As I’ve already mentioned our goods are purchased directly from the manufacturer in Nepal rather than from wholesalers or anonymous wholesale importers. Certainly, such relationships with suppliers require excruciating labor, and sometimes I flatter myself with the dream of hiding behind a large wholesaler some day.
But contact with Indian and Nepalese businesspeople brings, above all, great joy: it’s nice to know where your goods originate from and how they are produced. On the whole I have visited factories in India and Nepal seven times and formed a picture of pashmina production. Though I knew pashmina shawl manufacture is extremely costly I had no idea how many production stages are necessary to make one piece of fabric. I didn’t have the slightest idea how many people owe their bread and butter to pashmina and how proud these people are of pashmina made by their own hands.
I have always tried to leave my business partners a margin. Of course, I could save one-two Euro by reducing the purchase price but in this way I’d be doomed to failure in the long run. As I thought such price reduction indecent, proud Indian businesspeople pledged their word not to exercise the right of retribution: Who unfairly treats is also unfairly treated!