“Well, I’m embarrassed to say that it’s taken me almost six years to have an event like this. I should’ve done this a long time ago!” says Andee Penner of Sew Dandee.
Penner’s event, Meet Your Maker, is an opportunity for shoppers at her most-adorable Osborne Village boutique to meet the artists, crafters, and creators of all kinds who produce the items that they shop for.
“My list of local makers that I feature at the shop continues to grow and grow so I thought it was high time that my customers can put a face to the maker of the things they love and designers they support.”
Just one of the perks of buying locally from local artists is being able to know who is making your favourite things and where your money goes. According to the 3/50 Project, a program that supports shopping locally, for every $100 spent locally, $68 stays within the community.
“The more places we have that support local makers, growers, designers, artists, farmers [ . . . ] the more opportunity we have to stay connected to what we buy and keep our money in our community where it does the most good,” says Penner.
Penner hopes this event will inspire more connected, conscious consumers; she is trying to help instigate change when it comes to what we buy and who we buy it from.
“It wasn’t that long ago that I didn’t completely think about where the items I was buying came from and who was making them. It’s so easy to get caught up in what’s cheap and trendy that we fail to see the big picture.”
The big picture is, of course, cheap throwaway items that will end up in a landfill soon due to their poor quality and being made with non-sustainable materials in labour situations that exploit the garment makers. In fact, just this month, garment makers in Cambodia went on strike because their employers would not agree to a US $5 pay raise to top up the US $61 they make monthly for their 48-hour work weeks. Canadians wear clothes made by garment makers that they will never see or meet and it is too easy to fall victim to this type of mindless consumption.
“I feel that so many of us have become disconnected consumers. Buying what’s cheap, mass produced, and popular is the norm and I’d like to have a hand in trying to change that. Meet Your Maker is my attempt at showing people it’s possible to have your day-to-day necessities made by your very own neighbour,” says Penner.
The purpose of Meet Your Maker, and boutiques like Sew Dandee, is not to shame people for their choices or force a set of ideals on them, but to help consumers see that they have the choice to shop locally and that it is affordable, responsible, builds communities, and produces unique and fashionable options.
It’s not just Penner that is excited about helping folks to meet their makers – those makers are just as thrilled. Penner says that when she contacted them they were all very excited and 100 per cent on board, which didn’t surprise her at all.
“They’re all very community-oriented and they each want to have that connection with the people buying their creations.”
She should know; Penner is not just a creator and curator of items in-house but she is often the smiling face you see behind the counter. She says that being able to connect with customers is just as rewarding for makers as it is for the customers.
“I’ve got customers who have been coming to the shop for years who have helped keep me going. Those days when I meet new customers who love the shop, those are the ones I cherish most,” says Penner.
“When I show people the talent this city is overflowing with, I can see the pride in their eyes when they assure me they’ll be coming back to the shop again soon.”
