Heritage craft scales on design and strategy, not good intentions. Ruth Álvarez-DeGolia, founder of Mercado Global, and Emmy-winning filmmaker Fabiola Bercasa Beckman share how Guatemalan handwoven textiles become modern handbags that compete at Free People and Holt Renfrew. From labor hours to in-country design, they show how simplifying silhouettes increases artisan wages and perceived value, while embedding impact into the product—not a hangtag. This is a blueprint for ethical, beautiful accessories that customers want and that provide real income for the women who make them.
✨ 3 Takeaways
• Ethical fashion must compete on design and price — Impact only works if the product stands on its own at retail.
• Simpler designs can pay artisans more — Fewer cuts and smarter layouts often increase hourly wages and margins.
• Impact should be built into the product — Visible craftsmanship beats vague claims and one-for-one models every time.
👤 Our Guests
Ruth Álvarez-DeGolia is the founder of Mercado Global, a fair-trade accessories brand partnering with women artisans across Latin America to produce responsibly made handbags for global retail. Fabiola Bercasa Beckman is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and creative collaborator whose work focuses on design, storytelling, and ethical systems that respect craft without compromising modern appeal.
Host Emily Blumenthal is a handbag industry expert, author of Handbag Designer 101, and founder of The Handbag Awards. Known as the “Handbag Fairy Godmother,” Emily also teaches entrepreneurship at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is dedicated to celebrating creativity, craftsmanship, and the art of building iconic handbag brands.
Find Handbag Designer 101 Merch, HBD101 Masterclass, one-on-one sessions, and opportunities to book Emily Blumenthal as a speaker at emilyblumenthal.com.
Youtube: / Handbagdesigner101-ihda | Instagram:/ Handbagdesigner
TikTok: / Handbagdesigner | Twitter: / Handbagdesigner
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
And so we know which fabrics can be used as pop
(00:02):
detailing, which could be thecore of the bag, you know, which
silhouettes and materials work.
And then for us it's just adesign challenge.
How do we combine that togetherin a way that's really elevated
and special?
And that was something fabulousthat we worked on a lot with the
collaboration.
SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Yeah, we did.
I mean, uh initially, like Iwant and and I'm so happy with
the way the product came out.
I wouldn't have wanted it in anyother way.
But like initially I was like, Iwant all the embroidery and all
the da-da-da.
But then, you know, you comedown to the price and it's like,
this is great.
But like you said, you know, isit gonna sell?
Because it is so much more withall the bells and whistles,
(00:38):
right?
SPEAKER_01 (00:39):
Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast, with your host, EmilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert, and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week we uncover the storiesbehind the handbags we love,
from the iconic brands and topdesigners to the creativity,
craftsmanship, and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector, or simply passionate
(01:00):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all.
Welcome to Handbag Designer 101the podcast.
Ruth Alvarez de Golia, founderexecutive director of Mercado
Global.
I'm not saying it the right way.
(01:21):
I'm saying it well enough, butnot as well as Fabiola Bercasa
Beckman, Emmy award-winningfilmmaker, will say it, because
you know, you're native and I'mI'm I'm a tryhard with that.
So we nominated.
Without Emmy nominated.
Well, it's okay.
You know what?
To me, you've won every award.
So we're just gonna keep it likethat.
SPEAKER_02 (01:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
Thank you, ladies.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm so happy to have you both.
This is exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Thank you.
We're delighted to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (01:50):
Really fun.
Okay, and this will be fun.
Also, all conversations aboutanything handbag, especially
let's dive into socialresponsibility within handbags,
is fun.
So, Ruth, you've been doing thisfor a minute.
Just let us know what is theorigin story of Mercado Global
and what was the why of creatingit.
(02:11):
Like, this is it.
Go run with it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
All right, I'll do the short version.
The short version was that whenI was an undergrad at Yale, I
had the wonderful opportunity tohave a series of fellowships to
work in rural Guatemala, firstwith an association of rural
indigenous communities and thendoing research for my thesis.
And I had no plans to startanything, but in the process of
(02:35):
being there working with theseamazing women who quickly became
my heroes, it really changed mylife.
And these were women who neverhad the chance to go to school.
Most couldn't read and write.
Many of their husbands had beenkilled during the Civil War, but
they were fighters and they werefighting to feed their kids
every single day.
It was a battle to try to beable to feed their kids.
(02:57):
They were fighting to try to getas many of their kids into
school as they could.
Public education is not free inGuatemala.
And while I was there, I wasdoing everything else.
I was helping these localcommunity organizations build
the first websites, learn to dogrant writing, we were applying
for funding.
And one of the things I learnedis that there's so little
international aid actually, andthis was before the end of
(03:18):
USAID.
Only about actually 6% ofphilanthropic giving in the US
goes to international causes.
And so if you say, why is itthat Guatemala, which is closer
to New York than LA is to NewYork, these are our neighbors,
one-tenth of all Guatemalanslive in the US?
Why is it that little girlsaren't getting getting the
chance to go to school?
I think part of the answer isthere.
And we were trying to help witheverything, but what happened
(03:40):
was every single time I wouldleave a community, these women
that I was working with wouldsay, Ruth, wherever you came
from, could you take our artdesignas and sell them?
And this was before socialentrepreneurship was cool and
exciting and fun.
And I remember going back toYale summer after my sophomore
year and setting up a table oncampus.
(04:00):
And that first week, and we sold$5,000 in products and I sent 26
little girls to elementaryschool for a year.
And they just started selling memore product.
Yeah.
And it took me a while, youknow, and I came, you know, I
came from a family of laborleaders and had not been raised
to think of business as, youknow, necessarily positive.
And what I realized was, wow, wejust need to build a new kind of
(04:21):
business.
We need to figure out how do wehelp the fashion industry have
positive impact through theirmarket share, through what they
do every day.
And I spent my senior yearapplying for startup funds, was
very fortunate to be able toraise that.
Started full-time the day afterI graduated.
Our first two wholesale clientswere ABC Carpenter Home and Levi
Strauss.
(04:41):
Quite a combination.
And it's it's been just soamazing to have a job where you
help moms send their kids toschool.
And we partner with designersand people in the fashion
industry.
And most of them, quitehonestly, are not like Fabiola.
Many people do not haveexperience going and learning
about the issues in othercountries and thinking about how
(05:03):
to have an impact.
But one of the things I'velearned is like, who does it, if
you could, through what you doevery day, designing products,
selling products, merchandising,if you can help moms send their
kids to school, who doesn't wantto do that?
Who doesn't want to be part ofthat?
And so for me, it's beenincredibly rewarding to get to
build this brand that helps thefashion industry have a positive
(05:23):
impact through what they doevery day.
So that's kind of the shortversion of our origin story.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
You know, having worked with enough designers who
do what you do, two things.
One, I have found that many,many people who've tried to do
this have failed because theyhave tried to resell a product
that is essentially indigenousto a country, but doesn't have
(05:51):
the design sellability, trend,even silhouette backing, like
your pockets, slip pockets,whatever that's needed on a
commercial level.
So a lot of people have triedand failed because they haven't
gone in and said, okay, let'stake some of these precious
indigenous traditions you havethat theoretically would be
(06:13):
dying.
Let's try to transform that intosomething sellable.
