Philippine Bag Makers Interviews

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Philippine Bag Makers Interviews
I have three Philippines bag makers to interview, I have now completed the first one and they,
“Crashed and Burned.”

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Manila, Ermita Philippines
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Blog of Andy HoboTraveler.com --- Add a Hotel --- Backpack Design Survey
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Interesting efforts here, I showed them a complete set of 10 pages of printed backpack component designs. I was told before I came to this Philippines Bag maker that they had 50-80 employees.

They decided to make one sample, I still needed to make the Patterns, which was quite ok, I think only about 1 in 50 could make a bag from scratch, they more or less copy good but patterns would make easy.

Well, I started to make the patterns, telling them I leave on the 10 of August for Bangkok. The owner knew this from the beginning; I would only be in country for 15 days. However, I am ready to stay longer if I found the Pro Philippines Bag Maker.

Finally, I realized they was going to take one month to make one bag. I keep thinking, they build house in three months. We finally decided I would make the patterns, then give me a worker with me for 4 days to make two samples. Then they decided they did not have any spare workers.

She wanted 8000 Pesos for a worker who is paid 400 pesos per day, not give or take here, even when I do all the work, do all the patterns. I started too laughed; I did not say stupid, even though this person was outrageously greedy. She kept saying you can trust me, I almost never trust a person who says trust me all the time.

Finally it came down to this, she just finally admitted this bag was too much for them, they do not have the people, plus none of them spoke English good enough to talk with me. SNAFU

Hmm, she told me they had 50-80 workers, which would make finding one extra worker easy to find, sort of funny to me in a way, but I know I need a special Bag Maker to do this bag.

One great realization was this,
“This backpack will not be easy to copy, so very few will try to pirate or knockoff this bag.”

This is a nice thing to realize, I can give a shop all the designs and they cannot steal the design. I would have to give them the complete patterns and show them how to make the Backpack.

The owner of this Philippine Backpack Maker lied to me about the number or employees and the size of her operation. This is my fault for trusting the woman, I should have made her give me a complete tour of the shop and see all the machines and workers.

Ok, now to go to number two, I have 100 percent realized now, no amount of drawings or patterns would make this bag happen. There is a need for one perfect Backpack to copy; they cannot work from designs, maybe on simple school bags.

When a person wants the best, the majority of companies will not work, this stands to reason.

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Reader Submitted Comments | Deleted Comments (0)

Mira said on Tuesday July 29th, 2008 10:04:00 PM

Oh Philippino factories...With all this talk I have a story for you. My mother use to design children's costumes. She would make big patterns and send them off to a factory in the Philippines. After a while her work invited her to the Philippines to tour the factory. The "factory" was an old aircraft that had been converted into a sweat shop. It was about 120 degrees F in there. When she asked her tour guides (the upper level executives of the factory) if the workers got hot the lady told her, "They don't get hot. Their pores are different then ours." It freaked my mom out a little bit. Hahaha.

Hoz said on Wednesday July 30th, 2008 03:58:00 AM

My wife had a sis in law who ran a clothing factory out of her garage in Greenhills. (AN old money exclusive subdivision in Manila.) There were 7-10 women and their children working and living there IN THE GARAGE. They cooked all their meals on a small 2 gaz burner (like a camping stove)and were not allowed in the regular part of the house. Different country, different working conditions. Still everyone out there seemed happy to have a job.

Andy HoboTraveler.com said on Wednesday July 30th, 2008 04:36:00 AM

I think the majority of workers are happy, I do not think of any of these places as abusive or sweatshops. The workers are free to leave, or find another job.I do believe if your honest, give better than normal work conditions, help your workers, it pays off. I also believe in firing anyone that does not show up to work on time. I am not sure I would manage a company inside the Philippines... heheheThere is a grab the money mentality with the Third World in the middle of transition group. I do not believe they can stop themselve from greed, it is part of the culture when they dig their way out of the lower crap.Old money, not sure, maybe different?