Two hands in a meditative mudra covered in mala bead bracelets with a tie dye shirt in the background

S.M.I.L.E. - E (Ethical Pricing Policies) ⚖️

Nov 17, 2021
“We only buy from, work with, and sell to people who smile.” - Mexicali Owner Pete Erskine
Mexicali SMILE

E - Ethical Pricing Policies

The E may be the end of the “SMILE”, but it is really just the beginning. The E is the ethical ethos of Mexicali Blues, the scale with which we weigh everything. The E is why our groovy global goods are fairly priced for you, the consumer, and why the artisans, designers, and shippers that make, create, and ship our products are fairly compensated. The E may be the end of the S.M.I.L.E, but it is the source of countless other smiles from Maine to Kathmandu.


Ethical pricing policies are a balancing act.

The E also can stand for equilibrium, as it is the balance that we strive to achieve between the consumer and the maker, the employee and the employer, the how and the why. This means prices that are reflective of market fluctuations abroad, prices that we keep low for you the customer, but high enough to pay livable wages to all of the makers and employees so that they can support their families and their communities. This means weighing the inputs and outputs, adequately compensating artisans for their one-of-a-kind wares, and balancing the beauty to put a price tag on art that is culturally reflective. Through this balance we are able to not only offer prices that are almost always lower than those of our competitors, but also goods that are made with love.


Ethical pricing policies means fair trade practices.

We work with small-scale makers and manufacturers, families, and friends far and wide that source their materials from other small-scale producers. They are spinners, weavers, designers, tailors, artisans, artists, doers, and dreamers from all over the world. The economic and cultural barriers to fair trade certification may inhibit some of them from certification, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t employ fair trade practices. Fair is fair, and we support fair with our business, and we ensure fair by visiting where our products are made and meeting all of the people that make them. We buy things straight from the source, cut out the middle man, and we feel good about it, so you can too.

Ethical pricing policies are real prices and true discounts

We charge what we think is fair, we pay what we think is fair, and we don’t haggle with our suppliers because we trust them. For that reason, we only offer true discounts to you the consumer that are reflective of our ethically balanced pricing strategy. Could we mark everything up initially more inline with our competitors, just so we could in turn mark it down by a larger percentage? Sure, but that wouldn’t be us, and we wouldn’t feel good about it. Thanks for being you, and for helping us feel good about what we do, let's do what we can to keep smiling together and to share our S.M.I.L.E. with the world 😃

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