15/03/2022
⚠️ Long rant post but if it makes one person think twice its worth it
So these have started appearing in high Street shops across the UK, over the past week I've seen so many pictures of items for sale, bikinis, cardies, blankets etc...
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO AUTOMATE CROCHETING IN THE WAY YOU CAN WITH KNITTED GARMENTS
Large factories can use industrial knitting machines to create intricate knitted items, because of the way the stitches are created its absolutely impossible to replicate true crochet on a machine, any crochet item you see for sale will have been made by hand with a crochet hook.
Now I've made an almost identical bikini top to this a couple of summers ago, the yarn alone cost me £10 and it took me about 5/6 hours to make.
Now we're all aware of the horrific conditions workers are forced to mass produce cheap items in in factories around the world and how fast fashion is detrimental to the planet and the workers but just please take a moment to consider just how horrific it must be to churn out thousands and thousands of these BY HAND, for literally pennies for them to be able to sell each one for £6 and still make a profit. (As a comparison I sold one for £30 and earnt about £3 an hour after shipping)
It completely undermines small crochet businesses its already a huge struggle managing customer expectations around costing as people who don't crochet don't understand just how long and labour intensive the process is, now to have these items as a reference point is just heartbreaking, and more importantly the more people buy these the more and more people will be exploited to make them to meet demand, please please think twice, if you like the crochet look try having a look on etsy, support a small business who will be using a better quality yarn and don't let these Giants with their mega bucks drive the craft down 💔
