Made by hand, made carefully, difficult to make, slow to make, worthwhile, not made in bulk
Uses local technology, local tools
Uses small sewing machines, which can make work faster
Made in free time
Outside of the rice harvest
Made at traditional times, at festivals
Made to order
As an alternative occupation
As a main occupation
Working in short periods of time as an alternative occupation can have an impact on sales, as the market is not confident that the product will be available when it needs it. What often happens, particularly in rural areas, is that the producers will make the product when they want to, not when the market needs it. They are not interested in when people buy it or when do they want to buy.
Produced as an item, means one item is produced in total by one person. This is good as the person can do all of the production steps without having to rely on other people. The bad point is that you cannot accept large orders
Produced as a small group factory. Form a group, divide the work. This is suitable for work when placed in large orders. For example, Hill Tribe embroidered bags. People with expertise in embroidery, do the embroidery; people who are skilled at cutting the fabric, cut the fabric, people who are good at sewing, do the sewing. The good points, are that the group can work quickly, people become an expert in that area, there is faster development of quality and skills. The bad point is that one person cannot do the whole process, that is from the start to the finish or one whole item. To solve this problem, each person should be trained to produce the item. In the case when large quantities are not needed, then have them produce the whole item. But when there are large orders, then divide the work based on the skills of each person, and they do that type of work. Or all do each step at the same time.
In whatever business, the production is the heart of the business. There must be a production system, so that you can produce quickly, quality products and reduce the costs. Production at the community level, often has problems with the producers. Therefore the business often fails quickly and there is low buyer confidence. For example, producers accept the work and then don't do it, they work slowly, not in line with the timeframe, the work has no quality and is below expected standards.
Groups or people who send the work, must resolve this. This should include penalties for members who do this. Then they will improve themselves and develop their work, including developing the quality of the product and standards of production. This will increase the confidence of consumers.