How did you go about saying,like, let's take these skills,
let's put you to work, let'shelp put food on the table, but
let's educate you at leastdesign-wise to create something
that actually has the capacityto sell.
Because again, having been inhandbags for so long, I've seen
(06:36):
people try and time and timeagain, like, oh, we're reselling
this from a quote unquote thirdworld country.
And I said, But if you don'tmake changes to it, if there's
not a crossbody strap, if therearen't, you know, certain
things, understanding the dropor blah, blah, blah, then that
ends up being a miss.
And then it ends up being moreharmful because then there's
inventory.
How did you go about that?
(06:57):
Because I'm sure when youstarted out at a ripe old age of
22, like these are things youprobably wouldn't have known
because no one would until youget to that point, like, oh
damn, like now why?
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
Oh, I totally agree.
And that's, I think, where youhave to start by being very
clear about who you are and whatis the mission of your brand.
And we are very clear, we are ananti-poverty organization.
And for us, culturalpreservation is this wonderful
externality.
We did not start to preserveweaving as a craftman, as a form
(07:28):
of craft.
It's this wonderful thing thathappens because we created this
model that's helping moms andrural communities feed
theirselves, feed theirfamilies, send their kids to
school, and we're able toleverage heritage weaving as a
way to do that.
But when it comes to thinkingabout decisions and how we build
the brand, it's always driven byhow do we maximize income for
(07:48):
the women that we serve.
And in our early years, Iremember actually my main mentor
as an undergrad was a professorin the anthropology department,
who actually arranged for me,helped me get the fellowship
where I did my research for mythesis and starting Mercol came
out of that.
And I remember she was actuallyreally horrified when I started
(08:09):
Mercolig Well because she wasvery worried that we were going
to be changing traditionalculture.
And I remember, like I believein values-based leadership, and
our core values are partnership,authenticity, and respect.
And so for me, it always startswith what is true to those
values.
And I remember right after Igraduated, I went and spoke to
some of the women in some of thecommunities where we work and
(08:30):
asked them their thoughts aboutthat.
And one of them said, Well,Ruth, where you come from, do
people have factories?
And I was like, Yeah, there aresome factories in the US.
And she was like, Do people onlywear what they make in their own
factories?
And it's like, no, that's whatyou earn for money.
And then you go and buy your ownproducts.
And they're like, it's the samething.
What we're selling to touristsis not what we use for
ourselves.
It's what we think tourists willbuy, right?
(08:51):
And so I think that's really forus is we see master
craftsmanship and heritageweaving as this wonderful skill.
And it's amazing that throughour work we help preserve that.
But our brand to be successful,it's about combining design,
modern design with heritage,heritage craft, heritage
weaving.
And that is what allows artisansto earn three times more per day
(09:12):
than they could otherwise.
And then also it means thatthey're preserving the weaving
tradition, which they use tomake their own traditional
trajes and clothing and whichare different from what they
sell to tourists and differentfrom what they sell
internationally.
But that's where it started.
And I'll say also the last thingI'd say on that is that never
miss the opportunity in acrisis.
The Great Recession actuallyforced us to get serious about
(09:35):
building a design program.
We had not been serious about itbefore because we could get away
with selling things that wererather looked a lot like what
was being sold to tourists,which was not high as high
quality.
And it made or on trend per se.
Exactly, exactly.
It made amazing design talentaffordable and accessible to us.
And it forced us to do itbecause we couldn't get away
(09:56):
with selling without it anymore.
And it was such a huge pivotpoint in unlock when we started
to build relationships withdesigners, and they came down
and we learned we had to buildas part of our community-based
education program, we have awhole program to teach the
concept of season seasons andcolor theory.
And we'll show pictures of theartisan's products at Nordstrom
and blooming deals and in freepeople stores so that they
(10:18):
understand their customer.
And sometimes it's reallyinteresting to talk to an
artisan about the concept ofresort as a season or, you know,
different things like that.
But they're it's like people areso hungry to learn about that
because they want to know theirmarket.
So it's exciting to get tobridge design with traditional
weaving in that way.
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(11:00):
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That's so cool.
So, Fabiola, you're originallyfrom Venezuela.
Correct?
I know.
That's very chic.
Now, you've obviously grown upin a different way, but you were
clearly exposed to these kindsof native traditions.
Just, and I don't like to assumethese things, but I assume based
(11:22):
on coming from Venezuela, you'veseen these kind of native
traditions in action and wereprobably very cognizant of the
culture around you in terms ofpeople trying to sustain and to
be sustainable and to hold on tothese kinds of patterns and
prints.
And, you know, you grew up infashion.
How does, because you'reinvolved, you recently did a
(11:43):
collaboration which I want tospeak about, but how does all
this resonate with you based onwhat your background is?
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
So thank you.
You know, growing up, so Ididn't really grow up in
Venezuela.
I was born in Venezuela and Ispent a lot of time in
Venezuela, a multiculturalfamily.
My grandparents on my dad'ssides are immigrants to
Venezuela, although we areVenezuelan.
We're not indigenous toVenezuela.
But having spent so much timethere, and so that's where it
(12:11):
all comes together, is themulticultural family.
But having spent so much timethere and growing up, it
certainly much of my youth wasspent there.
The culture is everywhere.
It's not uh something that yousort of go and find and see.
It's everything that comes toyou every day, whether it's like
wearing a guayavera, which islike a sp a way that men dress
(12:31):
that you won't see anywhere elsebut in Latin America, the
homemade things, the woventhings, it's kind of all
incorporated in everything yousee, and it becomes, you know, a
vocabulary of your heritage, ofwhat you love.
So that was easy, you know, eventhough it's not exactly the
same, because obviouslyGuatemala has a different
aesthetic, there is a sense offamiliarity for me for sure in
(12:54):
that.
And that really helps.
But on top of it, of course,like Ruth said earlier, who
wouldn't want to help motherssend their kids to school?
And as a mother and also as anactivist and as somebody who
really cares about sort of theworld outside of my own, because
I understand the kind ofprivilege and fortune that I
have, and I really don't want totake that for granted, nor do I
(13:16):
want to be somebody that sort ofcloses everything else off.
It matters to me that what I do,I do deliberately and I do with
intention, and that I understandthat like the I understand the
effects of my actions.
I think that's one of the thingsthat people don't really always
think about is the full effectof their actions, like okay,
(13:37):
this, this, this, this, this,and to the end.
So when I work with somebodylike Ruth, I feel like you have
to pick somebody who's like youfeel has the same values as you,
which Ruth and I really do.
And yeah, then it becomes easy.
We just work together, and andyeah, of course, I'm Latina.
Ruth is Latina, I guess now.
(13:59):
My husband is Latina.
Yeah, yeah.
And so that's the easy part.
And and we care about, you know,humanity at large, not just
women and children.
Of course, we care about womenand children, but about
humanity, truly.
And in any way that you can, youknow, and wherever you can have
impact.
It doesn't always have to be thehugest, or you just do the best
you can.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
I think people tend to forget the microcosmic
actions.
And in places like Guatemala,for example, every little thing
has an effect.
I mean, one of the designers Ihad worked with years ago
actually had created acollection that was made by
women specifically whosehusbands were incarcerated.
(14:41):
And there is such opportunity tonot only to create product, but
I think much like anything, ithas to have an element that it
has to sell, right?
Like all the good intentions inthe world are great.
