Hello all! I'm wondering if anyone has any insights into how different doll companies treat employees. We talk a lot about supporting artists and I wonder if the hobby has similar ethics about making sure the doll companies (sometime the artists themselves as far as I understand) treat employees well. I know that in some cases smaller artists will send a mold out to be cast, what companies do this casting and are they accountable to anyone for treating employees ethically? How do larger companies treat folks who work for them in customer service or production? Do consumers even have access to this information? By "treat employees well" I mean do workers have reasonable hours, a living wage etc. I like to support ethical business practices when I can and when I am spending this much on something I want to make sure I am putting my money where my values are.
In short, if it's a quality product which is being made by a clearly skilled artist / professional, it will be priced accordingly. If the deal is almost "too good to be true" someone along the line is probably getting ripped off. (In long,) When you get into products which are cheaply / easily / quickly being mass produced, (look for machine-painted faces, doll garments which are sleeveless, unhemmed, have simplistic skirts, sewn with long stitch length, or which are cut from non-fraying fabric, for example) it is likely being made by a minimally skilled worker who is being minimally compensated. There is sometimes controversy attached to relatively large businesses with regard to severing ties with contracted sculptors or designers and continuing to produce the contracted products. Occasionally an artist speaks out about being unhappy or some injustice from the company they were working for, but it seems to happen only on occasion and on a personal level, which naturally happens in any profession. I prefer to buy as directly from the artist as possible, and when I do buy something from a bigger company, I try to get what I want secondhand. Artists / very small companies who I have bought from were conversational and very open about their procedures when I talked with them. They are eager to please (and earn your trust) so that you will be a testimonial for their work and hopefully a returning buyer. If you find a particular product or service and you're unsure, it never hurts to ask!
