Welcoming 2017, means many hopeful and good things for the Sari Bari Community in India. Number one priority on the list for the women of Sari Bari is a raise! And we are excited to be able to offer the women a significant raise of around 23%. They have waited patiently as we struggled to balance orders and lowering demand in 2015 and early 2016. We are thankful to report that 2016 ultimately brought about a healthy increase in sales due to our expansion into wholesale markets in the USA.
Along with this much awaited and important raise for the women of Sari Bari comes some price changes in Sari Bari Products. Mostly you will notice $1-$3 in bag prices and as much as 10% increase in the larger quilts and throws. Price increases are due to being able to offer these raises plus a change in Sari sourcing, using better quality sari’s, increase in cotton prices and wage increases in general in India affect our costs.
How we price your goods?
We value the labor the women put into hand stitching, each and every product from Sari Bari, in fact their wages make up approximately 70% of the total cost of each product. The other 30% cover materials, rent, utilities, and overhead expenses of running a business that is radically committed to the needs of its employees.
The final retail price includes customs, international shipping, wages for our US based fulfillment team. Plus we take the profits of all Sari Bari goods and turn them around to provide services for the women of Sari Bari including education for them, education for their kids, supplemental health care, training and whatever needs are not supported through Sari Bari donation opportunities.
Time is money: What it takes to make a product
Each Sari Bari product due to its handmade nature takes time. Every Bag requires .5 to 1.5 day of hand stitching labor. Every Original Sari Throw, 4 days of labor, and the average Queen Blankets takes 10 days. We hope you will follow us on social media this month to learn more about what it takes for a woman to hand-stitch your bag and the impact you make when you make a purchase!
What’s happening at Sari Bari these days?
So many good things are happening at Sari Bari right now!
The first 5 hires in our Heroes Training Program have completed training and are working full time.
We have 18 women in training. We are excited to walk this freedom journey with more women in 2017.
February is our Anniversary Month, on February 20th we will celebrate 11 years! We will be celebrating at each unit with cake and a time of remembering! Plus we celebrate together at a community Picnic.
We hope you will continue to journey with as we seek to provide the best possible situation of employment and safe community for women who are making a new life for themselves and their families
And you can trust that we will still bring you amazing high quality product at the best possible price which still sustainably employs the women of Sari Bari for the long term.
Thank you for making FREEDOM possible with your purchase!
For Freedom,
Sarah
Co-Founder
Brand and Strategic Director, SBUSA