Let’s talk about transparency!

All cards on the table!
We like to be as transparent to our customers as much as possible.
So you know how we manage our company and how we try to build a happy life for the creative communities we work with.
To give you a better inside about our company it’s important to break some things down for you.
Talking Prints - We don't own anybody

When you start working for a company, people easily talk about working for a boss. Stop right there! We don't own people. We like to build a real relationship with the people we work with. We treat them with respect, everyone is equal and we put the best interest of the Maroon and Indigenous communities first.
That’s why we like to talk about collaboration and partnership.


How fair is our “ fair income” actually?

In the world of social enterprises & NGO’s, everybody is talking about how they want a fair income for the workers. This ‘ fair income’ is such a wide concept, but how do we define a fair income for our business Talking Prints?
According to OESO Suriname is qualified as a developing country, meaning we are dealing with poverty and a low level of prosperity.
To give you a better inside of the Surinamese wages we drop it down for you:

Average wages

National minimum wages $8,40 SRD per hour (Surinamese dollars). 
 $8,40 SRD = €0,35 cents
Based on a workweek of 48 hours (6-day a week) every working person should earn $1612 SRD per month = € 67,16. A professional tailor in Suriname makes up to $6166 SRD per month = €256,91. The creative communities aren’t professional tailors yet, but they are mastering their crafts.

 Because these communities live in rural areas they don’t have to deal with rental, water and electricity bills. Their cost of living is lower compared to people who live in the city. Dealing with all these circumstances, we put the Talking Prints wages between 2000- 3000 Surinamese Dollars. This is 1,9 times the minimum wage in Suriname, based on flexible workweek of max 24-36 hours.
*Covid-Update: While we are living in a pandemic world, where covid affected our business tremendously, we had to slow down our production line and close our store. Suriname is also situated in a financial crisis that is leading to the devaluation of the Surinamese currency. All of this makes our Talking Prints wages a little shaky and unstable. For the near future, we are considering standardizing our wages to euros so we can make sure the local makers don't get affected by the devaluation.
How you can be the change!

Talking Prints is an independent brand, meaning we built this baby up from scratch, investing our money into the company which includes marketing, setup up a product line,  sales etc. Being an independent brand also means you need to be creative, when the roads get rough.

In this crazy world wide crisis it's even more important to support the local makers. While our sales dropped, we still need the production line going forward. And we need a little support from you to keep that production wheel spinning. How?
For every purchase you make we can place new orders at the makers. No sales means no employment. So keep the creative communities in the interior going and Shop & Support.

Do you want to know which project makes your item? Make sure you read in to The Makers.