Reply #11: I gave it up years ago for the same reason. All my labor was free and the materials cost me more

[KoKo]

than what folks could buy a Chinese import with ...whole made with clever stiching and decent fabric. I wondered how all these years since the early 70's all our crafters goods, materials, buttons, decorative embellishments had been so expensive for us AMERICAN Crafters to buy...and yet the Chinese had access to the fabric and such that cost them nothing along with their labor. I was doing my labor for free in the last years trying to keep up with the fabric cost rising. And I didn't have to ship my goods thousands of miles across the Pacific and then have my crafts trucked to the East Coast.

Even with the pennies a day labor...how can they still sell the Chinese stuff so cheaply with the extra cost for fabric and material...and the oil to ship it over the Pacific and then on Trucks to the East Coast?

It's never made any sense to me...but I know that many of us earned money in the 60's enough to keep us going and that started to fade away...maybe Nixon...then Carter was an uptick in business for me and the final nail was with Reagan where there was still interest but eventually in his second term it disappeared. Our Trade Policy has been horrible for decades cutting out those who like to work with their hands as artisans. It was an American Tradition that artisans could get by in rural areas and even cities selling their wares...but not against knock offs where the materials are available so cheaply to some...but not to others.

:shrug: