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Saturday, August 08, 2009

A Small Rant About Kufi Hats and Flowers

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I generally like to keep things positive here. This is not one of those posts.
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I dont know what is up with all these damned kufi hats with flowers attatched listed on etsy for about 15 bucks as if $15 worth of time and effort were put into making them.

At first, when I saw these things start to pop up, I was like, oh I have one of those and it never dawned on me that I had one of those because I had purchased it from my local beauty supply store for like $1.99 a long time ago.

I wore the thing, my son wore the thing, my mom wore the thing!
but I never thought to snap a flower on that bad boy and call it handmade.

Yes, I know that it's very often that popular or cute items are replicated by the handmade community, but I strongly doubt that these thread caps (and other things called crochet), which would take more than $15 worth of time to make + flower are an example of this.

That being said, there probably are people out there who actually crochet these things themselves and have to compete with the manufactured ones. (I'm sorry for that)

If you've got a little girl who you'd think would look so darned cute with a huge flower on the side of her head, you may want to save yourself some money and search ebay instead.

7 comments:

  1. I had not noticed but when and did a search and took a peek.. wow... your right... it is like the people who buy the $3 pendant at walmart and then stick it on some leather tie a knot and call it a homemade necklace and sell it for $30. If they are going to be using "handmade" as a way to sell their items then I dont understand why they would want to disrespect it this way.

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  2. It is quite frustrating. I think it's something that can be found in EVERY category, too. =-(

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  3. You may be upset but there are some of us who do make them, and the flowers you think are so stupid I use high quality silk and take them apart mix them up, sew them together, and add embellishments such as ribbon buttons in the center. They do take quite alot of time and I also add ribbon and so forth. They cost me more than 1.99 to make. My daughter looks adorable.

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  4. I just watched the lady (whose website you are slamming) making one of those hats earlier this evening! I can tell you that they are handmade, & she had one about half done in an hour. I don't know how she can sell them so cheap, have you priced a skein of yarn lately? She probably has at least $6 in materials alone and after Etsy takes their percentage, she probably only makes $5 - $6 apiece! I don't know if you have small children, but she does as do I, & my time is worth more than $3 an hour! I applaud her ambition & creativity! That's the American way! So what if you can find them elsewhere for less, that's your right as a consumer! Shame on you for downgrading her! Maybe you should have thought of it first! Get over yourself!!!

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  5. I totally agree with DeLaine and Caroline. I crochet every single one of my hats with my own hands. The hat alone takes more than 2 hours of my time if I work start to finish! And the yarn alone is worth more than 1.99. Then the flower or bow that is attached is another expense. And like Caroline, I don't plop cheap flowers onto the clips. The flowers have to be taken apart carefully and reassembled [again with my own two hands]. Clips are fully lined and flowers are then embellished. If you don't like the $15 [and I have seen them for more and never batted an eyelash - I kow how much work goes into them], then don't buy one. But please don't bash those of us that do create these things by hand and put care into how they look. What we get back from them is less than minimum wage.

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  6. Let me tell you I am a stay at home mom who needs money desperately. I hand make different things to sell. Tons of time and money ! Not to mention I have back and eye problems now. Keep your comments to yourself. We are all trying to make a living in this pathetic economy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  7. First off I am a stay at home mom that is trying to start my own thing by selling my homemade stuff. I would like to say that she wasn't downing the people who make it homemade, she was talking about the people who say it is homemade like some companys and sell them for a ridiculous amount of money. She was telling us sorry that we have to compete with manufactures. She also said that people who want to buy things that really homemade, that they should go on ebay and look there. Because most people sell their homemade stuff on ebay. Cut her a break and reread what she said.

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