You make a nice product, there'slots of nice product, there's
(15:02):
lots of nice product that has agive back, but it also has to
sell.
You need to get people'sattention, you need to make sure
that there have been so manystudies that have shown that Gen
Z might care about give back,they might care about
sustainability, but at the endof the day, so much of it goes
down to price.
So, how are you able to checkall those boxes to ensure that
(15:26):
not only are you creating aproduct that will help the first
people who touch it, but thepeople who are the end user at
the same time?
Because I assume that's that's atricky dance, especially when
you're creating a product that'stechnically that's made by a
non-for-profit, essentially, butyou want it to have a commercial
viability essence to it also.
(15:50):
Is that a lot of the reason,Ruth, that you bring on people
like Fabiola to help put theirstamp on it to give it that
extra juz?
SPEAKER_00 (15:58):
Definitely.
You know, I I would say we theway we talk about it internally
is that the story, the story ofimpact has to be the icing and
the cake.
The cake has to be great.
Like we've got to be able to,like, we have to have great
product.
And first and foremost, that iswhat we have to focus on.
And then the story is just likethe extra umph.
And for that, we've invested inour in-house design team.
(16:22):
We have designers from allacross the Americas that have
moved to Woro, Guatemala to workdirectly with our artisans,
which is really exciting.
We do product collaborationswith people like Fabiola, which
really help ensure the productis staying very relevant and is
really exciting.
And then we have additionalsupport for the marketing and
selling of the product.
And price point, you're right,price price point matters too.
(16:44):
Absolutely.
And so for us, we're reallyclear.
You know, we as a brand, we talkabout connecting women across
the Americas.
So it's not just about themaker, it's also about the
consumer.
We actually believe stronglythat women consumers have
incredible power.
80% of household purchasingdecisions are made by women in
the US.
Imagine if women only boughtproducts that voted for the kind
(17:05):
of world they wanted to live in.
We'd live in a very differentworld, right?
Different companies, differentbrands that would be succeeding,
right?
And so, but we also know that alot of women, if they could only
buy one handbag a season or onehandbag a year, it needs to be a
great handbag.
If it also helps a mom centerkids at school, amazing, right?
So actually, our entire coreproduct line, everything is
(17:25):
under$200.
50% of our collection is under$100.
So we're really clear on theprice points that work.
And then for us, it's just adesign challenge.
We know, as Fabiola knows fromthe the collaboration process,
we we knew, you know, for everysingle fabric, we know how many
hours it takes to weave a yard.
And so we know which fabrics canbe used as pop detailing, which
(17:47):
could be the core of the bag,you know, which silhouettes and
materials work.
And then for us, it's just adesign challenge.
How do we combine that togetherin a way that's really elevated
and special?
And that was something fabulousthat we worked on a lot with the
collaboration.
SPEAKER_02 (18:01):
Yeah, we did.
I mean, uh initially, like Iwant, and and I'm so happy with
the way the product came out.
I wouldn't have wanted it in anyother way.
But like initially, I was like,I want all the embroidery and
all the da-da-da.
But then, you know, you comedown to the price and it's like
this is great, but like yousaid, you know, is it gonna
sell?
Because it is so much more withall the bells and whistles,
(18:22):
right?
Yeah, and so I think it's it'sthis balance where you are
honoring the tradition whilestill marrying it with design
and making sure that it's viablefor a commercial market and
still feeling really proud ofwhat it is that you made.
It's a balancing act, and it wasreally fun to do.
SPEAKER_01 (18:42):
I find this so interesting because Ruth, you
said something like so manypeople who are not, I guess,
within the design world, and IFabiola, you you probably
obviously know this from makingmovies, but it's so much like
yes, the product, but in termsof the time value of money it
takes to create each pieceactually ends up superseding
(19:05):
what the product is uh when it'sbeing created, because with
limitation, I truly believeinnovation always comes through
because you're forced, right?
Like in a perfect world, it'slike I want this lining and that
and that and that.
But Ruth, it sounds like it's socool.
Like you have this all down tonumbers, right?
(19:27):
Like if I'm using this, thistapestry, like whatever it is,
it can only cost us eight hoursworth of labor.
Like that's it.
Anything beyond eight hours, itit bumps the price up.
So no, we gotta, we gotta stripthis away.
Cause if we do this that it'snot.
So to try and create a viableproduct, you have to really,
really dig into creativity totry and make that happen.
(19:51):
I mean, I'm sure Fabiola, thatwas I I wouldn't say challenging
because I hate that word, butI'm sure it was definitely uh
pushing you creatively.
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SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
So uh I I want to say that to your point, my
favorite Mark Twain quote is theabsence of limitations is is the
killer of creativity.
SPEAKER_01 (21:43):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (21:43):
Which is my favorite.
It's actually I say all thetime.
All the time.
And it and I believe it to bevery true in everything, in
filmmaking, in design, ineverything that you do.
Yeah.
And and and part of it wasdefinitely the challenge.
And and obviously when you seethe collaboration and the
collection at first blush, youwon't think much of it, right?
(22:05):
In in terms of what we did toalter it, but because you're
just seeing it for what it is.
But like if you see thatparticular design, right, it's
really just a straight linedesign.
That's that's what it is.
What I ended up doing was takinginspiration from my favorite
interior designer, RenzoMongiardino, who's an Italian
who passed a long time ago, oneof the best Italian interior
(22:27):
designers, who used to takethese like fabrics and put them
together in different patternsto form so it almost looks like
a herringbone or something else.
Right.
So we took it and we took thethe fabric and we sort of
twisted it in, twisted it out,changed the direction of it.
And if you look at it now,you'll clock it, but you
(22:48):
wouldn't clock it if you justsaw it off the bat.
But to understand that that'sjust a linear fabric that then
we took and sort of juxtaposedwith each other to create a
pattern.
And that's the way we gotcreative about it.
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Yeah, I I always use this as uh as a template with my
students where I say if you tellsomeone to go on a stage and do
whatever they want, they willspend more time trying to figure
out what to do.
But if you go on tell someone togo on stage and jump, they have
a baseline of something to workwith.
Yeah.
And the interpretation of thatin itself is something people
(23:23):
can work with.
Ruth, just because I don'twanna, I don't want to time suck
everybody here because we couldtalk about this till the sun
goes down.
I at least I know I could.
You know, you started this soyoung, you've been doing this
for quite some time.
I'm sure the hindsight of like,oh my God, had I known I had to
be price point conscious,because I'm sure you went
(23:44):
through a lot of iterations,like bags being sold upwards of
$300 because of the labor, andyou didn't want to slight the
women and you wanted to makesure everything was the best of
the best, and having to say,like, okay, we need to make
compromises in order to makethis sellable, because without
it being sellable, we havenothing, right?
How did you come full circle toget to that point saying, okay,
(24:07):
we need to have a real designteam, we need to have education,
like without educating thesewomen, we got nothing because
the amount of designers, like Isaid, I've worked with seem to
have that gap missing, whereeither they're still repurposing
product from that country orthey're having them do so much
that they end up just beinglabor, right?
(24:30):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Well, I think again, for me, it starts with being
really clear about what's thegoal here.
And, you know, I'm I'm actuallynot the designer.
So we have a design team, wepartner with people like
Fabiola, but I see if my job isbuilding partnerships, bringing
together people that wouldotherwise never work together,
which is really exciting.
