ECO-Active Street Apparel

Some interesting articles from the front lines of the eco-fashion industry.

While I'm not sure if I entirely agree that it is 'eco-friendly' to import merchandise from communities 'overseas' (just because you own the 'factory' where 'artisans' make the clothing and accessories), I still think there is a lot of value in 'fair-trade' organizations which assist the artisans to use their trade to feed their families and have a 'better' life. (I put 'single quotes' around everything I think is relative to our own experience and values.)

I am more encouraged, however, when entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Canada find ways to promote and support 'artisans' here in their own countries. Or support programs which retrain people to be able to do all this stuff. I know it's more expensive. But sooner or later, all the countries in the world, their poor will be making wages which will be better for them, but will make 'cheap' labour obsolete, and the world's oil prices will make transporting goods far distances punitive. When that happens, those who have seen the opportunity and have established artisan cooperatives in North America will be ahead of the learning curve and have been already providing our economies with a much needed boost.

Perhaps we can learn from these out-of-country examples:

It's ok when an owner of a small business gives away their services/products by handing out coupons in any form. Reason - because simply they themselves have decided in what way to discount their services or product, and are in control of the volume and quality of the discount. As well, the discount is usually about overstock, end of season, promotion, or just a really nice way to say "thank you" to all their loyal customers. It is not perceived as a desperate cry for business.

When a third party coupon business concept like "living social" enters the picture then it becomes a much different thing. I have loathed the concept ever since it became popular a few years back and I'll tell you why... better yet, I would like to speak directly to those that partake in it, the coupon toting, discount seeking, nervous nellies sector of the population: shop owners/internet sellers, customers and employees/managers alike.

To the coupon business upstarts: Your coupon ‘business’ takes advantage of those who feel they need to do something, anything in order to get their services out there. It preys on those who feel less assured about their product or service and think the only way to garner any attention is by cheapening what they do. And of course, there are those who are greedy for clients/customers, and would do anything to get them. Most of these situations are deperate in one way or another, and therefore the small business owner sometimes moves headlong into an agreement without thinking it through. You, of course, take full advantage of them. Let me explain.

When you can “offer” for example, a $600+ spa treatment for $60+, there is definitely something going on. There's just nothing right about that. Either the service has been inflated to make it seem like a deal (steal more like it), or you are selling and reselling the business owner the out-of-touch, outmoded style of capitalism that volume is King in any business. What is the external driver that allows small businesses to undervalue their services all in the name of volume?

Volume at any cost does nothing but diminish what they, and by association - what we all offer in the eyes of our customers. Volume only serves you, the coupon piper.

What gets me is that the shop owners who partake in this do not see that! Or ignore it because all they see is dollar signs. Let me know how that goes!

As a shop/studio owner, I can not and did not see any reason to undermine, under value, undercut my services or product just because I wanted more people to come through the door. All the services that we, the small business owner offer in order to have a business, are for our survival. This is our 9 to 5 (or rather 8 to midnight really). I don't know if our customers know it, but this is how we make our living: pay the debts we've incurred while training for these skills, pay rent, buy product to have on our shelves (let alone the debts of starting up a small business), and live our lives. Our services are really REALLY cheapened by what these third party coupon businesses do.

I realize that for “services” like yours (glorified pyramid schemes – someone always loses out) there is a plethora of insecure, desperate people who need your service (at least they think they do). What they don’t realize is that eventually they lose out. Although it may seem as if their business grew by using your service; there's a sudden influx of customers, maybe they hire more people, or order more product, or even consider a bigger space to accommodate the growth (growth = living social-like services selling an insurmountable volume of cheap coupons), what they don’t realize is they are lining your pockets with their profits. That the only 'winner' in this game is the third party coupon maker. Not only do you sell these coupons 'on behalf of the business owner' for sometimes a 50%-50% split, but you don't have to do a thing for it, except collect the money. And you are not liable for anything. So you take no responsibility for selling too much. Inevitably, the business gets overwhelmed by the sheer number of people paying extremely discounted prices for an overtasked system that is bound to fail.

Then when the coupon is used, done and over with, and the small business asks those clients to pay normal asking rates for their services, the small business loses out (not the coupon sellers). How? Well, simply the clients/customers who used the coupons in the first place, will just go somewhere else because there's always another coupon deal. The small business then has to deal with the aftermath of this oxy moron called 'Living Social'. Some of the businesses that I know of eventually closed their doors because they over extended themselves all in the name of volume! Left with too much of everything (we’ve all seen it happen).

There is a vast amount of yoga teachers and studios, spas, nail salons, hairs salons, and other small business services, etc. etc., that - not only is the demographic in certain areas over saturated with and depleted by the sheer number of these services popping up in the last few years, so that these owners are desperate to get business by agreeing to let you sell these coupon deals, but it creates a deluge of customers who are jaded by false low prices. They do not hesitate to hop from one place to the next without offering client dedication and loyalty, which is the foundation of any business and our consumer society.

You have made a business from other people’s businesses (congratulations on your degree in...Business). You have no skill but to convince small business entrepreneurs that this is a good thing for them. Which it’s not. It only puts money in your pocket and makes clients unbearable when they start threatening “I can go elsewhere!”.

It’s easy for the customer, not for the small business. It is all very shortsighted. In the end, we all lose out. The foundation of the customer/client to small business relationship is falling apart because of a climate of greed, nervousness, and more greed on everyone's part. No one's immune from having responsibility in this collution that is symptomatic of the economic crisis that we are all facing now (if you own a house you know...). We are no longer victims of a system we engage in...willingly.

So yes to our customers: I realize everyone wants a deal and you've had fun. But to become a fickle individual with no ties, no loyalties, then you can not ask for that in return. This attitude of "something for nothing" is a constant bear on our backs that needs to be shed. Buy when you can. Realize "you get what you pay for." And that we are all in an agreement with one another between small businesses (usually means local) and our beloved, loyal customers - who pay fair market value for our services and products so we can gift them wonderful deals twice or three times a year.

The situation has become the wild, wild west. A situation that has no rules, no consideration and no patronage. Are you asking yourself these days and wondering who you can trust? Well, this climate of no loyalty has to be seriously looked at. Is this symptomatic of our inner lives?

The problem with this scenario ultimately is that experience in your small business has no worth. The small business owner's expertise and dedication to their craft or product no longer seems to have or be of any value to anyone. Only ‘how-cheap-can-I-get-this’ seems to be the flavour of the day.

These kinds of services that feed off of other's hard work and dedication (which now are a dime-a-dozen as well), has created a hostile environment for most small business owners. The ‘coupon’ business has helped create a toxic environment that perhaps the ones that should survive because of their dedication and expertise, but maybe don't have a lot of support, will not survive.

To the shop owners, independent business owners - including those who use online shop sites to sell their crafts: Stop undercutting your competitors (and yourself) by putting your prices so low that you (or anyone else) can not make a living. Stop using third party coupon businesses to sell yourself. It only cheapens all our businesses when you climb into bed with these services like "living social". Have faith in what you do and have faith that you'll have the insight and the courage to move on if you need to. With using these third party coupon businesses, aren't you just "flogging a dead horse?" Think about it...

I say - No thanks.

ECO-Active Street Apparel

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