Why you should always buy handmade products for loved ones

If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a loved one, it’s easy to start your search on a site like eBay or Amazon, not giving a second thought to the thousands of small businesses that are responsible for producing some of the best handmade products on the market. To help you change your perceptions and give you some food for thought, we’ve rounded up five reasons why you should consider buying handmade products as a gift over mass-produced products.
One of a kind
Let’s start with the obvious one: if you’re purchasing a handmade gift for a loved one, then the chances are that it will be one of a kind. Whether it’s a painting, a t-shirt or a ring, every single item has been hand-finished by a trained craftsman and will have their own unique flair. If you buy something that’s been mass-produced in a factory in China, it’s likely that 1,000,000 other people will have it, meaning your gift won’t be special or truly individual.
Supporting local businesses
Another reason to buy handmade products is to create jobs and help strengthen your local economy. Handmade products are more often than not created by small businesses, and the more of those we have, the better for the economy. Research shows that local retailers and handmade companies return a total of 52 percent of their revenue to the local economy, compared to 14 percent for the national chain retailers such as Amazon. Do your bit to help.
Stories and traditions
Handmade gifts often have beautiful backstories and traditions that cannot be found in your local Walmart. If you buy Celtic cross jewelry from the Celtic Cross Online website, for example, you can expect to have your jewelry hallmark stamped from the Irish Assay Office in Dublin Castle, which guarantees its authenticity and adds something extra to your piece.
Higher quality
Handmade merchandise, more often than not, is of a higher quality than mass-produced products, as everything has to be created from scratch and by hand, rather than relying on machines to do the work for them. Sure, handmade products may all look a little different and some may have defects, which any good company will fix or replace for you, but that’s almost part of the charm – you know that you’ve purchased something that someone has worked hard to create, and you can give it to a loved one to demonstrate your commitment.
Environmentally-friendly
Finally, a quick word on the environment. Items that are handmade typically require less energy and natural resources to make than items made on a mass production assembly line, and because they’re produced in smaller quantities, there’s less waste. Of course, shipping a handmade product from one country to another carries a carbon footprint, but it’s lesser than the potentially damaging effects of big factories producing lots of carbon waste.
There are so many reasons why you should buy handmade, and we’ve only just scratched the surface with this article. Do let us know if you have any other reasons we can add, and we’ll be sure to include them in this or a future post on our website. Have fun shopping!