And maybe that gives me anability to have clarity and not
(24:54):
have ego in it to help make surewe have a good framework for
making these smart decisions.
So I think over the years we'veiterated, we've figured out as
we've gone, okay, well, first wehave to build a design team.
Oh, then we realized to reallynail this, we need to build up
the artisan's ability tounderstand the why.
Because if we're developingdoing a lot of product
development, when you're everyday fighting to earn what you're
(25:17):
gonna need to feed your kidsthat single day, it's hard to be
like, okay, if you spend allthis time developing this new
product with us, then in sixmonths we're gonna give you an
order.
But it's gonna be a really bigorder of thousands of pieces.
That takes trust, but it alsotakes understanding.
And so it took us a while torealize, like, okay, not only do
(25:37):
we have to build trust withartisans, but we have to explain
the why.
We have to do a whole curriculumin the communities for moms so
they can have their kids thereto understand how the US fashion
industry works and the why, sothat they could be partners to
us in pushing to develop newtechniques.
Why are we taking thesetraditional ECATs and
simplifying them so they're morecost effective, so that they can
earn more per hour and actuallysell the product for more than
(26:00):
if we did it the traditional waythat's more time intensive, but
we couldn't sell it for enoughbecause it looks unfortunately
in the US market.
Sometimes the mosttime-intensive and intricate
fabrics, unfortunately, are seenas cheap because middlemen have
been buying them off the streetsin rural Latin America and
selling it for they pay nothingfor it and they sell it for very
(26:20):
little.
So actually, what's ironic isthat by taking this traditional
technique, combining design, itmay actually be faster to make
it, and we can actually oftensell it for more so that women
earn more, which is sad, but isalso reality.
And for us, we're like, we arean anti-poverty organization.
We want to help these women earnas much as possible.
So that's our guiding star.
SPEAKER_01 (26:42):
So I may ask you one other question though.
And this is a silly one, but itit's it's a huge touch point for
designers.
Yeah.
When you have a product that isso mission-based, right?
Yeah, the end user when she'sshopping, I'm not speaking like
online shopping where you havethe space to write the story.
(27:02):
Again, this is a podcast abouthandbags and it's and it's a
whole world.
How do you deal with the hangtag situation?
SPEAKER_00 (27:09):
Oh, this is one of our biggest issues.
One thing that we think, becausewe always say you have you have
like what, like two seconds tosell the concern, right?
If we're lucky, if we're lucky,two seconds, right?
So fundamentally what we seek isthrough, I think actually the
collaboration of Fabiola is agreat example.
We want to try to tell a storythrough the product itself.
(27:31):
We want people to be able tolook at it and see this is
handcrafted, this is elevatedcraftsmanship, this is not made
in a factory.
And then we try to have the hangtag be visual and brief and kind
of pull that together, be likewomen, you know, women in power
and women, right?
But it's hard, and we actuallytalk about it a lot internally.
Like this may be, I don't knowif this is good to say publicly,
(27:53):
but one of my pet peeves isoften the one-for-one model,
where you know, it's so easy toit's such an easy sell.
SPEAKER_01 (28:01):
Like it's such a real but it's also people don't
get it.
You can't one for one unless youhave a product that like Bamba
socks, which is one of myfavorite case studies, they're
able to donate socks because ifyou're creating socks at mass, a
basic sock could cost them 10cents a sock, whereas their
other socks cost 10 times morewith labor.
(28:24):
Can't do that with handbags,does not exist.
You cannot make that assumption,the one-for-one.
SPEAKER_00 (28:29):
You cannot.
Well, and beyond that, I wouldsay that usually in terms of you
look at cost of goods sold andwhere is the majority of your
dollar going, it's the making ofthe product itself and of course
bringing it to market, right?
And so I would say if you wantto maximize your impact, what
matters the most is the laborconditions under which the
product is made rather than thesmall value of what's donated
(28:50):
and is the small thing that'sdonated, is that really going to
change the life of someone?
Whereas earning a living wagewill change someone's life,
right?
But that's a much morecomplicated story to tell in one
second or one and a halfseconds, right?
This is one of the things, andbut it's also I think where
design is important.
How do we tell it's rightthrough design?
And we're still figuring thatout, like physical branding,
(29:10):
because it's a challenge, it ishard.
It is especially with thetalent.
Yep.
Hang down.
And there's a lot ofgreenwashing out there, or like
I we call it pink washing whenit comes to the artisan sector.
That you know, it's a great tobe a cultural preservation
organization if you work withartisans and you're not able to
pay a living wage and you, youknow, you're doing traditional
things, that's great.
(29:31):
You cultural preservation, butdon't say that you're, you know,
you're fair trade or that you'repaying a living wage, right?
But it's just what consumer hasthe time to understand that
nuance, right?
SPEAKER_02 (29:41):
Nobody, and actually, I think that that
right there is a really goodillustration of why I chose to
work with Mercado.
Is because Ruth, as you heard,you know, she really understands
the true origins andcomplications of it's not just
sort of a fluffy bit of ofgreenwashing, as you say.
(30:04):
And and and that's what I amvery interested in.
I've worked with a lot of NGOsin my time, not just this one,
many.
And what I found many times overis first and foremost, the ones
that the really, really bigNGOs, part of the problem is
they're getting all this money,but it's really just a band-aid
because the laws that existaround what they're trying to
(30:25):
change are not going to allow itto change.
Yeah.
So it's really, it becomeslegislative versus helping,
which is is sort of productive.
Yeah, not productive.
And then you have this otherkind of side of uh sort of
charitable work where it's veryfluffy and not serious.
(30:47):
And so, and I think that youknow what's happened with
Mercado and what happens withwith Ruth is that she really
understands the laws are sort ofwell talking about now, but
generally speaking, like thereis there are openings for growth
and and opportunity within thelegal framework.
And Mercado really understandswhere they need to go to really
(31:09):
truly improve at the core levelthe quality of life of these
women, which is what mattersmost.
SPEAKER_01 (31:16):
Ladies, like I said, we could go on and on and on
about this.
I don't want to take up any moreof your time.
Ruth, how can we find you,follow you, get more shop for
Mercado Global and the amazingcollaboration with Fabiola?
SPEAKER_00 (31:33):
Thank you so much.
Come to Mercaloglobal.org andfollow us on Instagram, on
Facebook, uh LinkedIn if you'dlike.
And we have a whole overview onthe collaboration and our
partnership with Fabiola.
And yeah, it's a great way toget them all sent up for any
newsletter.
SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
And are they sold where also at retail?
SPEAKER_00 (31:53):
Yeah, sold on our website.
And also Holt Runfrew is gonnabe picking it up as well, which
we're really excited about.
SPEAKER_01 (31:59):
And free people, right?
And free people.
I think that's right.
Yes, and free people in the US.
SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
Amazing.
Canada representing the samething.
And Fabiola, how can we followyou and all of your
fabulousness?
SPEAKER_02 (32:11):
Unfortunately, I don't have a Facebook or a
LinkedIn or any of that, but Ido have an Instagram.
It's uh Fabs uh F-A-3Bs uhunderscore S.
And yeah, I mean, that's I'm notas public, but uh you can see
all my fun Mercado stuff.
I'm gonna be putting a bunch ofonce we start selling it, we do
(32:32):
the the uh brick and mortarsales.
