Friday, April 28, 2006

Pirates in China

Since an emerging designer's profit margin is going to be nothing like that of an oil company's, or even a boutique, we have to sometimes consider moving manufacturing to China. More companies are doing it - kind of like starting a website. Ya right, but you get my drift.

If you're going to do it, you have to be careful. And paranoid. We've all most likely seen the Dateline special (yes, you were sitting at home as well on a Friday night), where the factories duped 'inspectors' into thinking they were keeping sane hours and paying employees accordingly. However, this isn't a post about human rights. It's about piracy.

I'm very much on the fence about producing in China, but I have a contact that could just bring me to that level. The thought of it rattles my nerves, as there are so many components that I have not thought of to consider and be aware of. One of them is piracy. My products are available and flaunted for the world to see on this blog and my online shop. Anyone can copy, and yet it's only made easier if you hand your designs over to a factory who will bring them to new levels of production you didn't even know about. So I encourage you to read this article as an introduction into piracy paranoia:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/27/business/nec.php

PS: note the google ads at the bottom...they help you find manufacturing in China...like you'd want to after the article! that's my one pet peeve with google ads...so off target sometimes.

Home | Permalink

No comments: