When I saw that price I was floored. I charge $20 for my little crocheted cat hats. This shit takes so much time if you do it right. Love this video and the information!
Four people working on a dress for two hours is the same as one person working on a dress for eight hours. It literally is the same. I do not understand what their correspondent was trying to say lol. it only means faster garment turnover, which might mean less storage fees?
@@10feralratsinacoat76 Ok THANK YOU, that’s exactly what I was thinking but for some reason I couldn’t work that out in my head. 🤣 I blame the lack of sleep.
Great background info on how this dress is made and the company's bs about how ethically they treat their workers. Your research is top notch! If someone asked me to crochet this dress for them, I would. But I would definitely be charging more than $120 given how labor intensive crochet is which I would probably have to explain to them, thanks to the fast fashion industry.
@@PatriceWalker Thank you so much for watching! I wouldn’t make something like this for less than $30/hour honestly 😂 and that’s why I don’t sell my crochet! Well, that…and all the cats. 😂💖
Crochet is hard on the hands if done for excessive amounts of time. Unless you take frequent breaks to allow your finger joints to lubricate the tendons, you risk agonising RSI conditions that are permanently disabling. I doubt those workers are encouraged to rest their hands for five minutes two or three times an hour.😢
Ugh totally, I can’t imagine the toll it takes on their bodies! After I finish a big project like this my neck and back are wrecked for days. I get pain in my fingers too a lot of the time. I can’t imagine doing it all day every day as fast as I could and not being able to get up and walk around/take breaks whenever I wanted. 😣
This is such an important topic to push into mainstream fashion knowledge! Such low prices do NOT make logical sense unless they take advantage of people in less fortunate circumstances, who don't make a livable wage. What's more, you cannot possibly verify that your production company is truly ethical if it's half way across the world!
I saw crochet triangular headbands in Marshall's for $6. The thread was tiny and and very obviously split easily, with tons of color changes, and my heart broke for whoever made them. Edit: It's not just unethical modernly but a slap in the face to the history. Irish lace lifted a lot of people out of poverty because the aristocracy of surrounding countries paid what it was worth!
There's this girl in my team who's really good at crochet and she works really fast, and I was baffled as she priced her work less because of that (a small plushie for like $1-2, and they were high quality). She was selling in an event with 10% sales going to charity, while everyone raised the price to make up for cost, she wanted to reduce the price which I talked her out of it, the customers were well paid office workers 🙃 It took some convincing but I managed to convinced her somewhat, she no longer stay up super late to finish the super short deadlines (she agreed to an order of 25+ mini plushies in about 5 days while working 10hrs day, we can see her health declining in real time lol). She is also more selective in accepting orders. She still has her day job and consider crocheting as more of a hobby so she doesn't think too highly of it, I wonder if she even made enough in sales to cover a month's minimum wage in the past year. I crochet as a hobby and is no where near her speed, I'll never sell my work as I know I'll never be happy with the price they're willing to pay. At the same time I'm kinda sad because I was secretly planning on making a baby blanket for my new nephew but the mom said it's a waste of time for womething with little value (she didn't know I was planning on doing it so I don't blame her in anyway).
Enlightening and informative video, Liz. Thanks for bringing awareness to how much work handcrafting entails with your behind-the-scenes clips. Not only crocheting but any sort of craft we do. There is so much work involved that people don’t realize and sadly we don’t charge nearly the amount that we are worth. My mom has been crocheting for many years and still does at age 90. She’s pretty quick and can make full on blankets, but it still takes her several days. She says that getting paid $119 or whatever cut they end up getting for that dress is insulting to whomever does the work. Kudos to you for making this video. 🙌 Also, great job on the dress! 😊
Your mom is a bad@$$! She’s so right, super insulting and I can’t fathom why anyone defends it. I guess just because of the person attached to the story. 😒 And for sure, it’s sad how we have to sell ourselves short even in jewelry because of the cheap jewelry Etsy features, which then changes the perception of our worth too. 😔 I did go into some jewelry stuff too but I ended up cutting it for time. Maybe I’ll do another deep dive on that sometime….after I recover from this video. 😂 Thanks for watching as always, Jess! 💖💖
PS, it’s perfectly ethical and hysterical for you to show the world how to knock off that dress. Especially since it’s the sort of thing you can figure out if you can get a good look at it. You even give people the power to have that designbut to make it from more sustainable yarns. You angel!🎉
Hearing that you wouldn't accept anything under 12$ an hour literally made me cry. Cry of jealousy and genuine frustration because here in Costa Rica the minimum wage is 2$ an hour. (Regular jobs not necessarily textile work) My dream is to someday be able to earn 8$ an hour. In Costa Rica is pretty imposible to live from textiles or art because ppl don't have the money to spend on handmade items unfortunately..
@@BriStella I’m sorry, that’s really frustrating I’m sure. I actually wouldn’t do it for less than $30/hour. I’ve been a self employed metalsmith/jewelry maker for 8 years and that’s what I charge hourly for my work. If I went and got a job somewhere I probably would make minimum wage, because I don’t really have skills beyond being an artist. Minimum wage where I live is $16.00/hour, but that’s just because California is an incredibly expensive place to live. The federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hour. If I weren’t doing art I wouldn’t make anywhere close to $30/hour. But that’s exactly why I think it’s important to talk about this kind of stuff. Those of us who have these unique, beautiful skills should be paid fairly for them. I hope someday you are compensated for your worth. I’m sorry it’s a struggle for you, I wish things were easier.
I’ve been stressing since moving to China that I can’t find worsted weight yarn, simply because I’m used to working with it and I’m a strict pattern follower and can’t wrap my brain around swapping out and accommodating for different weights. Your tutorial is PERFECT for a project that has a goal but is flexible. Gonna mess around with this some time!
Thanks for all your research and for showing how to make this dress. I’m not a Swiftie, but this looks like it would be cozy over leggings in the fall and winter. And so easy (though time-consuming) to make. You did a great job!
The ironic thing is that celebrities will pay hundreds of thousans of dollar for a designer piece that the designer drew on the paper but that they rarely make. I don't know much about how high fashion works, but the fashion houses as they used to be when the designer themselves made the whole garmet are way behind us. Now, even places such as Channel or Versace outsource their manufacturing process, so the people actually making the garmet earn, perhaps, an eighth of what the designer makes.
I also tie my ends together I’m afraid they’ll come apart - I know people say they don’t, but I have had it happen before! Thank you for discussing this dress, it’s beautiful but I am worried the artists who have crocheted it aren’t being fairly paid for their work- I want to believe they are, but with how cruel the world is to makers / artists, it’s hard to believe. Thank you for showing us how to make it! 💕 I love it and want to recreate it with other colours once I’m done with my current project! Sending love and best wishes
I feel like there’s no harm in the knot, when it’s in a seam like that especially! 😂 They totally disappear so why the heck not be extra secure, right?? Thank you so much for watching! I really hope the makers of this dress are at least comfortable with their working conditions and their wages! 💖
My bloodline is from Guangzhou, and my family has a home there. I've visited many times and they have lots of stores where they sell clothes from large western companies for very little. That gives a bit of insight on how low their production costs are. x
I'm a beginner crocheter finishing my first sweater at the moment. I think I will do this next! I already used the stitch to start a granny rectangle and I loooooove how easy it is to do mindlessly since the hole is so easy to find :D perfect couch project to work on every once in a while. Thank you for the tutorial! I don't listen to Taylor Swift or follow her, but I think you also said some very interesting and valid things so thank you for speaking up on these matters as well
I truly appreciate this video. I’ve been a crochet Fibre artist for at least 50 years and I’m disgusted to see even cheap recreations in US stores. Also there are makers that undercut each other by not educating themselves and under charging for their own products. Thanks for the eye opening discussion
as someone that has a very very tiny budget for clothing, I try to buy cheap/fast fashion clothing as it's all I can afford. I understand that, which is why I KNOW I couldn't buy crochet clothing unless it's from a thrift store. I handmake a lot of my clothing, because yarn is a pretty affordable where I live. Fast Fashion is a necessity for some so I would not shame anyone for it, but 100% I'ma shame people buying hand made crochet items for tiny prices.
Discovered your channel and I am binging everything while I am recovering from surgery. I just got into crocheting so, I'm finishing my first ever slouchy beanie to your videos! Thank you for talking about fast fashion. I wish more people were aware. I try to only thrift, but even that is becoming expensive these days, so sometimes fast fashion *is* my only affordable option and I feel horrible having to resort to it, cause even with being able to make my own clothing to an extent, that can be as expensive, if not even more costly.
Your cat is so beautiful 😍 her fur is like a chai latte 😍 ETA just saw your second kitty! That is a well covered lap! 🙌 ETA2 A THIRD KITTY!? You are truly blessed 💖 ETA3 A FOURTH KITTY!? I cannot 😭 but what wrong with he eye?
Unfortunately too many high end boutiques are taking advantage of the crochet trend buying cheap, selling at crazy prices. The hilarious thing is when or if we makers sell anything at a fraction of the price at craft fairs to make a profit, we get the the obnoxious line "I can buy it cheaper at...." Well, next time they try that bs on me, I'm gonna use the Taylor dress example and throw it in their face! LOL
I do a lot of crocheting but I've never tried to make a garment. I tend to do smaller projects like baskets, crochet animals etc, I've crocheted a blanket many years ago, but now you've impressed me and taken my imagination further. Thank you. I hope you don't mind me adding this video to my crochet/hand stitching playlist for future reference. You showed this so well, even though you went straight through so many hours. Well Done! You're right art and craft projects are a long process, more the hours you put in to them. Even smaller projects can take a few hours to complete. The problem is that independent art and crafters are competing with the mass market suppliers, who produce so many more on the market which undercuts the true artisan. If you wanted to sell the item and tried to put a price on it, would you be able to recoup the cost of materials and labour. I don't think so because of the competition.
