Exactly one year ago, we—Claudia and Jörn, the founders of WOJOER—spent three months in Thailand with our two girls. The goal of this trip was to gain new perspectives, establish new production channels, and break out of the five-year slump (from the start of the pandemic until 2025). We were even considering moving abroad permanently.
Those three months were wonderful, but also very demanding and exhausting. School, work, the kids, travel, and daily life all had to be juggled. The kids missed their friends and other children who spoke the same language. We parents missed having more space, storage, and time for each other. We got to see and experience a lot; we had a very intense time and really enjoyed being able to be so close to our children all the time. The Thai people are an open and friendly people who, across all social classes, are generous and have great trust in their fellow human beings.
On the business side, we have established strong relationships in Thailand. We visited a major local manufacturer of elastic lace and also purchased materials there. We have also achieved our primary goal of finding a high-quality, fair production facility in Thailand. The design and high-quality samples are finalized; however, the necessary conditions are not currently in place to launch operations here. For an Asian country, Thailand offers above-average working conditions for its employees, strict environmental regulations, and modern energy generation facilities. Additionally, Thais are generally open-minded toward human diversity, particularly regarding traditional gender roles and norms. This makes Thailand the perfect fit for our type of creative outfits.
At present, the conditions are not in place to launch operations here. While the factors described above make Thailand an employee-friendly country (which we find appealing), it is not very cost-effective for production; supply chains are uncertain and unreliable; freight costs and import duties are exorbitant; and the minimum order quantities are many times higher than what we can currently handle. The Thailand project is currently on hold.
On a personal level, we have emerged from this period stronger and more mature. Our team in Germany has gained confidence. Kudos to you all for handling things so well in our absence! We’ve gained many valuable new insights and managed to turn the downward spiral and negative mindset of recent years into a positive one. Another key realization was that you, our enthusiastic WOJOER customers, love and appreciate our German production and are happy to pay the necessary price for it. Thank you so much for that <3. Your interest in our time in the Land of Smiles was also greater than expected, which in turn gave our social media presence a whole new boost and led to significant growth over the past 12 months. We are very grateful for this as well. In summary. Our three months in Thailand were a challenging, wonderful, and enriching time that gave us a great deal of strength and energy. It was a time we wouldn’t have wanted to miss, and one we look back on fondly. One day, we will have grown and we will see each other again.
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