The Brittish goverment was unwilling to do anything for two reasons. First was the laissez-faire capitalistic ideology, that put the rights of property owners to make profits above human lives. Rent freeze was unthinkable and they even were unwilling to do proper relief efforts as free food would lower the cost of food. The second reason was distain for the Irish, and the thought that they were “breeding too much” and the famine was a natural way to trim down the population, aka genocidal reasoning.

This is why it’s important to stress it was not a potato famine. The potato blinght was all over Europe but only in Ireland there was a famine. The reasons behind it had nothing to do with potatos and everything to do with the Brittish.

Apparently what made Choctaw want to offer relief to Irish was the news about the Doolough Tragedy. Hundreds of starving people were gathered for inspection to verify they were entitled to recieve relief. The officials would for *some reason* not do that and instead left to a hunting lodge 19 kilometers away to spend the night and said to the starvqing people they would have to walk there by morning to be inspected. The weather conditions were terrible and many of them died completely needlessly during the walk thoroung day and night.

This apparently reminded the Choctaw of their own very recent (and much more explicit and bigger scale) experiences of ethnic clensing, where they were forcibly relocated. It was basically a death march and thousands of Choctaw died from the terrible conditions also completely needlessly.

In 2015 a memorial named Kindred Spirits was installed in Southern Ireland to commemorate the Chactow donation.

Then in 2020:

ALL OF IT.

I crochet very quickly. I can make a 4-round granny square in about 15 minutes. Now, given, that’s a single-color square, and all of Target’s stuff is multi-color because multi-color granny squares look really cool. So, if I were doing a color change every round, I’d say it’d take about 20 minutes, and that includes dealing with the joining ends that will need to be tucked away. 

This does not count for any joining work between squares. Keep that in mind as we go through Target’s collection. For the sake of brevity, I’m only using one photo of each item. They did multiple colorways of each. 

Also, I wanna be clear on something: I am NOT judging the Target prices on minimum wage or a living wage in the United States. I’m judging them based on the fact that they are 1) a fast fashion brand and 2) that means they are working outside of the US. This means that a living wage or an expected wage can be very different. Keep that in mind as we go. 

Lastly before I get into it: A quick google search tells me average clothing markup is twice the price of making it (which includes materials and shipping along with the time to make it). This will be my base for breaking down costs.

This hat, regular price $12.00: 

We can’t see the back, but based on the shape of it, likely it’s six granny squares. Each of those squares would have to be made separately. Then, they’d be seamed together in the black, then the band would be added, then the pom pom would be attached. The pom pom is likely machine made. So, we’ll cut it from the workload. 

Six granny squares at 20 minutes a square is 2 hours. 

Joining all the squares--assuming my own very fast rate of work--could take up to an hour (I’m assuming this is as a join as you go just based on the look)--so we’ll say 1 hour. 

For the brim, I’ll say 30 minutes because that’s how fast I could make it. 

So, for this hat: 3.5 hours of work. 

Assuming that $12.00 price tag is a double of the price of materials and shipping and general overhead AND the work time, it can’t be more than $6.00 total to make. 

To make this hat for $6.00, the absolute most a person could be making is $1.71 an hour. 

But they’re not. Because that $6.00 also has to cover materials, shipping, and overhead like a building for people to work in and the associated costs of that. 

No fucking way did anyone make $1.71 an hour making this hat for Target to sell it for $12.00. 

For comparison, from me, an American crocheter, this is a $60 hat. Not just because it’s skilled labor to make it but because I gotta make that pom pom by hand, and that’s extra work.

Keeping all this in mind, let’s continue: 

Headband: Regular price $10.00

This is likely five granny squares based on this image. It’s got the same join to the hat and upper and lower rows of edging. 

Squares at 20 minutes each makes the squares alone 2 hours and 40 minutes of work. 

This is likely another join as you go (I’m using that, by the way, because 1) that’s really what it looks like, and 2) it’s the most time efficient). For this join and trim, I’d say an hour. 

So, 2 hours and 40 minutes. For the sake of my math skills, let’s say 2.5 hours. 

Total cost to make to meet the double-the-price markup for clothes: $5.00.

Total cost for just the make of this by dividing the cost by the hours: $4.00.

Again, this number does not include an estimate of how much overhead was counted towards the cost. But odds are it wasn’t just a dollar an hour. 

My price? $20 if I like you. At least $30 if you’re a stranger because I won’t work for less than $10 an hour for someone I don’t know. (Pro-tip: Do not ever assume an artist likes you enough to work cheap.)

