I have heard foreigners and Chinese minority people alike encourage me to help them develop the sale of local minority fabrics, clothes, and other such handicraft items to foreigners. Is there really a market? A lot of people talk about it. Should I look into it?
For tourists that come to visit places like the greater Guilin and Liuzhou areas, selling minority items is one thing. Tourists come expecting to see natural beauty and ethnic diversity, and very well could be interested in ethnic handicrafts. It is a completely different matter to try to sell local fabrics overseas.
Maybe the items are not the most important part. Maybe there is a skill that could be applied to a different use.
I know of many foreigners who have started up minority fabric and handicraft businesses, but I have not heard of any that are truly successful. That is not to say they do not exist, but only that many more people try this than succeed at this.
One foreign investor suggested using the superb sewing skill of minority women, many of whom still hand make all their own clothing, to create items that would be more desired on a foreign market: pillow cases, framed embroidery, table clothes, placemats, and other items that have a unique Chinese minority style, but on an item that people can easily see how to use in their own homes or lives.
There is a market, but as an outsider looking into the handicraft industry trying to make the best evaluation I can, it sure appears to be a fragile market, or possibly one where the demand does not exactly match the supply. Many of the fabric businesses look more like "pity industries" trying to find something that will help toward the need of minority people with limited marketable skills.
That is honorable, but how can these industries actually prosper. Only an ongoing, sustainable industry will actually help the local people in any way. Developing the local fabric, embroidery, and cloth industry would be a great help, sure, but who will buy? What needs to be made? Those are the primary questions to ask first.
