I used to have an Etsy shop where I sold hand knitted toys, hats, mittens, scarves, neck warmers and cabled sweaters, a sweater would take up to 2-3 weeks to complete and a medium toy about 4 days, I couldn't sell them for min wage hrs i had put in ever, people don't value the work or quality of it.

(Just for clarity, I don't shop at Shein but that's beside the point. I doubt I'd pass an audit of all of my clothing choices and I know it.)

We in the UK don't get paid enough. We pay too much for housing and energy. We pay too little for food and clothes.

The result is that we don't get to live as good a life as we should and even our responsible economic choices cause suffering by design while those who design those choices profit. /E

The main point though is that we have a greatly distorted view of how much clothing "should" cost and a greatly distorted economy that prevents us from paying what clothing is worth.

For reference, that line that says "one-two yuan [less than a dollar]" is misleading - It's closer to $0.30 per shirt. Or $3.37/hour at that piece rate.

Are there knitters out there who could do it faster? Maybe. But general rule for crafting: If someone can do the work in half the time, they deserve more than double the hourly rate.

Mostly decidedly one of those lefty pro indy types, but aye, we've been talking about this too today. We warned ScotGov not to sign the Framework deal two years ago. They promised a "transparent" negotiation, then signed the deal behind closed doors.

www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...