Mittens: $10.00

In a noted difference to the other items so far, the back and thumb of these mittens are clearly machine-knitted, and I think the edge may be machine-knitted as well. I don’t know the common hourly rate for machine-knit, but it definitely takes less time than hand knitting. Which is why it’s such a common way to make clothes. 

That being said, there’s still 4 squares to make a set of mittens. And that means 1 hour and 20 minutes just for the squares. 

These mittens have to cost $5.00 total to make to account for markup. If you divide 5 by 1.3 (an hour and a third), you get $3.84. Which means that the very little left should account for the rest of the making and putting together and overhead. Which is literally nothing. Even with machine knitting costing less than hand knitting, you still need a skilled worker on the machine. 

And now, to the especially egregious shit in this line: 

Purse: $15.00

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME

::breathes::

Sorry. Just. 

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS

Based on the other photos, these two columns are the only crochet on the item. So, two columns, 3 squares tall. 6 squares. 

BUT ALSO, this is not a general granny square. This is a specialty granny square. You see how it looks like a flower on a background? Yeah. That’s a special granny square that takes extra time to make correctly. 

The squares ALONE, take 30 minutes each. Period. 3 hours of work JUST for the squares. Not counting the joining or the material plus work to sew and attach all the rest of the bag. 

The most this could cost is $7.50 an hour. Based on that, the absolute highest wage for the crochet work $2.50 an hour. 

But also consider the extra amount of work/cost to buy and ship different material, and then pay people to attach the crochet to that separate material. 

And, also, I didn’t add the joining time into that. Because do I really need to at this point. 

THIS FUCKING SWEATER FOR $35.

Fuck the math. You can figure it out. No fucking way anyone could make this sweater ethically for thirty-five goddamn dollars. 

Of further note: In order to find this shit on Target’s website, you have to search “Wild Fable crochet.” If you search just “crochet” (which I did yesterday when I first started looking at this stuff), you literally only get crochet books and none of the clothes that have CROCHET prominently in their name. 

Interesting. 

I’m gonna end this on a positive note by telling you a couple of brands you can buy from who are ethical in their methods:

Theseriesny - They use only recycled crochet and knit products to make new products.

Lirika Matoshi - She has knitters and crocheters in Kosovo make her items as they’re ordered because she wants to uplift creators from her home country and especially focuses on hiring women so they can have independence. 

You can also reach out to indie creators. They’re all over etsy and here on tumblr and insta. I won’t tell anyone else what to charge for their work, but also, consider asking for a general number of hours for someone’s work and doing some math to make sure you’re being fair if you can. A lot of artists undersell their work by a LOT because of shit like this from Target that teaches them to devalue their craft and ESPECIALLY teaches potential customers the work shouldn’t cost so awfully much.

“But, Gayle, I did the math, and that shit is expensive.”

The history of corporate propaganda.

'Nobody wants to work' fails to mention the poverty wages and horrible workplaces.

I...tried to make a meme and got carried away and made A Thing that is like partially unfinished because i spent like 3 hours on it and then got tired.

I think this is mostly scientifically accurate but truth be told, there seems to be relatively little research on succession in regards to lawns specifically (as opposed to like, pastures). I am not exaggerating how bad they are for biodiversity though—recent research has referred to them as "ecological deserts."

Lol, are you serious?

No, RBG did not feel that way. She would not have voted to overturn Roe. Absolutely, 100% not; if you have read otherwise, that’s truly some BS. Really.

Also, no, it’s not a good thing. At all! Why on Earth would it be a good thing for “the States” to have the power to decide what a woman does with her own body? Bodily autonomy, making owns own medical and reproductive decisions… These are basic human rights. On what planet is it okay for “the States” to put basic human rights to a vote? Should we leave it to “the States” to decide if freedom of speech shall be allowed, too? Privacy? Due process? The right to vote? Let’s leave it all to “the States”! Why not?!

They tried to kill us, but they did not succeed. And we owe so much thanks to the other oppressed peoples, in particular the Choctaw Nation and the Masai, who sent money and grain to us.

Let me repeat that. The Choctaw Nation who had just gone through the Trail of Tears sent us money to try save Irish lives. It’s led to an understanding between Irish people and Native American tribes, most recently when we donated to the Navajo and Hopi fundraisers for COVID-19 relief, because while it may be a different tribe, Irish people will never forget those who helped us and we’ll help back.

The entire population of the island is less than seven million people. We’re still a million less on this island than pre famine. And it’s not that long ago. My grandmother’s grandparents lived through it. We’ve told the stories, it literally changed the DNA of the country. We have a national fear of renting, because so many people were evicted. People joke about Irish people always offering loads of food, but it’s because there’s that cultural memory of not being able to.

the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like. 

So you know.