Skirt: hmong hilltribe northern thai embroidered, pleated skirt.
Jacket: Womens Woven Art, East Timor
Sakura Floral T: reconstructed colorado number
I could go on about how remarkable the East Timorese people are.. they live in a 3rd world country, the newest nation on the globe, communications are scarce & yet the people are so rich in integrity to rebuild their nation & regain economic independence.
The women weave traditional cloth known as 'tias' and it is the only source of income for entire villiages.. however there is a lack of tourism & trade. I had the fortune of meeting two of the women from WWA & i offered to help provide a means to generate income for their handwoven wares.. thinking i could help sell them on etsy - but BOY was i wrong!
shall we go over Etsy's motto?
| What is Etsy? |
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| Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. Our mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers. Our vision is to build a new economy and present a better choice: |
Something in the rulebook about not being able to sell anything not handmade by yourself.. yet i see countless etsyers selling only commercial & vintage supplies which were not handmade! ugh! the loophole is totally unjust! My enquiry was met with a copy & paste of etsys Do's & Dont's.
East Timorese women simply do not have the means to ship reliably, as the postal service is often attacked by guerilla warriors & there is most certainly no reliable internet/digi camera service! It makes me cringe, when these women are the authentic cultural example of attempting to earn an income from handmade traditional wares (meaning basic necessities like providing food, medicine & education to their children), & yet they aren't eligable for a surrogate etsy store! OMG! i'm writhable.
etsy can say that now tho, because they have reliable electricity, running water, sewerage that isn't running past their doorstep & money enough to purchase handmade luxuries.. double cringe.
needless to say, i have a newfound edge about etsy now.
2 comments:
Oh, how infuriating! There is so much abuse on Etsy, and I have been trying to break away from it by building traffic to my website for a while. Unfortunately, more people seem to find me there than my site, still. Anyway, I see folks often selling things on Etsy that have not come from their own hands, and it seems ludicrous to me that they have denied your request. Could you sell these beautiful woven pieces directly from your new website?
yeah, i think it's crazy too.. outright unjust etsy won't allow fair trade artisans a chance towards self-sufficiency.
etsy drives traffic to your site because they have excellent metatagging.. if you search for anything handmade, etsy will come up in the first few items. This is a perk for sellers for sure.
I am looking forward to actualy having an independent platform to showcase handmade textile products.. etsy is quite limiting for sellers still as far as listing options stand. Saying that, i still enjoy the site & being part of the community.. but rules really need to be reworked as far as genuine Fair Trade goes.
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