A word (or 1000) on manufacturingUpdated a year ago
Sash bag is a small, women-owned and operated business with its primary location in San Diego, California with a satellite office in Northern California. From these offices, we handle all the customer service and day-to-day operations for Sash. Our manufacturing happens overseas, with partners in India, China, and Turkiye.
Sometimes people tell us they would rather purchase products that are made exclusively in the United States. While we understand this sentiment, there are simply some realities about manufacturing today that mean we must make Sash bags overseas. If you'd like some in-depth insight into this, here's it is:
US factories just don’t have the same capacity or processes as the overseas factories. So, a Sash bag that would take four hours to make in our factory in India or China will take much longer in the US factory. They are just slower and the hourly wages are much, much higher, because the cost of living is also much, much higher.
In 2019 we planned a US-only production run of Sash bags. The cost we were given by the US factory just for the construction of the bag was $120. That’s labor only and does not yet include the cost of the leather. A Sash bag takes about 8-1/2 square feet of leather, and in Los Angeles, the type of leather we use costs about $6 per square foot. Add to that, the price of fabric and zippers. That means A SASH BAG PRODUCED IN THE US COSTS $171 TO MAKE. That is just our out-of-pocket cost for materials and labor. From there, we have to mark it up to a retail price.
If we produced in the US and followed a typical retail markup formula, our bags would retail at $684. We obviously don’t want that to be the price for Sash bags. For a very short period of time, we produced some bags in LA, and were still selling the bags for around $300 because we wanted something fun for our customers and it wasn’t about making a profit on that particular (failed) experiment. It turned out that, even with the higher cost, we couldn’t get the bags made to our specifications.
We also don’t use this traditional retail markup with our overseas production because it would price our bags out of reach for too many people. We operate our business at a lower profit margin than our industry norm because we do have such a unique product that is exceptionally time-consuming to produce, and we know it’s hard for the consumer to wrap their heads around price-wise. We price it so we know we can still sell a bunch of them, but not make compromises on quality or our values.
We've had people comment on Facebook comment they would “Not buy a Sash bag because they’re made in China and we shouldn’t support communist China. We should be bringing jobs back to the USA.”
The ordinary people who live and work in China and are just like anyone else trying to make a living to support their families and communities. This is true, separate from any opinions about their politics, their world standing, or anything other than the experience of working with amazingly skilled people who are really good at what they do. Plus, we have a very personal relationship with our production manager who shares photos of her cats and we share snaps of our dogs. Sounds pretty human, right?
In order for us to “bring jobs back to the USA” in manufacturing, it would take a massive movement that came directly from the top leaders in our country. It would take a complete shift in the expectations and spending habits of the consumer. It would take an organized effort and a lot of time to move the dial on the manufacturing industry, especially in the fashion space.
So, while we understand the sentiment behind bringing jobs to the USA, boycotting a small business like Sash is literally going to solve nothing. We have no power, no say, and no influence on a decades-old manufacturing industry that has long since left the US in the dust.
In 2019 we planned a US-only production run of Sash bags. The cost we were given by the US factory just for the construction of the bag was $120. That’s labor only and does not yet include the cost of the leather. A Sash bag takes about 8-1/2 square feet of leather, and in Los Angeles, the type of leather we use costs about $6 per square foot. Add to that, the price of fabric and zippers. That means A SASH BAG PRODUCED IN THE US COSTS $171 TO MAKE. That is just our out-of-pocket cost for materials and labor. From there, we have to mark it up to a retail price.
If we produced in the US and followed a typical retail markup formula, our bags would retail at $684. We obviously don’t want that to be the price for Sash bags. For a very short period of time, we produced some bags in LA, and were still selling the bags for around $300 because we wanted something fun for our customers and it wasn’t about making a profit on that particular (failed) experiment. It turned out that, even with the higher cost, we couldn’t get the bags made to our specifications.
We also don’t use this traditional retail markup with our overseas production because it would price our bags out of reach for too many people. We operate our business at a lower profit margin than our industry norm because we do have such a unique product that is exceptionally time-consuming to produce, and we know it’s hard for the consumer to wrap their heads around price-wise. We price it so we know we can still sell a bunch of them, but not make compromises on quality or our values.
We've had people comment on Facebook comment they would “Not buy a Sash bag because they’re made in China and we shouldn’t support communist China. We should be bringing jobs back to the USA.”
The ordinary people who live and work in China and are just like anyone else trying to make a living to support their families and communities. This is true, separate from any opinions about their politics, their world standing, or anything other than the experience of working with amazingly skilled people who are really good at what they do. Plus, we have a very personal relationship with our production manager who shares photos of her cats and we share snaps of our dogs. Sounds pretty human, right?
In order for us to “bring jobs back to the USA” in manufacturing, it would take a massive movement that came directly from the top leaders in our country. It would take a complete shift in the expectations and spending habits of the consumer. It would take an organized effort and a lot of time to move the dial on the manufacturing industry, especially in the fashion space.
So, while we understand the sentiment behind bringing jobs to the USA, boycotting a small business like Sash is literally going to solve nothing. We have no power, no say, and no influence on a decades-old manufacturing industry that has long since left the US in the dust.
Look around your house… Probably 93% of it is manufactured overseas. This is because we’re just not a manufacturing country anymore. Even if we did decide to suck it up and charge $500-$600+ for Sash bags, and we could somehow get consumers to agree that’s a good price… The factories would still get everything needed to make the bags from China.
The sewing machines? China. The thread? China. The zippers? China. The hardware? China. The lining? China. The poly bags for storage? China.
The amount of change needed to bring all of this to the US would require a prioritization of resources, policies, and funding from the government and an organized effort to make US-based manufacturing somehow more cost-effective and consumers more willing and able to pay for it.
Trust us, we would love to be able to drive a couple hours up to LA for manufacturing instead of having to fly to the other side of the world. If it made sense in any way, we would do it. For now, we’re going to keep on Sashing on and doing the best we can to produce a beautiful product, at a great price, with our values intact. I hope you found some information in this article that will make you go hmmm.
The sewing machines? China. The thread? China. The zippers? China. The hardware? China. The lining? China. The poly bags for storage? China.
The amount of change needed to bring all of this to the US would require a prioritization of resources, policies, and funding from the government and an organized effort to make US-based manufacturing somehow more cost-effective and consumers more willing and able to pay for it.
Trust us, we would love to be able to drive a couple hours up to LA for manufacturing instead of having to fly to the other side of the world. If it made sense in any way, we would do it. For now, we’re going to keep on Sashing on and doing the best we can to produce a beautiful product, at a great price, with our values intact. I hope you found some information in this article that will make you go hmmm.