In Reply to: A Working Vacation? posted by tropical gal on Tuesday, 27. July 2004 at 05:06 Bali Time:
In your business, there are likely two middle men currently involved. In all likelihood, although not 100% certain, your cloth is not being made in Bali, but rather, in Java. So, if this is the case, your manufacturer in Bali is already importing the cloth from Java...middle man number one. Middle man number two is your present contact in Bali, who may, by the way, be both middle man number one and two. Have you seen the factory in Bali where your pieces are supposedly being made? In other words, not only is it likely that your cloth comes from Java, but the manufacturing is also likely going on there as well.
You're right of course to say that the closer to the source, the better your inventory acquisition costs will be, (Javanese textile worker's wages are less than half of that in Bali) but then again, to establish these sources will require quite an investment of time, money, and trial and error on your part.
To answer your question from an economic point of view, one would have to ask how much volume are you doing per annum. Does it matter to shave 50 cents or a dollar off your per piece acquisition cost? Sure it does, if you are doing thousands of garments a month. Probably not, if you are doing high end fashion textiles at far less volume, but at a much higher per piece price. Think it through. It's often a fine line between greed and good business sense. Only you can determine the difference.