I went down a nerdy rabbit hole and calculated the number of stitches the original dress (based on vendor website photos) and calculated at least 12,741 not incling border sc. I also looked up the world record holder for crocheting, who did 170/minute. Fastest scenario is all dc panels are done in 75 minutes. If we tack on an additional 45 minutes for border and stitching, we have one dress every 2 hours. Hourly minimum wage is 2.22/hour, making the total cost for manufacturing labor to be around 4.44, which seems well within the price of the dress. I’m not saying those wages are humane, as I don’t know the cost of living there. But I agree that this speaks to a larger issue about fast fashion and human labor.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying out loud what we all are thinking! Just recently i was asked to create a top for someone. I gave her an estimated price of 40€, which made her frown because that was too much for "that little bit of yarn and such simple stitches". I honestly couldn't believe it. I do think that 40 bucks for weeks of work is a total steal, but apparently i was wrong. Ended up blocking that person and honestly still can only smh. Nah, babes. I am so happy that i have 30 years of experience under my belt and create whatever the hell I want. There is no way in hell i would ever buy with any of those shops.
I do stained glass and I'm like -- you have no earthly idea how much stained glass costs do you? I dont mean stained glass I create -- I mean buying the uncut glass for me to cut. When I tell people the prices of the MATERIAL it's way more than they would want to pay. Lets not talking about my cutting the pieces, grinding them individually, copper foil on each one, then soldering one side -- flip and repeat. No. I don't sell my work. No, I have no idea how lowes can sell a lamp like that so cheap. I can't even buy the materials for that. I'm at a loss just like you.
You're adorable & have a great sense of humor. I'm not into crocheting, but I appreciate your artistry. Good luck with your channel. I can see it growing by leaps & bounds. 😊 I think it's fabulous anytime an artist shines a light on topics such as this. My mother knits & also crochets & has made me so many beautiful things. I know how much time she invested into do it, but unless you know someone who crochets or you're in that community there's no way anyone would have a clue. I can't see Taylor even considering something like that & why would she when she's in a completely different industry. This was a great video. Thanks for sharing!
2:07 "but she really is a such tiny piece of a much bigger and more important lesson" THANK YOU. I get so annoyed when people talk about collective issues in a individualized perspective. And not because I'm a Taylor Swift fan, because I have many criticisms towards her whist being a fan. But because this miopic perspective just for the sake of criticizing Taylor doesn't explore the major issue at hand and doesn't point to real solutions we should thrive for. Taylor is a willing product of a bigger industry that is the product of a bigger social economical system. If Taylor stopped doing all the things she is criticised for in the environmental and social aspects, other pop artists would still be doing those things. And if all pop artists stopped doing those things, major corporations and billionaires who hide their even worse actions by being not famous or by lobbying and greenwashing propaganda would continue to ruin the world. Let's start talking about real changes: not of individual actions, but of the regulations regarding responsabilities of major corporations and their owners.
Thwy didnt actually say they met the ethical standards. It said "based on international ethics standards" not we follow them....the wording seemed icky to me idk y but it seemed like a plausible deniability thing lol
Companies have no issues outsourcing their labor for cheaper prices. I am an over the phone interpreter who works in one of the latin american call centers of the US founded company. Sometimes it hurts to listen to calls because some discussions include salaries and the new migrant working for cash on a low wage job is getting over $10 an hour and my skilled labor of knowing multiple languages on a technical level enough to be able to handle calls form any and nearly every industry is just worth $7 an hour. And that's a "not bad" sort of wage here. And I'm fully aware they're paying us the legal minimum and doing the legal minimum for us while literally penalizing "excessive" bathroom breaks and having us talking for hours and hours on end. And I also know we're outsourced because they'd have to pay more for the same job in the united states, which is the country we offer service to. They also havea horrible turnover where I've been there a year and am considered a long time employee. I don't want to imaine what garment workers deal with
This is such a great video. I love a good tea time but this was so well put together and the tutorial at the end is a great bonus. Will be coming back for the tutorial
This came up on my home page and I appreciate the time you take to explain things. I just picked up a crochet needle for the first time two weeks ago. So I find this super inspiring.
Im not sure how I found this video because I am neither a swifty nor a crocheter... But I do work in factory production. I think I understand the statement the rep from the company was making. I used to gather 20 samples, work list them, inoculate them, float them, then read and result those samples. I would do 10 sets of 20 = 200 samples. we had a staff of 5, so 1000 samples a night. Now, we do "one piece flow" so I will work list all 1000 samples, another person is inoculating all 1000 samples, another floating all 1000 and the 4th and 5th peoples is reading all 1000. In theory... it Doesn't take me 8 hours to build 1000, so when I finish that task I help innoculate, with my help, it doesn't take two people very long to inoculate, when we are done we move down the line... so. Now the same 5 people are able to do 1500 samples a night. Maybe they have one person crocheting left sleeves, another person doing the right sleeve, a person doing front panel, a person doing back panel and another person assembling?
That’s what I said in the video…but it doesn’t seem like it would matter. If 5 people were making 5 dresses, it wouldn’t matter if they split that up and all did a portion of each dress or if they all just worked on one individual dress. You can’t help someone crochet something if you finished before them. I mean I guess you could start on their next panel and then hand it off, but regardless it’s a sh*t ton of work and it takes a super long time and takes a massive toll on your body. It sucks either way, haha. Idk how they do it, I could never know. Maybe they’re having a great time. It is still bs to sell handmade items for this cheap and it’s still distorting their worth.
Really cute dress! The colors, except the lavender, aren't what I'd choose for mine. So far I've only crocheted wire hanger covers and shawls, and I've been attempting to learn a basic granny square. Maybe if I make a couple of these for my nieces in Norway, I'll be able to remember this one type of granny cluster!❤❤❤ Thank you for articulating so well the problem with fast fashion. I love sewing, but I rarely make anything that I don't specifically know I'll enjoy making. Maybe if I want to learn a new technique, I'll try something new, but I sew because I enjoy it.
People like Taylor swift who know they influence millions of extremely impressionable people who do zero research on their clothes ARE the problem. Would this dress be sold out and on pre order if she didn’t wear it? No. She has a responsibility to make sure her clothes aren’t creating this exact situation. A rich white woman participating in fast fashion is just another day on Instagram.
I get it, and you are right, to some extend. She is an artist, a singer, a musician. She is on tours frequently and she travels a lot. That is on top of every day activities. She cannot possibly check every single item she wears! She has reps, assistants etc etc in whom she has to rely on. I’m sure if someone in her circle shows her clothes she is gonna find something cute and wanna wear it.😊
@@bebitamira3054 she has more responsibility than that as someone who’s an “influencer” she needs to tell her team “this needs to be ethically made” “this needs to be made with recycled materials” like there’s thousands of garments out there that are made by real humans that are paid a living wage that Taylor swift can absolutely afford. She’s more worried about how clothes look on her than where they were made and that’s the problem. If she doesn’t have time to be vetting things like that she needs to find or make the time to. People like her are the least off the hook for stuff like this. Don’t make excuses for a multi millionaire exploiting people and then promoting that exploitation.
@@adammcfarland7952this!! And the dress being an affordable price for her (also) rich, white, privileged fans means much more dresses purchased. More underpaid labor. Someone in the comments calculated the crochet-er got paid nearly a dollar and hour. With the reach and influence she has, she has every need and demand to *be* responsible and strict about her clothing and where it’s sourced from. Someone also pointed out TS is a crochet-er, so she just disregarded $100 dollars for an ENTIRE dress that was handmade, as if that was enough. Gets me a lil heated 😅
There are many great things about this video and commenters have already praised many, but I want to specifically admire your graciousness. You did a phenomenal job of being direct and honest and critical without ever being even the tiniest bit petty or rude to anyone. I love your attitude and objectivity, and I envy your knack for gentleness in your communication! Can't wait to check out more of your work. Props, and thank you for being you!
You are very articulate. I'm glad you brought attention to this issue. It's so easy in a consumer/capitalist society to go for the bargain without thinking about the ethical implications.
This is a fantastic video! People just don’t get the time (which is cost) to crochet even a simple hat. I am new to your channel and a new subscriber. Thank you for saying this about the value of handmade crochet items no matter the size. BRAVO 😊
I made my daughter a long crocheted duster and people have been telling her it's gorgeous and that I should make them to sell them. In order to sell that duster to recoup the price of materials and for a minimum wage of $7.25 that duster would cost over $300 and nobody's paying me that kind of money for it. There are so many people who want the artwork we make, but have no sense or appreciation for the amount of time it takes, not only to make the garment but to acquire the skills to make the garment.
Anyone else not a fan of the olor scheme of the dress? I really don't like it lol. But I really wanna make this in a different color because the shape of it is cute.
This was such an impressive video! It was funny, engaging, and well communicated, from the research to your tutorial, and everything in between! I’ve never crocheted, so learned a lot about the craft, technique, and ethics. Thank you for making this video, and I hope it was kindly received. The dress you made turned out beautifully, and the colors really suit you. Going to go check out some more of your content now!
You are sweet, thank you for such a nice comment! It was received **mostly** kindly. 😂 I think the people who are upset by it aren’t really grasping my point. I just want better for people and artists and makers and if that’s wrong then, whatever, they can be upset. 😂 Thank you so much for watching! Appreciate you! 💖
Thank you for making this video. I am from China and wants to give you more context, as a crocheter myself, I know that crocheters are heavily exploited here. The main demographic of crocheters here in China are stay at home moms with a lot of free time, so whole sellers would outsource projects like a crochet ball, a specific crochet doll with a particular pattern to these women. The crocheters would make them in bulk, because the whole sellers would buy them in bulk so they want the price as cheap as possible; a crocheter might spend 1-2 hours or more on a crochet doll with 3-4 color changes (with attached parts that needs to be sew on, I wish I can post picture on TH-cam so I can show you how complicated that is), but they would be compensated 10-20 RMB (about 1.3-2.8 dollars) for each piece, and that is consider pretty good in the crocheting community. If that dress is sold for less than 200 dollars, I am very confident that the worker making this dress is getting paid about 2 dollars/hr
thank you very much for bringing this up from your perspective! i feel like it's so important to look at both sides of the coin. crochet should be treated as a luxury, not a cheap commodity, especially when it has to be made by hand unlike knit. i hope that chinese crocheters can be recognized by the expertise they have acrued over years and years and properlt compensated for the work that they do ❤
I live in china and on taobao I have seen crochet bags for about 5 usd.
