Better Friday: Behind the Price Tag – Moe Moe and Nay Win’s story.
Why we are swapping Black Friday for Better Friday, and what it means for our Artisans.
As part of our Better Friday campaign this year we are taking the days of the worldwide Sales Weekend as an opportunity to raise awareness on why fair pricing and thoughtful purchasing matter.
BEHIND THE PRICE TAG
Woven into every Thread Tales piece there are many hours of work, incredible skill and craftsmanship and, most importantly, a great deal of care and dedication. We believe that skill, industry and meticulousness should be rewarded, which is why we take pride in ensuring our partners are always retributed fairly. Our prices reflect this commitment.
THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP
Thanks to our talented, hard-working Artisans, we are able to offer to our customers the highest standards of quality and sustainability. In turn, Thread Tales offers a marketplace where our Artisans’ fine craftsmanship is justly valued and showcased, and our partners trust us to price the product of their work fairly to make sure everyone within the Thread Tales ecosystem keeps on prospering. The relationship between us and our partners is a positive feedback loop: we thrive off of benefiting each other.
OUR ARTISANS’ PERSPECTIVE: MOE MOE AND NAY WIN
You may have read about Nay Win and Moe Moe , the most recent addition to the Thread Tales team-at-large. They recently shared a letter with us (which you can find in the first issue of our Thread Tales Magazine, explaining why their partnership with Thread Tales matters. We have asked the couple a few more questions about how their relationship with Thread Tales began, how they feel about their work and what it means for them.
Let's get to know you: tell us about yourselves, your business and what you do?
We are Nay Win and Moe Moe. We live in Nyaung Shwe Town, close to the Inle lake, in Myanmar.
I have been working in the tourism industry as hotel staff member from 2001 to 2006. Then, I went to Tour Guide training school and I had been working as a guide until now. It was my hobby and my dream to work with the international tourists as a guide, showcase our natural beauty and explain about our country and the life of our people. I was so proud of myself in my professional job.
One day (28 February 2017), I got to meet Katherine, who was very interested in the typical Inle hand-weaving with Lotus and Mandalay silk. It was a great chance for me to meet them and to show them to our hand-weaving cottage industry.
I started to work with her translating and helping with communications between the workshop and the business. We have known Thread Tales and Katherine since then and since then we have had a very good partnership. I was very happy to do that.
Moe Moe had been working as a tailor since 2004, before I married her. She is very good at this and at making clothes for the girls for special ceremonies with our traditional designs. We married on 26 June 2008. Now, we have two children, my daughter Phyo Phyo, who is 10 years, and my son Zwe Zwe, who is nearly 1 and a half. We both work hard by saving our income to make a beautiful family life for ourselves.
Moe Moe and Phyo Phyo
We were not happy when WHO announced the COVID-19 had spread to a pandemic. Both our jobs were cancelled, and it was a very unexpected thing that happened to everyone else too. With almost no job and no income at all, we did not know what to do. Mow Moe started making very simple masks for us and to share with the neighbourhood to prevent the virus to spread in our community.
One day, on 10 May, I got a lovely message from Katherine. She taught us the way to make very good masks according to WHO guidelines. After testing for two weeks, Moe Moe could make the first sample mask with hand-woven in Inle lake Lotus silk and Mandalay silk for Thread Tales. Moe Moe has made 900 masks, 900 bags, 23 headbands and 20 scrunchies between June and the first week of November for Thread Tales!
It allows us a very good living during this hard situation, and we have saved the money for our future. Thanks again to Thread Tales for this job!
The dyers in the local community working on our silk.
The eco-dye is used several times to ensure no dye pigment is wasted.
How long does making a mask take? How much work goes into it?
Moe Moe can make about 12 masks a day.
What does working in partnership with Thread Tales means to you? What difference does it make in your life?
To be honest, we are very proud to work with them and grateful for selling our hand-made masks. Thanks to our each of the valuable customers who are buying and using our mask, which means you are also supporting many families via Thread Tales in Myanmar, such as weaver families, embroiderers families.
Thread Tales means getting an income for all of us during this hard time. It’s a good thing in our life. Katherine supported to us by sharing how to make masks with this special design and gave us pattern to make it easy for us to produce them. We learned a lot from her.
Making masks can help people to save their life and stop spreading the virus from one to another, which is one of the best ways to stop this virus. So, in conclusion, we both are wishing to live in healthy world soon and may all the people who live in this world be safe from the virus and be strong!