Hi Julie,
Thank you for your review - so glad you love the socks. But you have raised a really interesting issue. I agree wholeheartedly we should be manufacturing in Australia. The rag trade runs in my blood and I remember the days when we had a vibrant local industry. Last year I took the decision to try very hard to have my new range of socks made here in Australia. I contacted a supplier who had ethical credentials, met with them and went through the samples, and spent three months politely being given the run around as they only wanted to make socks from cotton and didn't have the decency to tell me that. I travelled to NSW - met with multiple people - only to find on more than one occasion that whilst the companies referred to being local, they were manufacturing offshore. The reason being, especially for something as specialised as socks - is we as a country have walked away from the investment in technological innovation needed to create a high quality sock. I have had to think long and hard on this. I decided that just like in Australia not everyone in China is responsible for the behaviour of their Govt. Just like here there are a lot of hard working individuals. The factory we use has the highest ethical international standards for employment and environment. But I hear you. My nature is - if I find something broken - I try and fix it. I have taken onboard the obstacles we are currently facing as an industry and am about to launch a new Social Enterprise where we will be manufacturing product here in Melbourne, that will be made from fabric produced here in Melbourne. A long answer I know - but I just wanted to be clear that I understand your concerns, but we need to understand there are some things that we just don't have the technology to make well here - yet, but I am hopeful that this is our collective moment to regain our pride in our local manufacturing sector. At bamboo monkey I am just in the process of developing our first fully locally designed, pattern made, fabric dyed and manufactured sweat pant - and when it is launched I will share the costing process - as that is the biggest hurdle we as manufacturers have - customers are so trained to expect and buy cheap - the reality of locally made is actually quite shocking. A fair wage for a machinist here is .64 cents a minute - roughly $37 an hour. That compares to $1.50 a day in Bangladesh ( where most large Australian retailers have now moved their production as China is no longer the cheap market it once was). I hope this provides some clarity and thank you again for raising such an important issue. Regards Edwina