This is absolutely sad.
I’m currently living in China and yeah, the prevalence of crochet pop up booths at shopping centers that all sell pretty identical stuff in huge volumes raised my eyebrow for sure. It was wild and also disappointing because the one time I mustered up the courage to go up and use my Google Translate to ask where they got their yarn from they looked at me like I was insane.
I wasn’t asking in some sort of gotcha or anything, I just CANNOT find out what to search for to find worsted weight yarn here and was hoping they’d have some pointers 💀
oh my god :(
At the same time, as a Chinese person, I want to bring up the fact that American people and others are NOT buying good quality products made by Chinese people who have skills. Yes, we should bring low-wage labor to the forefront, but I would love for the international audience to invest in those that do sell good quality products. If a person is a skilled crocheter in China, there’s such a barrier to sell to the international consumers and they have no other means but to work for factories. If only western audiences pay more attention to Chinese crafters instead of overlooking Chinese productions in general, the Chinese artists could make more of a wage; otherwise, there is not much of a market for buying crocheted items as the US, so it’s difficult making a living wage from crochet.
There’s so many people in China and the competition is insane. And many Chinese people are not at an economic level to purchase hand made goods.
That’s a really interesting point that I hadn’t considered, thank you for bringing it up! I’m sure Chinese crochet artists who make their own designs do really unique and incredible work. I definitely want to look into that now. Honestly, I am not someone who buys handmade very often…I love to support artists when I can but I’m a full time artist myself so I am super broke and usually make things myself or buy from the thrift store. I’ve never looked into buying crocheted pieces from someone else so this hadn’t occurred to me. I guess, at least here, people probably would purchase from within the US because of shipping costs/time to ship? I don’t know, but that is sad and I wish Chinese artists had more support too. 😔💛
There’s an additional barrier caused by being unable to access Chinese websites. In order to make an account on Chinese websites, you often need a Chinese phone number. In many cases you can’t buy things without a Chinese broker if you do manage to come across something you’d like to buy which is an additional fee + shipping costs. I’ve personally encountered issues with my cards being blocked on Chinese websites when trying to make purchases, even if they say they accept the card. People who actually care about handmade art are going to be more likely to buy from within the US because the Chinese government has made such an effort to keep their internet, credit and debit system separate that it’s difficult to buy from Chinese artists as a non-Chinese. The website I’ve had the most success with buying from small Chinese artists is Pinkoi but the website isn’t very popular in the US because that niche is filled by Etsy.
It's telling how The Verge girl company focused on the sustainability of the materials and not the sustainability of the labor
I can't speak to Chinese artisans trying to sell to a western market, but I can speak to what it is like to be a small business owner selling to fellow Americans. A friend, my husband, and I started a cheesecake business some years ago, and we rented a stall at our local farmer's market. I can't tell you how many people tried our product, praised it, then asked why they should spend more for our hand-made, small-batch, fresh cheesecake versus going to Walmart and getting "the same thing" for much less. The problem with a western audience is that, while they love the idea of small business/cottage industry/artisanal goods, they don't want to pay the prices required to keep those people in business. And then they're shocked when you tell them that between ingredients and overhead, the "exorbitant" prices are barely keeping the business afloat. That you aren't making a wage from it.
"in my opinion, I don't think that affordable or cheap and crochet should ever be uttered in the same sentence together." 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Affordable should. Reality is if people can't afford something or don't see the value for that price, they won't buy it.
@@never-endingquestions3314these people should probably rely upon resold discounted priced crocheted items then if they can’t make it, get it as a gift, or afford an ethically made product for proper compensation for the work
@@peach-ic4jh Your comment gives the vibe of "you can't have nice things because you're poor." If you sell hand made crafts, if it is priced too high, it won't sell. Nobody cares about the time that goes into making it. You have to be sought after for people to pay high prices because people aren't paying for the item but the name. Louis Vuitton can charge unreasonable prices for a belt because people want to say it's Louis Vuitton, not because it's quality.
They litteraly did not say thst at all lmao
You give me the vibe of someone wgo believes artists dont deserve to be payed fairly for their time@never-endingquestions3314
@@never-endingquestions3314 but the meaning of affordable needs to be changed. just because its not affordable to poorer people doesn't mean it should be made to be. i don't care if i sound like "you can't have nice things because you're poor" because with certain things, that is true. handmade crafts, whether you like it or not, ARE a luxury, and no, not everyone deserves luxury, that's why it's called a luxury. there ARE some things that are luxuries that shouldn't be, but no one NEEDS homemade crafts or clothes and if you WANT them you need to be prepared to pay the upfront costs. yes, if you price things too high, it won't sell, but that's the PROBLEM! what IS a necessity is people being paid fairly for their work. if people started seeing the value of handmade items they WOULD sell for that much, because as you said, people buy from luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton just because of the brand label, so why not create a shift where more people would buy handmade goods because it has the label of being handmade (and is probably better quality)? telling people to keep their prices down so other people can afford it is just creating exploitation. Real, "affordable" crochet is affordable not to the average person, but to somebody who is willing to pay full price for someone not devaluing their work.
“We’ve all seen this dress” *me, who has never seen this dress, sweating nervously*
@@Patchouliprince Hahaha you have been blessed
@@lizfoolery probably so blessed because I am not on socials, just TH-cam. But now through your creativity I have seen the dress so I’m on the in lol
Lol, same! I rarely use social media so I miss out on the juicy gossip. I had never seen this dress before but I'm glad I found this video
As a knitter, folks who are raging over items being sold as "crochet" when they're actually knit is baffling to me. Like, look, I'd rather everything be on the level when I buy an item... Obviously. But when I see a tag that says "crochet" on a $30 sweater and I grab it for a closer look, I'm ALWAYS happier to see it was actually knit and not actually crochet. I do not care if a machine made my affordable item in an affordable fashion, I DO care if someone isn't being compensated fairly for what is actually a very difficult skill.
Crochet (and hand knitting) is HARD on your body, it takes years to develop the kind of speed and tension control it requires to hand make an item for a mass market. Not to mention, its a skill you only keep by taking proper breaks and making sure to stretch and do nerve glides to keep yourself healthy. Even when you're skilled, it takes hundreds (if not thousands) of hours to complete something like a dress.
I think we have the same point here and I’m not sure that anyone is upset to not have real crochet going for $30. I think everyone who knows what it takes to be a maker in any medium is happy to know that those Target items were machine made and hopefully didn’t take a real human 30 hours to make. If machines could replicate crochet I wouldn’t be making this video. I’d be happy to know people weren’t being exploited. They are probably being exploited though, because it is real crochet, and that’s why I made the video. I totally respect knitters and the toll it must take. I’ve knit one time and it was such a long process that I finished maybe 2 inches of a round and gave up, the project is still on the needles in a bag somewhere. It’s hard work and you are very skilled! I would always advocate for knitters making a fair wage as a professional artist. I was just speaking on one particular dress and the thing I know, which is crochet and the fact that this dress had to be handmade and people need to know about it so they can decide for themselves who they want to support.
I feel the same way. I am amused by imitation crochet and think its quite silly that fast fashion stores try to pass it off as the real thing. But im glad theyre not selling actual crochet at crazy low prices. And if they are i get very annoyed. Haha
I think part of the reason people get so annoyed is that the tags to specify crochet style or imitation. Thus giving the impression that not only is it real but that actual makers are way overcharging for their products. I'm sure as a knitter it's frustrating to see similar stories about creators trying to sell hand knit items and factories selling knit for way cheaper giving people the impression it's not really worth that much. It's sucks that creators have to compete with the impression mass produced items give
Knit can be mechanized and crochet can’t. Manufacturers don’t care and consumers aren’t aware of the difference in general
It makes me happy when it ISN'T crochet, but at the same time, the reason I rage is because there are people that don't know it's actually not crochet, and then they expect to see real crochet everywhere else for that same price, causing further exploitation of people because of other people being ignorant :/
As soon as I saw that pricing, I flinched. I've been crocheting less than a year and still know that is completely unethical. Plus the Shein information, the secondhand sweatshop practices, etc. I was already aware of all of that but I am glad you highlighted it in this video as well. Very well done.
It is unsettling for sure! 😭 Non crocheters definitely wouldn’t think about it but omggg the amount of work! And to make several a week? Ahhh!
I remember buying doilies back in the 80s. A 10” round intricate handmade….$25. The woman said “Oh I just do them while watching my soaps.” She definitely undervalued her time.
To be fair, she probably didn't undervalue herself at all. I regularly just give away things that I make that I consider easy or I did while preoccupied with a show or whatever because... well, for me, it was just something to do with my hands. I wasn't about to calculate time and costs and such to make is a 'self valuing' price because I couldn't and that would take nearly as much time as the item itself for my quickest bits. My mom is much the same as a crocheter, just doing it when busy watching a show, or waiting on the slow cooker to finish, or because she has nothing better to do. Quite a lot of us crafty people have zero interest adding a business aspect to our items even once we decide our friends were right and we could totally sell some stuff at the next farmers market lol.
@@lorescien4148 I didn’t mean it negatively. Sorry if it sounded that way.
@@lorescien4148but then adding in the aspect of selling the item takes away from the joy of creating it too. You have to work to a timeframe and can’t be creative. Then have the moments of no crojo, putting everything down for a couple weeks, then starting a new project. 😂😂
$25 if you adjust for inflation was a lot more in the 80s. I ran it through an online calculator and it’s roughly in the area of $80-100 in 2024 purchasing power. She didn’t undervalue her time.
@@krk6216 so you would think but $25 wasn’t like $80.
"We make sure to keep our margins low to be able to continue to work towards our vision of providing our (global north) customers with thoughtful designs at an accessible price" is really SO funny.
I'm from Brazil and work as a software developer for an outsourcing company. My team is comprised of people from Brazil (outsourced) and from Europe (in-house) and the difference in how we're treated and how much we earn is substantial - we once got news that "our" team got an award for being one of the best performing teams in all of [company who outsources their work] which meant that our European coworkers got a hefty cash bonus and us Brazilians got... well, nothing. In-house employees also enjoy getting the company's expensive tech hardware for free and we don't even get like, coupons to buy them at more affordable prices.