I was gonna maybe do a postabout that, and I'm super
excited.
There'll be a link on myInstagram as well.
SPEAKER_01 (32:42):
All right, ladies, thank you so much for joining me
today, and I can't wait to gofind the Mercado Blobals
collaboration with Miss FabiolaBercassa Beckman.
Thank you so much, guys.
Thank you, Emily.
Thanks for listening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewand follow us on every single
platform at Handbag Designer.
(33:03):
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
And so we know which fabrics can be used as pop
(00:02):
detailing, which could be thecore of the bag, you know, which
silhouettes and materials work.
And then for us it's just adesign challenge.
How do we combine that togetherin a way that's really elevated
and special?
And that was something fabulousthat we worked on a lot with the
collaboration.
SPEAKER_02 (00:16):
Yeah, we did.
I mean, uh initially, like Iwant and and I'm so happy with
the way the product came out.
I wouldn't have wanted it in anyother way.
But like initially I was like, Iwant all the embroidery and all
the da-da-da.
But then, you know, you comedown to the price and it's like,
this is great.
But like you said, you know, isit gonna sell?
Because it is so much more withall the bells and whistles,
(00:38):
right?
SPEAKER_01 (00:39):
Hi, and welcome to Handbag Designer 101, the
podcast, with your host, EmilyBlumenthal, handbag industry
expert, and the handbag fairygodmother.
Each week we uncover the storiesbehind the handbags we love,
from the iconic brands and topdesigners to the creativity,
craftsmanship, and culture thatdefine the handbag world.
Whether you're a designer,collector, or simply passionate
(01:00):
about handbags, this is yourfront row seat to it all.
Welcome to Handbag Designer 101the podcast.
Ruth Alvarez de Golia, founderexecutive director of Mercado
Global.
I'm not saying it the right way.
(01:21):
I'm saying it well enough, butnot as well as Fabiola Bercasa
Beckman, Emmy award-winningfilmmaker, will say it, because
you know, you're native and I'mI'm I'm a tryhard with that.
So we nominated.
Without Emmy nominated.
Well, it's okay.
You know what?
To me, you've won every award.
So we're just gonna keep it likethat.
SPEAKER_02 (01:41):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
Thank you, ladies.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm so happy to have you both.
This is exciting.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
Thank you.
We're delighted to be here.
SPEAKER_01 (01:50):
Really fun.
Okay, and this will be fun.
Also, all conversations aboutanything handbag, especially
let's dive into socialresponsibility within handbags,
is fun.
So, Ruth, you've been doing thisfor a minute.
Just let us know what is theorigin story of Mercado Global
and what was the why of creatingit.
(02:11):
Like, this is it.
Go run with it.
SPEAKER_00 (02:13):
All right, I'll do the short version.
The short version was that whenI was an undergrad at Yale, I
had the wonderful opportunity tohave a series of fellowships to
work in rural Guatemala, firstwith an association of rural
indigenous communities and thendoing research for my thesis.
And I had no plans to startanything, but in the process of
(02:35):
being there working with theseamazing women who quickly became
my heroes, it really changed mylife.
And these were women who neverhad the chance to go to school.
Most couldn't read and write.
Many of their husbands had beenkilled during the Civil War, but
they were fighters and they werefighting to feed their kids
every single day.
It was a battle to try to beable to feed their kids.
(02:57):
They were fighting to try to getas many of their kids into
school as they could.
Public education is not free inGuatemala.
And while I was there, I wasdoing everything else.
I was helping these localcommunity organizations build
the first websites, learn to dogrant writing, we were applying
for funding.
And one of the things I learnedis that there's so little
international aid actually, andthis was before the end of
(03:18):
USAID.
Only about actually 6% ofphilanthropic giving in the US
goes to international causes.
And so if you say, why is itthat Guatemala, which is closer
to New York than LA is to NewYork, these are our neighbors,
one-tenth of all Guatemalanslive in the US?
Why is it that little girlsaren't getting getting the
chance to go to school?
I think part of the answer isthere.
And we were trying to help witheverything, but what happened
(03:40):
was every single time I wouldleave a community, these women
that I was working with wouldsay, Ruth, wherever you came
from, could you take our artdesignas and sell them?
And this was before socialentrepreneurship was cool and
exciting and fun.
And I remember going back toYale summer after my sophomore
year and setting up a table oncampus.
(04:00):
And that first week, and we sold$5,000 in products and I sent 26
little girls to elementaryschool for a year.
And they just started selling memore product.
Yeah.
And it took me a while, youknow, and I came, you know, I
came from a family of laborleaders and had not been raised
to think of business as, youknow, necessarily positive.
And what I realized was, wow, wejust need to build a new kind of
(04:21):
business.
We need to figure out how do wehelp the fashion industry have
positive impact through theirmarket share, through what they
do every day.
And I spent my senior yearapplying for startup funds, was
very fortunate to be able toraise that.
Started full-time the day afterI graduated.
Our first two wholesale clientswere ABC Carpenter Home and Levi
Strauss.
(04:41):
Quite a combination.
And it's it's been just soamazing to have a job where you
help moms send their kids toschool.
And we partner with designersand people in the fashion
industry.
And most of them, quitehonestly, are not like Fabiola.
Many people do not haveexperience going and learning
about the issues in othercountries and thinking about how
(05:03):
to have an impact.
But one of the things I'velearned is like, who does it, if
you could, through what you doevery day, designing products,
selling products, merchandising,if you can help moms send their
kids to school, who doesn't wantto do that?
Who doesn't want to be part ofthat?
And so for me, it's beenincredibly rewarding to get to
build this brand that helps thefashion industry have a positive
(05:23):
impact through what they doevery day.
So that's kind of the shortversion of our origin story.
SPEAKER_01 (05:28):
You know, having worked with enough designers who
do what you do, two things.
One, I have found that many,many people who've tried to do
this have failed because theyhave tried to resell a product
that is essentially indigenousto a country, but doesn't have
(05:51):
the design sellability, trend,even silhouette backing, like
your pockets, slip pockets,whatever that's needed on a
commercial level.
So a lot of people have triedand failed because they haven't
gone in and said, okay, let'stake some of these precious
indigenous traditions you havethat theoretically would be
(06:13):
dying.
Let's try to transform that intosomething sellable.
How did you go about saying,like, let's take these skills,
let's put you to work, let'shelp put food on the table, but
let's educate you at leastdesign-wise to create something
that actually has the capacityto sell.
Because again, having been inhandbags for so long, I've seen
(06:36):
people try and time and timeagain, like, oh, we're reselling
this from a quote unquote thirdworld country.
And I said, But if you don'tmake changes to it, if there's
not a crossbody strap, if therearen't, you know, certain
things, understanding the dropor blah, blah, blah, then that
ends up being a miss.
And then it ends up being moreharmful because then there's
inventory.
How did you go about that?
(06:57):
Because I'm sure when youstarted out at a ripe old age of
22, like these are things youprobably wouldn't have known
because no one would until youget to that point, like, oh
damn, like now why?
SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
Oh, I totally agree.
And that's, I think, where youhave to start by being very
clear about who you are and whatis the mission of your brand.
And we are very clear, we are ananti-poverty organization.
And for us, culturalpreservation is this wonderful
externality.
