Friends, today I received a great email response from Rachel at Comfort Works, the slipcover company that I discussed last week. I appreciated the amount of detail that they provided, and though they did not ask me to share this response, I thought it was only fair to share their side of the story.
Hi Jane, Happy Easter!
Sorry we couldn’t get back to you earlier. It’s actually a long Easter weekend in Australia (back to work tomorrow!). Your email actually showed up blank – not sure why, but we received a notification about an interesting post that may need my attention.
I’ll try my best to address your concern as I understand that being an ethical purchaser one would like to make educated decision based on all available information.
I guess now that you mentioned it, it does sound like we’re withholding information from our customer eg. Comfort Works are Australian-based and owned online workroom.
So why don’t we have a mention that our products are “Made in China”? It is solely because we honestly feel where our product is actually being sewn/made should not be a compromise to our standard of craftsmanship.
In the beginning, all our covers were indeed made in Australia out of our little garage in West of Melbourne. However as demand grew, we moved out of our home studio to work with a local workshop- and as the need for a higher quality and more affordable cover arise, we realised that we could no longer sustain the business as a fairy tale husband and wife operation by being strictly in Australia.
We then decided to get out of our comfort zone and started to look at options which then led us to set up a workshop located in Hong Kong in 2011. We easily spent at least a whole year flying back and forth recruiting, finding location, training, and managing the operation/workshop (my partner is still flying in and out). The workshop is absolutely 100% owned by me and my husband, in fact, every single team member and seamstress are hand picked and interviewed to make sure we share the same passion of wanting to make sure every seam and every pleat is perfect. We are a small team of ten and would like to keep our operations small, growing slowly but surely, to ensure best practices. This is also why we feel that while the product is technically made in China, the culture and promise of highest possible products are indeed Australian.
I hope I don’t bore you with what may sounds like a PR spin, but if anything, we take your suggestion and concern very seriously. In fact we will be incorporating these information as to where our products are made and sent from in the upcoming new website (site was tested last weekend hence was down for 24 hours). I will also post an article on our blog as of tomorrow on this topic of China-made product. Is it okay to link it back on to your original post?.
Lastly, I’m very glad that you’re happy with the leather slipcover you received. Every single positive feedback puts a smile on everyone faces in both Melbourne and China office (yes we share such emails even with the team in the workroom).
-Rachel
9 Comments
[…] On 4/1/2013 I received a great and detailed email response from the owner of the company explaining that as they grew they did have to move the manufacturing to Hong Kong, […]
Hmm nice that they contacted you. Their company/ situation sounds pretty amazing..
Such a great response – I’m glad they took the time to respond that they’ll be addressing your concerns!
Oh this is great to know! I’m glad they took the time to answer properly.
That’s a really great reply. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with purchasing products made in China (though obviously there are concerns if you don’t know about the working conditions of the employees) or any other country. It sounds like Comfort Works is doing their best to find a working business model for their small business and aren’t trying to do anything unethical. It’s great to get such a thorough response from the company!
You know, with a story like that, it’s surprising that they don’t advertise that loud and clear on their website. Sounds like something to be proud of and something that would make the company even more attractive to possible customers. If the workers are being treated fairly both in hours worked and in pay, I don’t see where they are made being called into issue.
Agreed, I think they should advertise the story. It’s great to read about a company being successful and growing! And I agree that the location of their workshop is irrelevant as long as they are running it.
It’s a fairly typical australian thing not to blow your own horn – so I completely understand why they haven’t. But I’m glad that your email has prompted them to update their website – they do need to let people know how the whole thing works.
Kiri, that’s a funny point about Australians that I was unaware of!