I do earn triple of Brazil's minimum wage, which is a "livable wage"; however, that doesn't really make it any less infuriating, and tech doesn't even come CLOSE to being as taxing on the body as crocheting at a factory scale. It's honestly insane to me that anyone would try to spin this as being an acceptable thing after watching this video!!
@@Letitsia Thank you for this insight! This is so interesting. As a self employed artist I wouldn’t have really thought about something like this happening in normal people jobs. And that really shows that we are all experiencing such different worlds and speaks to why it’s so important to hear each other’s stories. I hate that you’re treated so unfairly in comparison to your European coworkers, that’s such bs. And I don’t know how people find it in themselves to defend this stuff either, it’s wildddd! I think the only people defending it are the super Swifties who can’t hear anything past Taylor’s name or handle the fact that someone is criticizing something she did (probably unintentionally but she obviously has to be connected to the story 😅😂).
@@lizfoolery Yeahhh that kind of fanatical Swiftie scares me tbh 😭 they're not the majority of Taylor Swift fans but they sure do stir up enough trouble to make up for all of the other reasonable fans and some more.
I figured I'd add my perspective because whenever the outsourcing of labor to China is mentioned I see people saying things like "well the cost of living is lower in China, they earn a GOOD wage compared to the average, they should feel thankful that they even have this job!!" and it makes me soooo mad.
Like... not everything in life is about how much money you make??? There's this thing that human beings tend to really like, it's something called "feeling valued", not monetarily but just in general... feeling like others value the work you do and the time you put in to make something happen. I personally think this is 100% unattainable when we're talking about people HAND CROCHETING a garment and the company responsible for outsourcing this work specifically mentioning that they keep profit margins low to achieve their "vision" of providing "thoughtful designs" at an affordable price. If this was about thoughtful designs they'd be selling crochet patterns. Nothing about this arrangement is thoughtful for anyone other than people who have 'saving money' as their only care in life!
When it comes to the team I work with, I have absolutely no complaints because they do treat me as an equal and value the work I do. But many things aren't up to them, things that come from way up the corporate ladder... and I know that when it comes to that, I'm seen as nothing more than an opportunity to cut costs. I imagine other workers in outsourcing situations would have similar feelings. Also, the fact that they actually went ahead with restocking this piece is fucking bonkers 🫥
@@Letitsiaoh definitely! The standard of living thing gets on my nerves too. I used to work for a fashion company that outsourced to China and Bangladesh, and I know for a fact the workers got paid crap. The company made that same argument about them making more than average. Well, the average was still crap so the workers were still struggling. Nevermind that we also knew that those factories also outsourced to other factories that had even LOWER standards. It’s just horrible.
Yes , the same happens with Indian Techies, a lot of out sourcing from Western countries happens in terms of manpower and raw materials both hand made and machinery products. Techies do earn a bit more than the average but compared to the profit they make by out sourcing its just negligible. Plus the fact that they have to work overtime weekends and so on.
The same in Poland (central Europe) they outsource our work to west Europe :)
I'm a crochet artist in the Philippines. That dress is roughly PHP 6000 on our currency (which is actually around fair price bc of cheaper yarn) and 100% would definitely go to the artist BUT that dress costing $119 dollars under an Australian fast fashion boutique, that's definitely cheap labor. That dress being cheap means they got it for an even cheaper price. Thank you so much for covering this issue!
Thank you for your input and thank you for watching!! 💖
Shout-out to a crocheter from my mother country! My mom was born and raised in Makati, and I still have a bunch of family there. 🥰
Thank you for bringing this to forefront. Thank you for advocating for the fact that handmade crochet cannot be mass produced. I wish that more people understood this!
Thank you so much for watching! I am happy to add to the conversation and try to educate people about how things are actually hand made. Makers deserve so much more respect! 💖
It is so sad that Chinese crafts people do such beautiful work and are exploited by greedy companies.
I will say as a crafter who works at a yarn shop, the amount of people whos jaws drop when i tell them i charge $25 an hr and a teeshirt takes about 20 hours. Then they ask about our samples, and its always the one that's 50 years old and looks like the big Lebowski sweater, and i tell them $5k. The question the price and im always happy to explain the value of a crafter. Its so sad how uneducated people are. Even new crafters!
Oh, goodness. Even the _yarn_ for that style of sweater would cost a ton. I swear people base their understanding of these things on the price of Super Saver at Walmart.
we have gotten so used to fast fashion prices...yikes
The thing is, items sell at what consumers can afford and how in demand something is. Just because you list something at 500-5000 doesn't mean it can be sold at that price. I sell artwork and make more on prints than actual paintings.
Yes, it’s expensive. I’ve knitted for nearly six years now (at first knitting with acrylic cheap wool/yarn) now using much nicer and expensive yarn to make wearables. They take a long time to make and learnt the value of making them, not just in terms of skill but also quality. A high quality product made by hand should be priced higher, not just for the quality or yarn, but also for time spent making it. The Taylor Swift crochet dress should’ve been more expensive if what they say is true.
@@Meskarune for sure thats why so many people also make patterns or have affiliate links to make money in the crafts. But the markets there. Im also a hairstylist and the biggest thing we say is you may price yourself out of budget for many people, but those whos budget your in will find you.
The cost of this dress hurts Etsy and other crafting selling sites. It takes me over 100 hours to make a four repeat pattern lace shawl. I am a fast, experienced crocheter, and I have made these shawls so many times that I can practically make them in my sleep.
Etsy isn’t a good site to use anymore, unfortunately. Not bc of the crafters, but bc the owners don’t control resellers at all anymore.
@@VultureSkins sadly this is so true
So many people tell me I should sell my creations and I won’t because a lot of people can’t afford my time . I make my creations and give as gifts . Someone said that it was expensive what I would charge . I told them I am not a slave laborer and they went completely 18:01 silent . Thank you so much for pointing this out . I love this dress . That comment about the size is horrible . Freakin troll . You look adorable in your version of the dress .
I feel you on this completely! People ask me all the time to crochet them the items I post online…and I want to respond and say sure, for like $700! 😂 I am a self employed jewelry maker full time and I charge $30/hour and I even feel like that’s too low sometimes. I know my worth when it comes to metalsmithing, so there’s no way I’d ever be ok with cheaping out on my time when crocheting! Gifting your art is perfect! I don’t think non makers understand that when you spend so long on something it really becomes like a piece of your soul and that’s worth a lot, especially in a day where everything is mass produced. Thank you for watching!!!
And ugh yeah Yolanda is a rat. 🤣 It’s always an anonymous, faceless account.
I gave a breakdown once using the price of the yarn I was working with. I was making a baby blanket in Lion Brand's Basic Stitch. I had five (I needed one more) skeins and I had started before traveling but I was in the airport three hours early, I was on two flights equaling about six hours, and I had been crocheting while someone else drove/at the Airbnb for an undisclosed about of time.
I had gotten the yarn on sale too but I used the original price to demonstrate just the material cost and even the cheapest material would be above what someone would pay for a baby blanket. Then, to add on at least seven, though closer to ten hours of work (which would be more when I got the last skein,) at the federal minimum wage put the blanket easily over $70.
That's why only hats, scarves, or other small accessories are at craft fairs; you could get a decent hst pattern down under an hour and the skein can go further than one hat to be economical. Blankets are the equivalent to quilts, which no one wants to pay the price of either.
Same, I crochet and have a friend that was "trying to drum up business for me" because I would never charge the outrageous prices she was seeing from online makers. I sent her a breakdown of the shawl I gave her. Boom, no more pics or complaints about the prices of other makers. 😂 Of course now she wants me to build up an inventory so I can "get rich". Love Her.
I've been crocheting for 40 years now, my mom taught me when I was 7. Friends have encouraged me to sell pieces over the years, but no one would pay for my labor or even the materials. I love fancy sock yarns, but can't afford the prices at my local LYS. So, I save up and purchase 10 100g un-dyed skeins and dye them myself. I've had people who wanted me to sell them, but when discussing price said I was too expensive. Now, I only put them in a yearly silent auction for a non-profit, where they fetch the right price, because they are bought by makers who know the value of the yarn. What I crochet is only ever given as gifts.
i have a friend commissioning a bag and have been wigged trying to discuss pricing with her the whole time. it's a detailed chameleon amigurumi bag with pockets and lining and a zipper and im very lucky that she is a very kind artist herself and has been so patient with me to get it done
Also, using repetitive motions like one would crocheting this dress, could definitely cause physical problems especially since the makers might be crocheting as fast as they could.
Totally! My neck and back were hurting for a few days after just making one!
I love handmaking stuff and if you don't want permanent nerve and tendon damage you gotta pace yourself? I feel for the people making these dresses 😔
This is very true. When I got into crocheting I went at it too hard and after a few months, I had over strained the tendons in my hand that holds the tension because my hand isn't used to holding that position. Thankfully (kinda) I know how bad ignoring tendon strain can be and take months to recover from if you push it. So I had to take a few weeks off to completely heal. Now I wear compression gloves when I crochet. You have to take breaks and make sure you don't over do it.
Same with typists getting carpels tunnel. So do waitresses that pour from heavy pitchers of water.
crochet headband and wristband = game time
Hahaha I was so tired of crocheting after that whole dress but I couldn’t get that joke out of my head. 🤣💪
@@lizfoolery love it were too funny at that point
This is a wild video for me to watch as an Australian who actually used to shop at the original verge girl shop years and years ago!
I find the price that vrg girl sells this piece at especially galling when you consider that the minimum wage for a skilled textile worker in australia is somewhere in the ballpark of 30AUD an hour, meaning that if it was being produced here it would be retailing for 4 figures. Obviously that price would be out of range for many of us mere mortals, but for Taylor Swift? Chump change.
Anyway, thanks so much for the tutorial! I'm excited to make my own soon!