We did not start to preserveweaving as a craftman, as a form
(07:28):
of craft.
It's this wonderful thing thathappens because we created this
model that's helping moms andrural communities feed
theirselves, feed theirfamilies, send their kids to
school, and we're able toleverage heritage weaving as a
way to do that.
But when it comes to thinkingabout decisions and how we build
the brand, it's always driven byhow do we maximize income for
(07:48):
the women that we serve.
And in our early years, Iremember actually my main mentor
as an undergrad was a professorin the anthropology department,
who actually arranged for me,helped me get the fellowship
where I did my research for mythesis and starting Mercol came
out of that.
And I remember she was actuallyreally horrified when I started
(08:09):
Mercolig Well because she wasvery worried that we were going
to be changing traditionalculture.
And I remember, like I believein values-based leadership, and
our core values are partnership,authenticity, and respect.
And so for me, it always startswith what is true to those
values.
And I remember right after Igraduated, I went and spoke to
some of the women in some of thecommunities where we work and
(08:30):
asked them their thoughts aboutthat.
And one of them said, Well,Ruth, where you come from, do
people have factories?
And I was like, Yeah, there aresome factories in the US.
And she was like, Do people onlywear what they make in their own
factories?
And it's like, no, that's whatyou earn for money.
And then you go and buy your ownproducts.
And they're like, it's the samething.
What we're selling to touristsis not what we use for
ourselves.
It's what we think tourists willbuy, right?
(08:51):
And so I think that's really forus is we see master
craftsmanship and heritageweaving as this wonderful skill.
And it's amazing that throughour work we help preserve that.
But our brand to be successful,it's about combining design,
modern design with heritage,heritage craft, heritage
weaving.
And that is what allows artisansto earn three times more per day
(09:12):
than they could otherwise.
And then also it means thatthey're preserving the weaving
tradition, which they use tomake their own traditional
trajes and clothing and whichare different from what they
sell to tourists and differentfrom what they sell
internationally.
But that's where it started.
And I'll say also the last thingI'd say on that is that never
miss the opportunity in acrisis.
The Great Recession actuallyforced us to get serious about
(09:35):
building a design program.
We had not been serious about itbefore because we could get away
with selling things that wererather looked a lot like what
was being sold to tourists,which was not high as high
quality.
And it made or on trend per se.
Exactly, exactly.
It made amazing design talentaffordable and accessible to us.
And it forced us to do itbecause we couldn't get away
(09:56):
with selling without it anymore.
And it was such a huge pivotpoint in unlock when we started
to build relationships withdesigners, and they came down
and we learned we had to buildas part of our community-based
education program, we have awhole program to teach the
concept of season seasons andcolor theory.
And we'll show pictures of theartisan's products at Nordstrom
and blooming deals and in freepeople stores so that they
(10:18):
understand their customer.
And sometimes it's reallyinteresting to talk to an
artisan about the concept ofresort as a season or, you know,
different things like that.
But they're it's like people areso hungry to learn about that
because they want to know theirmarket.
So it's exciting to get tobridge design with traditional
weaving in that way.
SPEAKER_01 (10:36):
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Savvy Susanna is available onAmazon, Barnes and Noble, or
(11:00):
wherever you get your books.
Thanks for your support.
That's so cool.
So, Fabiola, you're originallyfrom Venezuela.
Correct?
I know.
That's very chic.
Now, you've obviously grown upin a different way, but you were
clearly exposed to these kindsof native traditions.
Just, and I don't like to assumethese things, but I assume based
(11:22):
on coming from Venezuela, you'veseen these kind of native
traditions in action and wereprobably very cognizant of the
culture around you in terms ofpeople trying to sustain and to
be sustainable and to hold on tothese kinds of patterns and
prints.
And, you know, you grew up infashion.
How does, because you'reinvolved, you recently did a
(11:43):
collaboration which I want tospeak about, but how does all
this resonate with you based onwhat your background is?
SPEAKER_02 (11:50):
So thank you.
You know, growing up, so Ididn't really grow up in
Venezuela.
I was born in Venezuela and Ispent a lot of time in
Venezuela, a multiculturalfamily.
My grandparents on my dad'ssides are immigrants to
Venezuela, although we areVenezuelan.
We're not indigenous toVenezuela.
But having spent so much timethere, and so that's where it
(12:11):
all comes together, is themulticultural family.
But having spent so much timethere and growing up, it
certainly much of my youth wasspent there.
The culture is everywhere.
It's not uh something that yousort of go and find and see.
It's everything that comes toyou every day, whether it's like
wearing a guayavera, which islike a sp a way that men dress
(12:31):
that you won't see anywhere elsebut in Latin America, the
homemade things, the woventhings, it's kind of all
incorporated in everything yousee, and it becomes, you know, a
vocabulary of your heritage, ofwhat you love.
So that was easy, you know, eventhough it's not exactly the
same, because obviouslyGuatemala has a different
aesthetic, there is a sense offamiliarity for me for sure in
(12:54):
that.
And that really helps.
But on top of it, of course,like Ruth said earlier, who
wouldn't want to help motherssend their kids to school?
And as a mother and also as anactivist and as somebody who
really cares about sort of theworld outside of my own, because
I understand the kind ofprivilege and fortune that I
have, and I really don't want totake that for granted, nor do I
(13:16):
want to be somebody that sort ofcloses everything else off.
It matters to me that what I do,I do deliberately and I do with
intention, and that I understandthat like the I understand the
effects of my actions.
I think that's one of the thingsthat people don't really always
think about is the full effectof their actions, like okay,
(13:37):
this, this, this, this, this,and to the end.
So when I work with somebodylike Ruth, I feel like you have
to pick somebody who's like youfeel has the same values as you,
which Ruth and I really do.
And yeah, then it becomes easy.
We just work together, and andyeah, of course, I'm Latina.
Ruth is Latina, I guess now.
(13:59):
My husband is Latina.
Yeah, yeah.
And so that's the easy part.
And and we care about, you know,humanity at large, not just
women and children.
Of course, we care about womenand children, but about
humanity, truly.
And in any way that you can, youknow, and wherever you can have
impact.
It doesn't always have to be thehugest, or you just do the best
you can.
SPEAKER_01 (14:21):
I think people tend to forget the microcosmic
actions.
And in places like Guatemala,for example, every little thing
has an effect.
I mean, one of the designers Ihad worked with years ago
actually had created acollection that was made by
women specifically whosehusbands were incarcerated.
(14:41):
And there is such opportunity tonot only to create product, but
I think much like anything, ithas to have an element that it
has to sell, right?
Like all the good intentions inthe world are great.
You make a nice product, there'slots of nice product, there's
(15:02):
lots of nice product that has agive back, but it also has to
sell.
You need to get people'sattention, you need to make sure
that there have been so manystudies that have shown that Gen
Z might care about give back,they might care about
sustainability, but at the endof the day, so much of it goes
down to price.
So, how are you able to checkall those boxes to ensure that
(15:26):
not only are you creating aproduct that will help the first
people who touch it, but thepeople who are the end user at
the same time?
Because I assume that's that's atricky dance, especially when
you're creating a product that'stechnically that's made by a
non-for-profit, essentially, butyou want it to have a commercial
viability essence to it also.
(15:50):
Is that a lot of the reason,Ruth, that you bring on people
like Fabiola to help put theirstamp on it to give it that
extra juz?
