hmm..... Let's analyze something about that "profit", just for those of us over here who do not believe in Sweat Shops.
I took a ready made veil and hand sewed on about 300 pearl beads, in a fairly simple formation. This took me over 10 hours. Assuming minimum wage of $5,13, that makes the "paid" labor portion of my VEIL worth $51.30 (minimum). Consider also that there are additional costs that the employer pays on behalf of the employee (health care, employer paid tax, SSI, etc. So let's assume a really CHEAP employer and that cost is $7.00/hourly)
This means that the 10 hours I spent on my veil would be $70/labor costs
This does not include the cost of the beads (I ordered them from China, so they were about $20), or the thread, or even the veil itself. But beads/labor added $90 in cost to my basic veil.
Assuming that we are talking about sewing a wedding dress (this isn't something your average Jane can do... not with all of the pick ups and gathers incorporated), the amount of time to sew the dress should at least be 5 hours.... given the quality of the dress we've seen pictured by Classy Dame
So.... 5 hours sew time at $7 = $35 LABOR (because 10 cents an hour is really not an acceptable wage)
Bead sew on (assuming that I'm a slow poke so my 30 beads per hour is beginner time and that an experienced seamstress would sew on 60 beads per hour). Most of these pricey dresses easily have 3000 beads on them. And they are hand sewn.
3000 beads / 60 beads per hour = 50 hours. 50 x $7 = $350 LABOR
so.... at any reasonable cost of the dress, with beadwork, the labor alone should be in the ball park of $385 ish.
That's not including any materials or equipment.... silk, satin, beads, thread, machinery.
And you think it is reasonable to say that the company is making a great profit on your dress at $175 and these other folks are charging a ridiculous amount on the dresses.
Nope...your company is making a ridiculous profit by using unskilled labor in a sweat shop, attempting to produce rip offs of design by paying extremely low wages. That's what your $175 bought.
Misty