That’s super interesting! I hadn’t looked into the wages in Australia but I assumed it had to be way out of their budget to hire anyone there. It’s pretty gross! What was their store like back in the day? Do you remember seeing any of their hand dyed piece? 😂 I’m so curious about that. Thank you for watching! Definitely make one! It’s winter there, yeah?? This thick yarn I used would be perfect, I was dying wearing it in California summer weather. 💖
@@lizfoolery Idk about Verge Girl but I have seen other Australian designers/makers start off making things here and then outsource production to China to compete with all the other stuff imported from China. Peter Alexander pyjamas is one example. He began making them in his mum's basement but now everything is made in China.
Western consumers are so used to buying cheap crap most of them won't pay for locally made products. There is a small trend in the other direction but it is niche. The sad fact is most people have no idea where their clothes / food / electronics etc. comes from or how it is produced.
@lyrebird9749 also because it's expensive to manufacture in Australia. No one here wants to spend 120 on a dress when you can go to smart and get a variation for 30. As a business you need to be able to balance your books. Im not saying it's right but its a thing. There are more than one side to this extremely complex topic.
That dress is so cute and I loved your commentary. I honestly don't think anything Taylor Swift does is ethical but this especially is heinous. Considering she completely has the ability to only buy hand-made clothing where she can personally ensure the proper compensation for the maker I find it abhorrent that she even considered buying this dress. I also think the certified factory thing is kind of useless...idk how much it really means. I wish people would take this attitude towards crochet and and transfer it to other clothes as well because the truth is all clothing is handmade.
Totally, I would love to see a sew-er bring this same kind of attention to other clothing! I was interested in diving into this just because I know the amount of time and energy and back pain that go into crocheting a large project and I was appalled by this pricing! I can’t believe anyone tries to justify it, but some people have a hard time hearing anything past *Taylor Swift*. She certainly could do better and I would have a lot of respect for any celeb who hired an artist and paid them the wage they actually deserve to make them something unique!! That would be so cool to see. Thank you so much for watching!! 💖
I think it is that people don’t respect crochet…this isn’t the first famous person to wear a crochet product and it won’t be the last. And you have to remember China is all about China not about the people or anything else it is about the government and we all know how Covid was handled by China not to mention the decades of killing of innocent babies so why does anyone expect them to be fair and ethical about labor rights?
I agree with you. Also her private jet use and the fact that she has the platform/resources to speak up about issues around the world and just... doesn't. Awful.
@@lizfoolery There is a sew-er I follow who talks a lot about the garment industry, labor, fast fashion, etc. Their name is Haley Marie Vintage if you're interested.
Great video btw. The dress is so cute & you're commentary was spot-on.
@@---ut6fkyeah, she should travel on a row boat 🙄🙄🙄
54 minutes??! Thank you, crochet gods, for creating this individual.
I love long videos too but I was worried people wouldn’t be into an hour long video, so I’m glad you’re excited about it. 😂 Thank you for watching!! 💖
“No shit Yolanda” absolutely took me OUT. We all need more of this energy in our lives 😂
🤣 I couldn’t with Yolanda’s bs, tiktok is a cest pool.
Im so glad you made this video. Ive seen others top about the topic, but the fact you made the same dress and showed your own process really proves your point. Handmaking clothing takes so much time. fast fashion and handmade should not exist with each other. I didn’t really understand that until i started knitting. Love the dress btw
It really is hard to understand until you do it! I think more people should be talking about it and showing their process and being transparent about why makers deserve the prices they charge for their skill, time, blood, sweat, tears, etc! And thank you for saying all of that, that’s exactly what I was hoping for…that making the dress in the same video would give a deeper understanding of how exhausting it is to crochet that much! And then doing that every single day, making multiple dresses a week? Sending my thoughts to their frickin backs and necks and wrists. 😭 I truly HOPE they are happy and well taken care of. But I also hope people can learn from things like this and not give makers such a hard time when they have to charge double+ for a similar item.
I love the dress and I immediately thought she must have ordered it from an independent artist or an expensive fashion house that pays the artists at least $40 an hour. It would take me about 30 hours to make a dress like that and I’m fast. I’ve made similar garments many times and know how much work goes into it. Not to mention. When I saw the price tag I was blown away. Each dress is at least 20-25 hours of labor. Splitting it between four people still means the labor. Taylor especially has the resources and the intelligence to know she shouldn’t have bought that.
100%! It’s so much work! I’m still tired from making just one of them. 🤣 These people are incredible and it’s sad to know they’re not being valued as such. I totally thought it had to have been a one of a kind piece too! I couldn’t believe someone with so much power and influence would be wearing fast fashion crochet. 😩 Hopefully the message gets back to her and she is more careful moving forward. Thanks for watching!! 💖
I expect a stylist bought it for her. Still, hopefully the response to this has somehow reached her as she has a huge platform for promoting more ethical choices.
Expensive fashion houses also pay workers pennies, see dior
@@wearypills this is unfortunately very true.
I quit selling my crochet items because other makers won’t price their items in an appropriate way and I refuse to work for pennies. An item that takes me an upwards of 10 hours to make and $30 in yarn….i am not going to sell for $20.
just gotta make what you want for you and then sell excess when you have too mamy handmade items. definitely not a profitable craft, but, doing it for you and then selling excess is healthier, at least. but it is sad that it simply can't be a reasonable career right now.
Thank you for the deep dive. Not a ‘swiftly’ but you can’t help seeing that dress everywhere.
It has taken over for sure! Thank you for watching!! 💖
The corporate communication you shared is a splendid example of lip service. The simple truth is that in a better world, we can’t have unlimited cheap-ass clothes. As consumers, we have to discipline ourselves to choose value, and to fill our closets with fewer things. If it means those things are better, and the makers of those things can live better lives. A lower price point makes a difference because so many people want cheap. But, if you make something awesome, plenty of people will shell out money for it. Plenty of idiots stand in line all night for the privilege of paying thousands of dollars for sneakers. It’s kind of like dating jerks versus dating good people. You just have to raise your head, know what you are worth, And let the right ones choose you.
i hate the “accessible” claim! i’ve seen it time and time again to defend fast fashion. no one is ENTITLED to the latest trends or bespoke handmade clothing pieces. they cost a lot because they should value the labor on the other side of the transaction. CROCHET is accessible! you can MAKE IT YOURSELF
Taylor swift is a billionaire, she should be spending her money on ethically priced crotchet, and smaller creators! Also you are very talented - I feel like this dress would look nice in a thinner weight cotton - but god that would take ages…Maybe I might make a crop top in the same design ahah!
As someone who’s worked in production, the shadiness that happens is unreal. Subcontracting happens more than you realize. I know so many local designers that closed up shop due to the arrival of H&M. Video’s like this are important to educate consumers to make better choices or inspire to take up crocheting 😊
9:57 😂 “I’m sure they also have two hands” love that
The dress took you 30 hours?! You're a queen... I have two kids, that dress would take me at least a month. I am envious of your talent and speed!
As a newbie at crochet, been doing so for less than a year, I know how long it takes to make garments and a dress is no small garment to make. I keep hearing from coworkers, as I proudly show off my latest creation, that I should start selling crochet pieces. But I keep telling them that in order to make it worth my time and effort, I would have to charge quite a bit more than the average cost for a sweater that you can just pick up at the local fast fashion store and I would have a really hard time selling my clothes because of that. That's without even considering the cost of materials which, even when it comes to 100% acrylic, is quite expensive in and of itself.
I'm glad you're talking about this stuff in your video and shining a light on "affordable" crochet. Also glad I found your channel because of it!
yep, the constant "you should sell, you should sell!" darlin, nobody wants to buy what I'd charge if i started doing this FOR money. also, it's a fast way to kill your passion, to tie income to it
@@reda-exe omg yes, I never agreed with the "do what you love and it won't feel like work" rhetoric. That's a sure fire way to kill your love for it imo. Work is work, a thing you do to pay the bills. Save the things you love for your own enjoyment, I say.
I made 5 hats as presant for some children i know .the mother said thank you so much the kids love them they look like they were bought in tk max.she thought she was giving me a compliment.😂
Omggggg 🤣 that’s so depressing
Oh OUCH. I felt that for you.
A tip for when you go to sew up seams: put your yarn up against the seam it is going to join, triple it, and give yourself the amount you would if you cut the yarn and were intending to weave in the ends. For some projects, this is a bit too much but I have found it to be correct more often than not. If you don’t know how much you would weave in, go ahead and give yourself an extra 1/4th of what you are measuring until you get a feel for what works.
Ahh that’s a good tip! I didn’t know that. I always just way over estimate and have a massive tail. 😂 Thank you! 💖
TL;DR Guestimating labor cost of the dress - $14.86
I just want to give perspective as a person whos worked in manufacturing and product creation, so if that dress is $119, the whole sale is $59.50. Typically good margines for labour is 10-30%. 10% is usually non American manufacturing. So. Lets be generous 25% of $59.50 went to labour. That includes cost for the managers mind you but to keep it simple $14.86 is the price they paid to make that dress. So for 13 hours someone made just over $1 an hr.
A dollar an hour isnt even the hourly minimun wage for cleaning workers in Argentina, Jesus Christ
Wouldn't the retail-doubles-wholesale markup not apply since the wholesaler is the retailer?
Not justifying the practice or price, of course (the reality could be 10x your result and I'd still hate it) -- just seems to me like this estimated math may be taking into account a factor that would normally apply but doesn't seem to apply here
@@ItsAsparageese common practice is to double or do 125% mark up. Rarely is it less than 100% increase unless its on steep sale. So if anything it lowers my numbers. If this dress is marked up 200%, wholesale would be $29.70 and if 25% of that went to labour $7.437 in labour. So just at 50¢ an hr.
@@ItsAsparageese oh i also misread your first bit. No they would still mark it up. Theres no profit if you sell an item for wholesale. Wholesale zeros out your expenses to make the item. Ie target raising prices to lower them so they still make their profits
New fan here. This dress has indeed started an important discussion. You did a good job all around.