SPEAKER_00 (15:58):
Definitely.
You know, I I would say we theway we talk about it internally
is that the story, the story ofimpact has to be the icing and
the cake.
The cake has to be great.
Like we've got to be able to,like, we have to have great
product.
And first and foremost, that iswhat we have to focus on.
And then the story is just likethe extra umph.
And for that, we've invested inour in-house design team.
(16:22):
We have designers from allacross the Americas that have
moved to Woro, Guatemala to workdirectly with our artisans,
which is really exciting.
We do product collaborationswith people like Fabiola, which
really help ensure the productis staying very relevant and is
really exciting.
And then we have additionalsupport for the marketing and
selling of the product.
And price point, you're right,price price point matters too.
(16:44):
Absolutely.
And so for us, we're reallyclear.
You know, we as a brand, we talkabout connecting women across
the Americas.
So it's not just about themaker, it's also about the
consumer.
We actually believe stronglythat women consumers have
incredible power.
80% of household purchasingdecisions are made by women in
the US.
Imagine if women only boughtproducts that voted for the kind
(17:05):
of world they wanted to live in.
We'd live in a very differentworld, right?
Different companies, differentbrands that would be succeeding,
right?
And so, but we also know that alot of women, if they could only
buy one handbag a season or onehandbag a year, it needs to be a
great handbag.
If it also helps a mom centerkids at school, amazing, right?
So actually, our entire coreproduct line, everything is
(17:25):
under$200.
50% of our collection is under$100.
So we're really clear on theprice points that work.
And then for us, it's just adesign challenge.
We know, as Fabiola knows fromthe the collaboration process,
we we knew, you know, for everysingle fabric, we know how many
hours it takes to weave a yard.
And so we know which fabrics canbe used as pop detailing, which
(17:47):
could be the core of the bag,you know, which silhouettes and
materials work.
And then for us, it's just adesign challenge.
How do we combine that togetherin a way that's really elevated
and special?
And that was something fabulousthat we worked on a lot with the
collaboration.
SPEAKER_02 (18:01):
Yeah, we did.
I mean, uh initially, like Iwant, and and I'm so happy with
the way the product came out.
I wouldn't have wanted it in anyother way.
But like initially, I was like,I want all the embroidery and
all the da-da-da.
But then, you know, you comedown to the price and it's like
this is great, but like yousaid, you know, is it gonna
sell?
Because it is so much more withall the bells and whistles,
(18:22):
right?
Yeah, and so I think it's it'sthis balance where you are
honoring the tradition whilestill marrying it with design
and making sure that it's viablefor a commercial market and
still feeling really proud ofwhat it is that you made.
It's a balancing act, and it wasreally fun to do.
SPEAKER_01 (18:42):
I find this so interesting because Ruth, you
said something like so manypeople who are not, I guess,
within the design world, and IFabiola, you you probably
obviously know this from makingmovies, but it's so much like
yes, the product, but in termsof the time value of money it
takes to create each pieceactually ends up superseding
(19:05):
what the product is uh when it'sbeing created, because with
limitation, I truly believeinnovation always comes through
because you're forced, right?
Like in a perfect world, it'slike I want this lining and that
and that and that.
But Ruth, it sounds like it's socool.
Like you have this all down tonumbers, right?
(19:27):
Like if I'm using this, thistapestry, like whatever it is,
it can only cost us eight hoursworth of labor.
Like that's it.
Anything beyond eight hours, itit bumps the price up.
So no, we gotta, we gotta stripthis away.
Cause if we do this that it'snot.
So to try and create a viableproduct, you have to really,
really dig into creativity totry and make that happen.
(19:51):
I mean, I'm sure Fabiola, thatwas I I wouldn't say challenging
because I hate that word, butI'm sure it was definitely uh
pushing you creatively.
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SPEAKER_02 (21:34):
So uh I I want to say that to your point, my
favorite Mark Twain quote is theabsence of limitations is is the
killer of creativity.
SPEAKER_01 (21:43):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (21:43):
Which is my favorite.
It's actually I say all thetime.
All the time.
And it and I believe it to bevery true in everything, in
filmmaking, in design, ineverything that you do.
Yeah.
And and and part of it wasdefinitely the challenge.
And and obviously when you seethe collaboration and the
collection at first blush, youwon't think much of it, right?
(22:05):
In in terms of what we did toalter it, but because you're
just seeing it for what it is.
But like if you see thatparticular design, right, it's
really just a straight linedesign.
That's that's what it is.
What I ended up doing was takinginspiration from my favorite
interior designer, RenzoMongiardino, who's an Italian
who passed a long time ago, oneof the best Italian interior
(22:27):
designers, who used to takethese like fabrics and put them
together in different patternsto form so it almost looks like
a herringbone or something else.
Right.
So we took it and we took thethe fabric and we sort of
twisted it in, twisted it out,changed the direction of it.
And if you look at it now,you'll clock it, but you
(22:48):
wouldn't clock it if you justsaw it off the bat.
But to understand that that'sjust a linear fabric that then
we took and sort of juxtaposedwith each other to create a
pattern.
And that's the way we gotcreative about it.
SPEAKER_01 (23:01):
Yeah, I I always use this as uh as a template with my
students where I say if you tellsomeone to go on a stage and do
whatever they want, they willspend more time trying to figure
out what to do.
But if you go on tell someone togo on stage and jump, they have
a baseline of something to workwith.
Yeah.
And the interpretation of thatin itself is something people
(23:23):
can work with.
Ruth, just because I don'twanna, I don't want to time suck
everybody here because we couldtalk about this till the sun
goes down.
I at least I know I could.
You know, you started this soyoung, you've been doing this
for quite some time.
I'm sure the hindsight of like,oh my God, had I known I had to
be price point conscious,because I'm sure you went
(23:44):
through a lot of iterations,like bags being sold upwards of
$300 because of the labor, andyou didn't want to slight the
women and you wanted to makesure everything was the best of
the best, and having to say,like, okay, we need to make
compromises in order to makethis sellable, because without
it being sellable, we havenothing, right?
How did you come full circle toget to that point saying, okay,
(24:07):
we need to have a real designteam, we need to have education,
like without educating thesewomen, we got nothing because
the amount of designers, like Isaid, I've worked with seem to
have that gap missing, whereeither they're still repurposing
product from that country orthey're having them do so much
that they end up just beinglabor, right?
(24:30):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (24:32):
Well, I think again, for me, it starts with being
really clear about what's thegoal here.
And, you know, I'm I'm actuallynot the designer.
So we have a design team, wepartner with people like
Fabiola, but I see if my job isbuilding partnerships, bringing
together people that wouldotherwise never work together,
which is really exciting.
And maybe that gives me anability to have clarity and not
(24:54):
have ego in it to help make surewe have a good framework for
making these smart decisions.
So I think over the years we'veiterated, we've figured out as
we've gone, okay, well, first wehave to build a design team.
Oh, then we realized to reallynail this, we need to build up
the artisan's ability tounderstand the why.
Because if we're developingdoing a lot of product
development, when you're everyday fighting to earn what you're
(25:17):
gonna need to feed your kidsthat single day, it's hard to be
like, okay, if you spend allthis time developing this new
product with us, then in sixmonths we're gonna give you an
order.
