Since when a $1 hand crocheted bikini qualify as “good value”?

Seriously, if Vietnamese customers knew that these nearly ten-million-dong outfits were made and co-designed by Vietnamese for a UK brand, I might end up on Channel 14’s gossip column! Just kidding, but sometimes when I browse Facebook, I see news articles and world-famous celebrities wearing clothes made by Vietnamese, and it makes me proud. However, I’ve grown accustomed to not bragging about it and taking selfies alone for a long time now.

Today, as I was scrolling through, I came across this post, and my heart felt so joyful that I wanted to share a little bit of what can be called my personal success.

In the past, I used to be quite competitive and would get annoyed when I saw anyone surpassing me. With age, I’ve come to realize that every job has its own value and its unique definition of success. I’ve been working with Roxanne since 2016, and it’s been over six years now, from the time when she wasn’t known in the world of fashion to her becoming a well-known name on the global fashion map. Whenever the season came around, she would push me to create three or four collections for the following winter. I truly admire her!

Behind the trendy collections displayed in luxurious boutiques or extravagant online departments like Net-a-porter, Revolve, Matches Fashion, there are countless sleepless nights of our “crochet squad” back in my hometown. It’s heartwarming when some of the ladies say, “I’m old now, I can’t sleep, so I’ll sit and crochet to earn money for the little ones.” Thanks to these ladies, the clothes I make have great value. Selling cheaply might attract more customers, but then how would the dozens of poor workers behind me survive? Who would dedicate their passion to create valuable products that leave the whole world in awe? Since when did a $1 hand crochet bikini qualify as “good value”?