You’re so kind, thank you for watching!! 💖
Considering that celebrities get free things all the time and make plenty of money, I think the least that they can do is support smaller creators and not buy fast fashion that is likely created by slave labor. I am not saying no one should buy things from fast fashion because there are people who depend on those jobs and even though the conditions suck it might be the only thing keeping the people from starving. I am not advocating for it. I would like to see changes. But we also have to be realistic in that there are people who depend on these jobs and we can't simply take them away without providing alternatives. People don't work in these conditions unless it is necessary. However, in regards to people like Taylor Swift, she absolutely should be called out for buying from a company like this and not buying from people who are getting paid fair wages. She should be standing up against these policies and companies. She has a very powerful voice and should be held responsible for the part that she plays in not lifting people up out of their poverty. She shouldn't have to give handouts or whatnot, but she should be criticized for wearing something that was made by cheap labor in, most likely, unsafe circumstances. That is on her, and her stylist. Even if it was a gift from the company for promotion, it is, once again, on her. She knows what kind of an icon she is and she is aware of the power of her wearing a specific dress. She is advertisement for a company and is complicit in the continued negative practices.
A couple other points that I wanted to make in this video but ended up cutting for the sake of time…
- Just because I’m talking about crochet, which is the medium I am familiar with, doesn’t mean I’m dismissing the problems with mass producing and fast fashion-ing other handmade items. I would love to hear from some knitters/seamstresses about their experiences with the time/toll it takes to do what they do.
- Talking about/bringing attention to one instance or brand doesn’t mean you are expected to be perfect all the time. Not everything I own is ethical and I should totally do better too (granted though I’m not the most famous person in the world and there is some extra responsibility to be cautious of what you promote when you are such a massive influencer…I saw one girl on tiktok saying she didn’t even like the dress and only preordered it because Taylor wore it 😂🙄). This has made me really want to start looking into how other things I use/wear are made (although I can’t remember the last time I bought clothes anywhere but the thrift.
- Yes, the cost of living is a lot lower in China. I did a lot of research into this but decided to cut it because it’s really hard to pin down what people might pay for rent/utilities/food due to differing family sizes/lifestyles/areas of town as Guangzhou is massive, etc…) I tried to reach out to a couple content creators who live in Guangzhou to get an inside perspective, but I never heard back. Feel free to do your own research and see if you think it’s fair!! Besides that, though…even if the workers can comfortably pay their bills…claiming to be all about creativity and women and confidence and charity and love and then doing something that makes people question the worth of a makers hard work sucks (in my opinion). People will likely struggle to sell their pieces for a fair price because people who don’t know any better will think, “But tswifts hand crocheted dress was only $119 so wtffff??”…it makes the market confusing and it hurts artists. I’m a metalsmith and the same thing happens with cheap jewelry. It makes people not want to support someone who puts their blood, sweat, tears and soul into their work because the first search result on Etsy is a $20 “turquoise” ring that doesn’t seem much different to them.
ANYWAY, thank you for watching and for discussing this with me and being respectful and kind!!! I’m not an expert, this isn’t a perfect video, I’m sure I missed some good points and maybe made some bad points but I appreciate you sticking in! Stay tuned for something fun and drama free next time. 💖💖💖
As a seamstress, people are never willing to pay for my things. I was making things for family and friends a few years ago. When I would tell them to buy the supplies and I would sew it for them (meaning my labor was free) they wouldn't take me up on it because just the supplies were so expensive. And I would help them to find where they could get the supplies for cheap and how to reduce the costs. Fast fashion makes it hard for people to value handmade because it is so cheap. This is obviously not a new issue, but it is one that we are having conversations about and I am hoping that we can see some changes. Unfortunately everything right now is super expensive and it is frustrating to see the prices of fast fashion items in thrift stores being more than they were originally. Especially when they are donated in the first place. We, the people, need to keep speaking out, and doing what we can to make changes, and hopefully corporations and governments will follow suit. At least in America there are laws against the factory conditions that were prominent in the late 1800s and so there is hope that the same came be done for China and other countries in the future. We just have to fight for them.
@@adaynasmile Thank you for this perspective! I’m sure that’s really frustrating. If people don’t stop and think twice about the crochet they’re buying, I’m sure it’s 1000 times worse with sewn items. I’m sorry you haven’t had support on your work! 😔 I hope people do keep talking and we can create some change. I’m tired of Shein hauls. Thanks for watching and your shedding light on a seamstresses perspective! 💖
I NEVER charge for my crochet things. That takes the fun and love right out of it.
@@vickinielsen3810 I don’t either. But mostly because, being a self employed metalsmith for so long, I know my worth as a maker and I’d never crochet a large project for less than $30/hour. It’s a privilege to have the time and money to be able to crochet and give it away for free, though. I suspect the workers in China don’t have much of a choice, if they’re willing to do it for so little money.
@@adaynasmile I learned to crochet as a child and did so throughout most of my early adulthood. I could count in one hand the number of pieces I sold. Most of my projects were things for myself and gifts I wanted to make for someone who didn’t ask me to.
Whenever someone would ask if I could just make them ‘this amigurumi I saw online’ I would smile and say ‘sure! Just buy the yarn’ I don’t remember anyone actually doing it. 😅 People just don’t understand nor appreciate what actually goes into handcrafting.
I really loved this video and I really love Taylor Swift. I think doing a deep dive into ethical fashion no matter who is wearing it, but honestly especially when people who have huge platforms are wearing it, is necessary to educate everyone on the harm of fast fashion. You didn’t go much into the environmental impact, but it people are interested that’s where I’d direct them next.
Something you said also really stood out to me - I don’t think this is just an issue with devaluing artists. It’s an issue with devaluing women, women’s labor, and historically female arts (often minimized as hobbies).
If we were to look at who in China is most affected by slave labor and sweat shops and poor wages in the textile industry, especially with handmade crochet goods, it’s almost certainly women. I don’t think enough people think about that especially in relation to Taylor as a powerful woman herself.
You have hit every single point I’ve been saying! It’s the fact that not only does she have the money to pay a creator to make it for her. This company is making crochet into fast fashion! Crochet is the absolute opposite of fashion and is truly an art form, Let’s keep it that way!
My mom makes crochet amigurumi to pass time, and lately has been really into making dragons. People always tell her she could sell them because they're amazing, but as it turns out they don't really get how long it takes to make em. The local facebook marketplace is full of people trying to sell amigurumi and other people complaining they're too expensive.
Thank you so much for going in depth on this! I'm glad you went into the history of the company as well, and about valuing ones own time vs compensating others for theirs.
Lots of good points here, Liz. I really hope that everyone who bought the dress treasures it as the handmade item it is, & thst thrift shops aren't flooded with them in a few months...
They will be lol just like all the outfits people bought or made for the eras tour.
As a chinese person, i can 1000% confirm that most chinese people have a maximum of 2 hands.
Just want to say that this video was awesome! Love the combination of talking about the producing of the original dress and then in "real time" showing the time it takes to crochet. Love the way you told the pattern as well, it is a skill to freehand crochet garments 😊
You're an icon for calling them out AND showing how to diy the dress 🔥
You're absolutely right - 4 people each spending 1 hours is the same as 1 person spending 4 hours. I haven't crocheted this dress but I crochet a lot. This dress would take 30 hours minimum to make - it should be nowhere south of £300 in price. And that's me being very very lenient with pricing.
I appreciate your input on this topic and how respectful you were. As a Taylor fan I’m disappointed to hear that she purchased something from a company that has a poor policy on creating quality products. She herself has fought hard to own her art and wants us to support her. I hope she can find a way to make this right. That being said, I’m glad I found your channel and will continue to support you.❤
This is a really well done video and your dress turned out really cute! I think it's important to talk about the ethics behind it, lots of people have no idea how long it takes to crochet something. I didn't know it either until I started crocheting.
Have a great day!😊
Totally, I didn’t know either! I’ve been crocheting for like 15 years but was always too overwhelmed to make anything larger than a bag/scarf/hat. I just recently started making dresses and coats and bigger projects and I can’t believe the amount of time and dedication it takes…and the strain it puts on your body on top of that!! Thank you for your sweet comment and thanks for watching! 💖
Your video came up on my recommended feed. I was impressed by how much research you did and how well you presented your commentary. The dress looks beautiful on you ! Thanks for sharing your commentary and showing what goes into making this dress.
I’ve been a cook/baker for 15 years, still only make min when working for a business. I agree with you. People just don’t appreciate the knowledge. I also do other crafts and people usually want cheap
SO interesting to hear about those hand dyed kimonos!!!!!! Thank you for the deep dive!!!!
Right?! I tried to find more info but couldn’t. Super interested!
Swifty friends asked me to make their concert outfits. One of them wanted the dress. It took me pretty much exactly 15h to make it and 80€ worth of yarn.
When I sell crochet wearables I price it with material + ½ of minimum wage in my country. I knit or crochet as a way of stimminng, so I do it everytime I have free hands anyways - the income is just a nice touch because I'm basically getting paid for doing nothing and relaxing lol. But that would still come out as 80 + ~160 = 240€.
Obviously I don't charge my friends, especially because I know she can't just drop an additional 240€ but Taylor has more than enlugh money to pay 10 times the amount. I was sos ure it's a designer dress that was maybe even exclusively for her. I was so disappointed when I saw it's just a regular store bought item :/
A guy that I knew wanted me to crochet an American flag throw for his couch.i told him I’d calculate the cost and get back to him. I searched for the best price for the yarn. I guessed at the amount of time it would take and calculated the price.
Guess what? He didn’t want it after I told him the price.
GIRL. When I saw that price I was floored. I charge $20 for my little crocheted cat hats. This shit takes so much time if you do it right.
Love this video and the information!
It’s absolutely wild! I’m sad for these makers! And omg I love your little hats. 🥰 $20 is a steal!
“also only have two hands” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Odd way to justify it…✋😂✋🧶
@21:35 that’s why you need 2 hands, to untangle the yarn:0
@@Joemom80085 True!! 😂
Four people working on a dress for two hours is the same as one person working on a dress for eight hours. It literally is the same. I do not understand what their correspondent was trying to say lol. it only means faster garment turnover, which might mean less storage fees?
@@10feralratsinacoat76 Ok THANK YOU, that’s exactly what I was thinking but for some reason I couldn’t work that out in my head. 🤣 I blame the lack of sleep.