But it's gonna be a really bigorder of thousands of pieces.
That takes trust, but it alsotakes understanding.
And so it took us a while torealize, like, okay, not only do
(25:37):
we have to build trust withartisans, but we have to explain
the why.
We have to do a whole curriculumin the communities for moms so
they can have their kids thereto understand how the US fashion
industry works and the why, sothat they could be partners to
us in pushing to develop newtechniques.
Why are we taking thesetraditional ECATs and
simplifying them so they're morecost effective, so that they can
earn more per hour and actuallysell the product for more than
(26:00):
if we did it the traditional waythat's more time intensive, but
we couldn't sell it for enoughbecause it looks unfortunately
in the US market.
Sometimes the mosttime-intensive and intricate
fabrics, unfortunately, are seenas cheap because middlemen have
been buying them off the streetsin rural Latin America and
selling it for they pay nothingfor it and they sell it for very
(26:20):
little.
So actually, what's ironic isthat by taking this traditional
technique, combining design, itmay actually be faster to make
it, and we can actually oftensell it for more so that women
earn more, which is sad, but isalso reality.
And for us, we're like, we arean anti-poverty organization.
We want to help these women earnas much as possible.
So that's our guiding star.
SPEAKER_01 (26:42):
So I may ask you one other question though.
And this is a silly one, but itit's it's a huge touch point for
designers.
Yeah.
When you have a product that isso mission-based, right?
Yeah, the end user when she'sshopping, I'm not speaking like
online shopping where you havethe space to write the story.
(27:02):
Again, this is a podcast abouthandbags and it's and it's a
whole world.
How do you deal with the hangtag situation?
SPEAKER_00 (27:09):
Oh, this is one of our biggest issues.
One thing that we think, becausewe always say you have you have
like what, like two seconds tosell the concern, right?
If we're lucky, if we're lucky,two seconds, right?
So fundamentally what we seek isthrough, I think actually the
collaboration of Fabiola is agreat example.
We want to try to tell a storythrough the product itself.
(27:31):
We want people to be able tolook at it and see this is
handcrafted, this is elevatedcraftsmanship, this is not made
in a factory.
And then we try to have the hangtag be visual and brief and kind
of pull that together, be likewomen, you know, women in power
and women, right?
But it's hard, and we actuallytalk about it a lot internally.
Like this may be, I don't knowif this is good to say publicly,
(27:53):
but one of my pet peeves isoften the one-for-one model,
where you know, it's so easy toit's such an easy sell.
SPEAKER_01 (28:01):
Like it's such a real but it's also people don't
get it.
You can't one for one unless youhave a product that like Bamba
socks, which is one of myfavorite case studies, they're
able to donate socks because ifyou're creating socks at mass, a
basic sock could cost them 10cents a sock, whereas their
other socks cost 10 times morewith labor.
(28:24):
Can't do that with handbags,does not exist.
You cannot make that assumption,the one-for-one.
SPEAKER_00 (28:29):
You cannot.
Well, and beyond that, I wouldsay that usually in terms of you
look at cost of goods sold andwhere is the majority of your
dollar going, it's the making ofthe product itself and of course
bringing it to market, right?
And so I would say if you wantto maximize your impact, what
matters the most is the laborconditions under which the
product is made rather than thesmall value of what's donated
(28:50):
and is the small thing that'sdonated, is that really going to
change the life of someone?
Whereas earning a living wagewill change someone's life,
right?
But that's a much morecomplicated story to tell in one
second or one and a halfseconds, right?
This is one of the things, andbut it's also I think where
design is important.
How do we tell it's rightthrough design?
And we're still figuring thatout, like physical branding,
(29:10):
because it's a challenge, it ishard.
It is especially with thetalent.
Yep.
Hang down.
And there's a lot ofgreenwashing out there, or like
I we call it pink washing whenit comes to the artisan sector.
That you know, it's a great tobe a cultural preservation
organization if you work withartisans and you're not able to
pay a living wage and you, youknow, you're doing traditional
things, that's great.
(29:31):
You cultural preservation, butdon't say that you're, you know,
you're fair trade or that you'repaying a living wage, right?
But it's just what consumer hasthe time to understand that
nuance, right?
SPEAKER_02 (29:41):
Nobody, and actually, I think that that
right there is a really goodillustration of why I chose to
work with Mercado.
Is because Ruth, as you heard,you know, she really understands
the true origins andcomplications of it's not just
sort of a fluffy bit of ofgreenwashing, as you say.
(30:04):
And and and that's what I amvery interested in.
I've worked with a lot of NGOsin my time, not just this one,
many.
And what I found many times overis first and foremost, the ones
that the really, really bigNGOs, part of the problem is
they're getting all this money,but it's really just a band-aid
because the laws that existaround what they're trying to
(30:25):
change are not going to allow itto change.
Yeah.
So it's really, it becomeslegislative versus helping,
which is is sort of productive.
Yeah, not productive.
And then you have this otherkind of side of uh sort of
charitable work where it's veryfluffy and not serious.
(30:47):
And so, and I think that youknow what's happened with
Mercado and what happens withwith Ruth is that she really
understands the laws are sort ofwell talking about now, but
generally speaking, like thereis there are openings for growth
and and opportunity within thelegal framework.
And Mercado really understandswhere they need to go to really
(31:09):
truly improve at the core levelthe quality of life of these
women, which is what mattersmost.
SPEAKER_01 (31:16):
Ladies, like I said, we could go on and on and on
about this.
I don't want to take up any moreof your time.
Ruth, how can we find you,follow you, get more shop for
Mercado Global and the amazingcollaboration with Fabiola?
SPEAKER_00 (31:33):
Thank you so much.
Come to Mercaloglobal.org andfollow us on Instagram, on
Facebook, uh LinkedIn if you'dlike.
And we have a whole overview onthe collaboration and our
partnership with Fabiola.
And yeah, it's a great way toget them all sent up for any
newsletter.
SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
And are they sold where also at retail?
SPEAKER_00 (31:53):
Yeah, sold on our website.
And also Holt Runfrew is gonnabe picking it up as well, which
we're really excited about.
SPEAKER_01 (31:59):
And free people, right?
And free people.
I think that's right.
Yes, and free people in the US.
SPEAKER_00 (32:03):
Yep.
SPEAKER_01 (32:04):
Amazing.
Canada representing the samething.
And Fabiola, how can we followyou and all of your
fabulousness?
SPEAKER_02 (32:11):
Unfortunately, I don't have a Facebook or a
LinkedIn or any of that, but Ido have an Instagram.
It's uh Fabs uh F-A-3Bs uhunderscore S.
And yeah, I mean, that's I'm notas public, but uh you can see
all my fun Mercado stuff.
I'm gonna be putting a bunch ofonce we start selling it, we do
(32:32):
the the uh brick and mortarsales.
I was gonna maybe do a postabout that, and I'm super
excited.
There'll be a link on myInstagram as well.
SPEAKER_01 (32:42):
All right, ladies, thank you so much for joining me
today, and I can't wait to gofind the Mercado Blobals
collaboration with Miss FabiolaBercassa Beckman.
Thank you so much, guys.
Thank you, Emily.
Thanks for listening.
Don't forget to rate and reviewand follow us on every single
platform at Handbag Designer.
(33:03):
Thanks so much.
See you next time.
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