[Shanatink]

I know this is long but I hope everyone will read this.
I am friends with and have been talking to several long time members that are sellers here (that sew dog clothes) and I really feel it is time to say something. There are a few things that are bugging us sellers but we are all too nice to say anything and again and again people take advantage of this so here goes:

I think I can speak for most of us when I say we dog clothing seamstresses love what we do but we also do this for a living. I feel it is important to know that this is what we do to support our family, to pay bills and some of us just scrape by because to be honest a lot of work goes into this job and many of us dont charge all that much for our labor & time. It may be a hobby for some but for others there is more than just sewing the dog clothes so there is more than just the simple fabric and raw materials expenses. There is so much more work involved. I for one(as well as many others on here) have completely designed and update/maintain my own website(which alone this can seem like a full time job), I also take my own photos of products and edit them, cut and sew my own clothes with no help from assistants or factories, I also order products for resale for the website, handle all communications with both vendors and customers, package and ship as well as other things. More importantly, I came up with all of my dog clothing patterns through much material expense and many laborous hours of trial and error and testing them on my sweet cooperative furbabies. The reason I am telling this to everyone is because recently there has been some people that seem to order from a YT member and then turnaround, copy the pattern and start selling. Ive even seen post on here where someone will ask, "where can I find dog clothing patterns?" and sometimes someone will respond by suggesting they take apart someone elses designs and use the pattern. This just breaks my heart because I put so much thought, time and effort into my work as I know everyone else did to. I think people think this is an acceptable thing to do because they think maybe I just bought my pattern somewhere, but Im here to tell you I didnt, I worked hard to come up with my own. Another problem is some people seem to be copying exact designs & techniques and it should go without saying that this really hurts the original designers feelings and it is just not right but I really feel lately that this is something that has become universally accepted as and okay thing to do. But it is not okay and it is not ethical. I always try to have the best business ethics and I know my customers know this and this is one of the reasons they like to order from me and that does make me feel good. But it still does not make me happy to see the other unethical businesses reap the benefits of copying my hard work and designs and I feel like this is sometimes encouraged by buyers. I know many of us end up with the same fabrics and this is fine, this will happen alot as we shop at the same places so this is not what I am refering to. And I am not just talking about things that have happened to me, there are many cases of these types of things happening to several sellers on here. Some members have even left because of it. So basically I am saying all this because Im just hoping that if I shed some light to the hard work that goes into these businesses, more people will start respecting the products, patterns, designs and the sellers. If you want to sew dog clothes I am not trying to discourage you. I simply ask that you go buy a pattern from a fabric store or try to come up with your own. And please develop your own designs and techniques.
I really hope I have not offended anyone with this. I did not start this thread to cause a problem or debate and this thread is not directed towards any single person, simply a innocent trend that Ive noticed lately. So I simply wanted to try and give the general public and inside look to what goes on when someone makes dog clothes. Thank you to everyone that reads this.

Hugs,

Shana