Great background info on how this dress is made and the company's bs about how ethically they treat their workers. Your research is top notch! If someone asked me to crochet this dress for them, I would. But I would definitely be charging more than $120 given how labor intensive crochet is which I would probably have to explain to them, thanks to the fast fashion industry.
@@PatriceWalker Thank you so much for watching! I wouldn’t make something like this for less than $30/hour honestly 😂 and that’s why I don’t sell my crochet! Well, that…and all the cats. 😂💖
@@lizfoolery lol, love the cats. We have 3 in my house, and one just hast to be in my lap.
Crochet is hard on the hands if done for excessive amounts of time.
Unless you take frequent breaks to allow your finger joints to lubricate the tendons, you risk agonising RSI conditions that are permanently disabling.
I doubt those workers are encouraged to rest their hands for five minutes two or three times an hour.😢
Ugh totally, I can’t imagine the toll it takes on their bodies! After I finish a big project like this my neck and back are wrecked for days. I get pain in my fingers too a lot of the time. I can’t imagine doing it all day every day as fast as I could and not being able to get up and walk around/take breaks whenever I wanted. 😣
This is such an important topic to push into mainstream fashion knowledge! Such low prices do NOT make logical sense unless they take advantage of people in less fortunate circumstances, who don't make a livable wage. What's more, you cannot possibly verify that your production company is truly ethical if it's half way across the world!
I saw crochet triangular headbands in Marshall's for $6. The thread was tiny and and very obviously split easily, with tons of color changes, and my heart broke for whoever made them.
Edit: It's not just unethical modernly but a slap in the face to the history. Irish lace lifted a lot of people out of poverty because the aristocracy of surrounding countries paid what it was worth!
There's this girl in my team who's really good at crochet and she works really fast, and I was baffled as she priced her work less because of that (a small plushie for like $1-2, and they were high quality). She was selling in an event with 10% sales going to charity, while everyone raised the price to make up for cost, she wanted to reduce the price which I talked her out of it, the customers were well paid office workers 🙃
It took some convincing but I managed to convinced her somewhat, she no longer stay up super late to finish the super short deadlines (she agreed to an order of 25+ mini plushies in about 5 days while working 10hrs day, we can see her health declining in real time lol). She is also more selective in accepting orders. She still has her day job and consider crocheting as more of a hobby so she doesn't think too highly of it, I wonder if she even made enough in sales to cover a month's minimum wage in the past year.
I crochet as a hobby and is no where near her speed, I'll never sell my work as I know I'll never be happy with the price they're willing to pay. At the same time I'm kinda sad because I was secretly planning on making a baby blanket for my new nephew but the mom said it's a waste of time for womething with little value (she didn't know I was planning on doing it so I don't blame her in anyway).
Enlightening and informative video, Liz. Thanks for bringing awareness to how much work handcrafting entails with your behind-the-scenes clips. Not only crocheting but any sort of craft we do. There is so much work involved that people don’t realize and sadly we don’t charge nearly the amount that we are worth.
My mom has been crocheting for many years and still does at age 90. She’s pretty quick and can make full on blankets, but it still takes her several days. She says that getting paid $119 or whatever cut they end up getting for that dress is insulting to whomever does the work.
Kudos to you for making this video. 🙌 Also, great job on the dress! 😊
Your mom is a bad@$$! She’s so right, super insulting and I can’t fathom why anyone defends it. I guess just because of the person attached to the story. 😒 And for sure, it’s sad how we have to sell ourselves short even in jewelry because of the cheap jewelry Etsy features, which then changes the perception of our worth too. 😔 I did go into some jewelry stuff too but I ended up cutting it for time. Maybe I’ll do another deep dive on that sometime….after I recover from this video. 😂 Thanks for watching as always, Jess! 💖💖
PS, it’s perfectly ethical and hysterical for you to show the world how to knock off that dress. Especially since it’s the sort of thing you can figure out if you can get a good look at it. You even give people the power to have that designbut to make it from more sustainable yarns. You angel!🎉
Thank you for doing all the research on this topic! I enjoyed your video and for asking deeper questions.
Thank you so much for watching! 💖
Hearing that you wouldn't accept anything under 12$ an hour literally made me cry. Cry of jealousy and genuine frustration because here in Costa Rica the minimum wage is 2$ an hour. (Regular jobs not necessarily textile work) My dream is to someday be able to earn 8$ an hour. In Costa Rica is pretty imposible to live from textiles or art because ppl don't have the money to spend on handmade items unfortunately..
@@BriStella I’m sorry, that’s really frustrating I’m sure. I actually wouldn’t do it for less than $30/hour. I’ve been a self employed metalsmith/jewelry maker for 8 years and that’s what I charge hourly for my work. If I went and got a job somewhere I probably would make minimum wage, because I don’t really have skills beyond being an artist. Minimum wage where I live is $16.00/hour, but that’s just because California is an incredibly expensive place to live. The federal minimum wage in the US is $7.25/hour. If I weren’t doing art I wouldn’t make anywhere close to $30/hour. But that’s exactly why I think it’s important to talk about this kind of stuff. Those of us who have these unique, beautiful skills should be paid fairly for them. I hope someday you are compensated for your worth. I’m sorry it’s a struggle for you, I wish things were easier.
I’ve been stressing since moving to China that I can’t find worsted weight yarn, simply because I’m used to working with it and I’m a strict pattern follower and can’t wrap my brain around swapping out and accommodating for different weights. Your tutorial is PERFECT for a project that has a goal but is flexible. Gonna mess around with this some time!
Thanks for all your research and for showing how to make this dress. I’m not a Swiftie, but this looks like it would be cozy over leggings in the fall and winter. And so easy (though time-consuming) to make. You did a great job!
❤❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much for bringing attention to this.
I really hope that her fans don’t attack you.
Good luck love!
I’m with you on this 💯
Hahaha, oh I’ve got my fingers crossed! 😅 Thank you, and thank you for watching! I appreciate you. 🥰💖
The ironic thing is that celebrities will pay hundreds of thousans of dollar for a designer piece that the designer drew on the paper but that they rarely make. I don't know much about how high fashion works, but the fashion houses as they used to be when the designer themselves made the whole garmet are way behind us. Now, even places such as Channel or Versace outsource their manufacturing process, so the people actually making the garmet earn, perhaps, an eighth of what the designer makes.
I also tie my ends together I’m afraid they’ll come apart - I know people say they don’t, but I have had it happen before!
Thank you for discussing this dress, it’s beautiful but I am worried the artists who have crocheted it aren’t being fairly paid for their work- I want to believe they are, but with how cruel the world is to makers / artists, it’s hard to believe.
Thank you for showing us how to make it! 💕 I love it and want to recreate it with other colours once I’m done with my current project!
Sending love and best wishes
I feel like there’s no harm in the knot, when it’s in a seam like that especially! 😂 They totally disappear so why the heck not be extra secure, right?? Thank you so much for watching! I really hope the makers of this dress are at least comfortable with their working conditions and their wages! 💖
My bloodline is from Guangzhou, and my family has a home there. I've visited many times and they have lots of stores where they sell clothes from large western companies for very little. That gives a bit of insight on how low their production costs are. x
I'm a beginner crocheter finishing my first sweater at the moment. I think I will do this next! I already used the stitch to start a granny rectangle and I loooooove how easy it is to do mindlessly since the hole is so easy to find :D perfect couch project to work on every once in a while. Thank you for the tutorial!
I don't listen to Taylor Swift or follow her, but I think you also said some very interesting and valid things so thank you for speaking up on these matters as well
I truly appreciate this video. I’ve been a crochet Fibre artist for at least 50 years and I’m disgusted to see even cheap recreations in US stores. Also there are makers that undercut each other by not educating themselves and under charging for their own products. Thanks for the eye opening discussion
Oh and you did a great job with the dress. I made one slightly different with a turn back collar courtesy of @shylercrochet.
as someone that has a very very tiny budget for clothing, I try to buy cheap/fast fashion clothing as it's all I can afford. I understand that, which is why I KNOW I couldn't buy crochet clothing unless it's from a thrift store. I handmake a lot of my clothing, because yarn is a pretty affordable where I live. Fast Fashion is a necessity for some so I would not shame anyone for it, but 100% I'ma shame people buying hand made crochet items for tiny prices.
Discovered your channel and I am binging everything while I am recovering from surgery. I just got into crocheting so, I'm finishing my first ever slouchy beanie to your videos! Thank you for talking about fast fashion. I wish more people were aware. I try to only thrift, but even that is becoming expensive these days, so sometimes fast fashion *is* my only affordable option and I feel horrible having to resort to it, cause even with being able to make my own clothing to an extent, that can be as expensive, if not even more costly.
Your cat is so beautiful 😍 her fur is like a chai latte 😍
ETA just saw your second kitty! That is a well covered lap! 🙌
ETA2 A THIRD KITTY!? You are truly blessed 💖
ETA3 A FOURTH KITTY!? I cannot 😭 but what wrong with he eye?
Unfortunately too many high end boutiques are taking advantage of the crochet trend buying cheap, selling at crazy prices. The hilarious thing is when or if we makers sell anything at a fraction of the price at craft fairs to make a profit, we get the the obnoxious line "I can buy it cheaper at...." Well, next time they try that bs on me, I'm gonna use the Taylor dress example and throw it in their face! LOL
I do a lot of crocheting but I've never tried to make a garment. I tend to do smaller projects like baskets, crochet animals etc, I've crocheted a blanket many years ago, but now you've impressed me and taken my imagination further. Thank you. I hope you don't mind me adding this video to my crochet/hand stitching playlist for future reference. You showed this so well, even though you went straight through so many hours. Well Done! You're right art and craft projects are a long process, more the hours you put in to them. Even smaller projects can take a few hours to complete. The problem is that independent art and crafters are competing with the mass market suppliers, who produce so many more on the market which undercuts the true artisan. If you wanted to sell the item and tried to put a price on it, would you be able to recoup the cost of materials and labour. I don't think so because of the competition.
