Shopping Handmade: Why it Matters

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.” – Anna Lappe

It’s easy to lose sight of how much power lies behind the decisions we make as consumers. It’s common for us to make purchases based on convenience and necessity. Although shopping handmade can have a positive effect someone else in your community or somewhere around the world.

The great thing is, even just having more awareness about how you spend your money makes a huge difference! It’s easy to make little decisions that most people don’t realize have such a great effect on the community and the planet. For example, you could choose to go shopping at your local community grocery store or farmers market as opposed to big chain store, or choosing to support small coffee shops instead of going to Starbucks for your next coffee meeting.

There are tons of ways to make little changes in your life as often as possible to create a better world. One of our favorite ways, of course, is to shop handmade! Shopping handmade is not only a great way to find unique one-of-a-kind things, but may actually impact the world more than you thought it did:

Handmade is more sustainable

First, shopping handmade usually means the product went through a more sustainable manufacturing process. Just the fact that a product is handmade means it required less energy to make than mass production does.

Handmade is also made better

Small businesses, designers, artisans and anyone else who is creating a handmade product is usually putting in at least little more love than say…a machine. The difference between something that is hand-stitched or hand-embroidered is noticeable right away. Which also leads perfectly into the next point:

Handmade leaves more room for creativity and artisanship

Photo by Vladimir Proskurovskiy

Shopping handmade gives you the best opportunity to find things made with creativity. Each piece is unique, and usually one of a kind. Handmade supports the tradition of skilled handiwork that has been passed down through generations.

Handmade is made with heart

Finally, a handmade item will always have a little piece of the spirit of the person who made it. There’s nothing better than supporting your community or small businesses by choosing to shopping handmade a little more often!

Here at the Erica Maree studio, which doubles as a bohemian fashion and accessory shop in beautiful Puerto Vallarta, we believe in the value of supporting artisans whose handicrafts have been made in Mexico for generations. Each one of our pieces is created by hand with heart and soul, and provides fair labor wages for artisans in order to keep the magic of traditional Mexican hand embroidery alive!

As always, thanks for shopping handmade!