The master tailor and his customer. I get my trousers and shirts made in this place – 5-Star Tailors it’s called, and it’s a fair description. In a small, remote village in Central India.
Well made, made-to-measure clothes for less than off-the-peg in England, and he’s pleased to get the business.
Am I exploiting him – and his employees? That’s a difficult one, a very common one but exposed so much more clearly in a case like this.
My friend Siddharth Surana commented thus on this when I put it on Facebook: “I have no doubt in my mind that you’re neither doing him any favour, nor exploiting him. It’s a fair exchange where you’re buying his service because you find it worth your money, and he is buying your money because he thinks it’s worth his service (and goods). He most likely knows that you would pay much higher for the same work in England, but he has no reason to expect the same – as he is not in England. If you paid him less than what his other customers pay, or if he charges you higher than other customers – then only a question of exploitation arises.”
To which I replied: “Hmm. That’s a comfortable point of view, and I believe he shares it. I’ve made no secret of the fact that it would cost far more in England – indeed, I’ve only ever once had made-to-measure clothes in England. But it’s part of a whole system in which (the people of) rich countries do exploit (the people of) poor countries, and I’ve no problem with traders who do ask a higher price of anyone they perceive as richer than their usual customers. You can always haggle if you want to, or take your business elsewhere (although in this case I don’t think there’s anywhere within a hundred miles that can do as good a job – there’s plenty of small tailors, but their work is merely satisfactory on the whole).”
©Clive K Semmens 2013