Wolf & the Wildling was started from home two years ago, carefully hand making every item of clothing from start to finish while also juggling motherhood. We understood first hand the satisfaction and the frustrations that can come from being a machinist.
Meet Our Artisans
As Wolf & the Wildling continued to grow we knew we would need to outsource work but did not want to hand that work over to a factory. Even if the factory had fair working conditions we just couldn't imagine the tedium of repeating a few stitches for 8+ hours every day. We wanted each item to be completed from start to finish by one person.
Some of the most talented machinists in the world stem from China. A machinist is an artisan and we wanted to work with a community of women who could feel the satisfaction of creating the whole piece from start to finish. We also wanted to create an environment in which they could work from their own home, around their own schedules and family commitments.
Machinists often need to leave young children to work within the cities. They also get back problems and other ailments associated with long periods of work. Our community of women can choose when and how often they would like to work while also being paid more than double the wage of a machinist from a factory environment. Most importantly not leaving children behind and remaining within their home.
We travelled to China to find the best artisans and found ourselves immersed in a small community within the Ningbo province on the outskirts of Cixi. An absolutely beautiful community built over picturesque canals and waterways.
We met with Jessie and her mother Sue who welcomed our idea and made us feel incredibly at home.
Sue had worked within a factory for most of her life, starting out on the factory floor as a young girl and working her way up the ladder to become lead machinist and pattern maker. As orders for Wolf & the Wildling continue to grow, Sue and Jessie will help us expand our team and give other talented machinists the opportunity to work from the comfort of their own home, away from the factory environment.