I went down a nerdy rabbit hole and calculated the number of stitches the original dress (based on vendor website photos) and calculated at least 12,741 not incling border sc. I also looked up the world record holder for crocheting, who did 170/minute. Fastest scenario is all dc panels are done in 75 minutes. If we tack on an additional 45 minutes for border and stitching, we have one dress every 2 hours. Hourly minimum wage is 2.22/hour, making the total cost for manufacturing labor to be around 4.44, which seems well within the price of the dress. I’m not saying those wages are humane, as I don’t know the cost of living there. But I agree that this speaks to a larger issue about fast fashion and human labor.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for saying out loud what we all are thinking! Just recently i was asked to create a top for someone. I gave her an estimated price of 40€, which made her frown because that was too much for "that little bit of yarn and such simple stitches". I honestly couldn't believe it. I do think that 40 bucks for weeks of work is a total steal, but apparently i was wrong. Ended up blocking that person and honestly still can only smh. Nah, babes. I am so happy that i have 30 years of experience under my belt and create whatever the hell I want. There is no way in hell i would ever buy with any of those shops.
I do stained glass and I'm like -- you have no earthly idea how much stained glass costs do you? I dont mean stained glass I create -- I mean buying the uncut glass for me to cut. When I tell people the prices of the MATERIAL it's way more than they would want to pay. Lets not talking about my cutting the pieces, grinding them individually, copper foil on each one, then soldering one side -- flip and repeat. No. I don't sell my work. No, I have no idea how lowes can sell a lamp like that so cheap. I can't even buy the materials for that. I'm at a loss just like you.
I love learning the fact crochet cannot be made by a machine! Thanks!
I am a maker though so i appreciated this convo!
You're adorable & have a great sense of humor. I'm not into crocheting, but I appreciate your artistry. Good luck with your channel. I can see it growing by leaps & bounds. 😊 I think it's fabulous anytime an artist shines a light on topics such as this. My mother knits & also crochets & has made me so many beautiful things. I know how much time she invested into do it, but unless you know someone who crochets or you're in that community there's no way anyone would have a clue. I can't see Taylor even considering something like that & why would she when she's in a completely different industry. This was a great video. Thanks for sharing!
2:07 "but she really is a such tiny piece of a much bigger and more important lesson" THANK YOU. I get so annoyed when people talk about collective issues in a individualized perspective. And not because I'm a Taylor Swift fan, because I have many criticisms towards her whist being a fan. But because this miopic perspective just for the sake of criticizing Taylor doesn't explore the major issue at hand and doesn't point to real solutions we should thrive for. Taylor is a willing product of a bigger industry that is the product of a bigger social economical system. If Taylor stopped doing all the things she is criticised for in the environmental and social aspects, other pop artists would still be doing those things. And if all pop artists stopped doing those things, major corporations and billionaires who hide their even worse actions by being not famous or by lobbying and greenwashing propaganda would continue to ruin the world. Let's start talking about real changes: not of individual actions, but of the regulations regarding responsabilities of major corporations and their owners.
I appreciate your informed commetary and your sense of humor. Thanks!😄
Thwy didnt actually say they met the ethical standards. It said "based on international ethics standards" not we follow them....the wording seemed icky to me idk y but it seemed like a plausible deniability thing lol
Companies have no issues outsourcing their labor for cheaper prices. I am an over the phone interpreter who works in one of the latin american call centers of the US founded company. Sometimes it hurts to listen to calls because some discussions include salaries and the new migrant working for cash on a low wage job is getting over $10 an hour and my skilled labor of knowing multiple languages on a technical level enough to be able to handle calls form any and nearly every industry is just worth $7 an hour. And that's a "not bad" sort of wage here. And I'm fully aware they're paying us the legal minimum and doing the legal minimum for us while literally penalizing "excessive" bathroom breaks and having us talking for hours and hours on end.
And I also know we're outsourced because they'd have to pay more for the same job in the united states, which is the country we offer service to. They also havea horrible turnover where I've been there a year and am considered a long time employee. I don't want to imaine what garment workers deal with
This is such a great video. I love a good tea time but this was so well put together and the tutorial at the end is a great bonus. Will be coming back for the tutorial
This came up on my home page and I appreciate the time you take to explain things. I just picked up a crochet needle for the first time two weeks ago. So I find this super inspiring.
It warms my heart to know someone is as equally passionate about this subject. ❤
What an undertaking!! Thanks for showing us your process, your research on the company, and your adorable cats. Your dress looks fantastic!!
Im not sure how I found this video because I am neither a swifty nor a crocheter... But I do work in factory production. I think I understand the statement the rep from the company was making. I used to gather 20 samples, work list them, inoculate them, float them, then read and result those samples. I would do 10 sets of 20 = 200 samples. we had a staff of 5, so 1000 samples a night. Now, we do "one piece flow" so I will work list all 1000 samples, another person is inoculating all 1000 samples, another floating all 1000 and the 4th and 5th peoples is reading all 1000. In theory... it Doesn't take me 8 hours to build 1000, so when I finish that task I help innoculate, with my help, it doesn't take two people very long to inoculate, when we are done we move down the line... so. Now the same 5 people are able to do 1500 samples a night. Maybe they have one person crocheting left sleeves, another person doing the right sleeve, a person doing front panel, a person doing back panel and another person assembling?
That’s what I said in the video…but it doesn’t seem like it would matter. If 5 people were making 5 dresses, it wouldn’t matter if they split that up and all did a portion of each dress or if they all just worked on one individual dress. You can’t help someone crochet something if you finished before them. I mean I guess you could start on their next panel and then hand it off, but regardless it’s a sh*t ton of work and it takes a super long time and takes a massive toll on your body. It sucks either way, haha. Idk how they do it, I could never know. Maybe they’re having a great time. It is still bs to sell handmade items for this cheap and it’s still distorting their worth.
Really cute dress! The colors, except the lavender, aren't what I'd choose for mine. So far I've only crocheted wire hanger covers and shawls, and I've been attempting to learn a basic granny square. Maybe if I make a couple of these for my nieces in Norway, I'll be able to remember this one type of granny cluster!❤❤❤
Thank you for articulating so well the problem with fast fashion. I love sewing, but I rarely make anything that I don't specifically know I'll enjoy making. Maybe if I want to learn a new technique, I'll try something new, but I sew because I enjoy it.
Happy i found your channel! I hope to see more tutorials and commentary ❤ you go girl
You’re sweet, thank you for watching!! 🥰🥰💛💛
People like Taylor swift who know they influence millions of extremely impressionable people who do zero research on their clothes ARE the problem. Would this dress be sold out and on pre order if she didn’t wear it? No. She has a responsibility to make sure her clothes aren’t creating this exact situation. A rich white woman participating in fast fashion is just another day on Instagram.
I get it, and you are right, to some extend.
She is an artist, a singer, a musician. She is on tours frequently and she travels a lot. That is on top of every day activities. She cannot possibly check every single item she wears! She has reps, assistants etc etc in whom she has to rely on. I’m sure if someone in her circle shows her clothes she is gonna find something cute and wanna wear it.😊
@@bebitamira3054 she has more responsibility than that as someone who’s an “influencer” she needs to tell her team “this needs to be ethically made” “this needs to be made with recycled materials” like there’s thousands of garments out there that are made by real humans that are paid a living wage that Taylor swift can absolutely afford. She’s more worried about how clothes look on her than where they were made and that’s the problem. If she doesn’t have time to be vetting things like that she needs to find or make the time to. People like her are the least off the hook for stuff like this. Don’t make excuses for a multi millionaire exploiting people and then promoting that exploitation.
@@adammcfarland7952this!! And the dress being an affordable price for her (also) rich, white, privileged fans means much more dresses purchased. More underpaid labor. Someone in the comments calculated the crochet-er got paid nearly a dollar and hour. With the reach and influence she has, she has every need and demand to *be* responsible and strict about her clothing and where it’s sourced from. Someone also pointed out TS is a crochet-er, so she just disregarded $100 dollars for an ENTIRE dress that was handmade, as if that was enough. Gets me a lil heated 😅
There are many great things about this video and commenters have already praised many, but I want to specifically admire your graciousness. You did a phenomenal job of being direct and honest and critical without ever being even the tiniest bit petty or rude to anyone. I love your attitude and objectivity, and I envy your knack for gentleness in your communication! Can't wait to check out more of your work. Props, and thank you for being you!
You are very articulate. I'm glad you brought attention to this issue. It's so easy in a consumer/capitalist society to go for the bargain without thinking about the ethical implications.
I don't know how to crochet, but i love this video and editing and just you in general. You're awesome.
You’re awesome! Ily friend! Thanks for watching. 💖💖💖
According to justvintagecrochet, the flat granny stitch was originally called the Van Dyke stitch. Just tossing that out there.
This is a fantastic video! People just don’t get the time (which is cost) to crochet even a simple hat. I am new to your channel and a new subscriber. Thank you for saying this about the value of handmade crochet items no matter the size. BRAVO 😊
I made my daughter a long crocheted duster and people have been telling her it's gorgeous and that I should make them to sell them. In order to sell that duster to recoup the price of materials and for a minimum wage of $7.25 that duster would cost over $300 and nobody's paying me that kind of money for it. There are so many people who want the artwork we make, but have no sense or appreciation for the amount of time it takes, not only to make the garment but to acquire the skills to make the garment.
Anyone else not a fan of the olor scheme of the dress? I really don't like it lol. But I really wanna make this in a different color because the shape of it is cute.
You should! I saw someone make a blue version which was super cute.
Omg yes I don't like the color scheme at all.
When you pulled out the headband and wrist bands I hit that subscribe button so fast 😂👏🏼 love the energy and need it more in my life
Hahahaha I’m so glad you’re here! This video was too serious for me, had to throw in something goofy. 😂
This was such an impressive video! It was funny, engaging, and well communicated, from the research to your tutorial, and everything in between! I’ve never crocheted, so learned a lot about the craft, technique, and ethics. Thank you for making this video, and I hope it was kindly received. The dress you made turned out beautifully, and the colors really suit you. Going to go check out some more of your content now!
You are sweet, thank you for such a nice comment! It was received **mostly** kindly. 😂 I think the people who are upset by it aren’t really grasping my point. I just want better for people and artists and makers and if that’s wrong then, whatever, they can be upset. 😂 Thank you so much for watching! Appreciate you! 💖