Do I need to come to Bali to work with you?

As much as we would love to meet you in person, it is not necessary for you to come to Bali to work with us. We are used to working with our clients remotely. We mainly communicate with our clients through email and videocalls. During the project we will act as your eyes and ears on the ground in Bali, while you stay in your own country. We will represent you when visiting manufacturers, manage the production and do quality control. We will of course always provide detailed reports about the progress of your project. If however you do have plans to visit Bali, we will be very happy to meet you and invite you on a sourcing tour to meet with manufacturers directly.

What are the challenges when manufacturing in Bali?

The most heard challenge when it comes to manufacturing in Bali is communication. From our observation we can say that communication issues are sometimes caused by language barriers, which makes communication difficult (especially when done remotely), but more often they are caused by different expectations from the brands and the artisans about the process and the result. This can lead to disappointed clients when deadlines are not met, or frustrated artisans when they are asked to revise products that were already made. To overcome this challenge clear communication and technical briefs that can easily be understood by both clients and artisans are very important.

The other challenge is working with smaller (home) industries. This is also one of the things that makes manufacturing in Bali interesting, because you can work with low quantities and there are a lot of options for custom products exactly the way you want them to be. But while big factories usually will have all facilities in-house, a small studio may outsource some of the work. For example, when you are working on a garment production, you are buying fabric from supplier A, buying trims from supplier B & C, you have the fabric dyed by dye-house D, the labels are printed by supplier E and your fabrics are cut&sewn by manufacturer F, embroidery details are added by manufacturer G and then packed and shipped by party H. This means a lot of different parties with different specialties are involved in your project, which may make the project feel overwhelming to you as a client, especially if this is your first production. Having said that, many manufacturers will offer to help you with outsourcing some parts of the process, or you could of course work with an agent like The Bali Curator to manage the logistics between different parties and keep an eye on all processes.

Why should I work with The Bali Curator as my Production Manager?

If you are an established brand and have been managing your production processes yourself, you know the work that has to be done, and you also know how much time it can cost you to manage your production process well and maintain good relationships with you production partners. The Bali Curator can take care of the production for you and help to maintain good relationships between your brand and your production partners, while you focus on other tasks to grow your business. 

If you are new to manufacturing (in Bali), we can help to guide you through the process and help you to avoid making costly mistakes. An experienced production manager like The Bali Curator, who is present on the ground during the production process, can help to avoid and overcome the above mentioned communication challenges, as well as make the process more efficient for both the client and the makers.

We also understand that different clients have different needs. Some clients prefer to outsource all activities related to their production in Bali and our team will take care of everything from sourcing, prototype development, production, quality control and shipment. Whereas other clients prefer to stay hands-on involved in the process, but they do need assistance with certain aspects of their projects. For example, they need assistance with finding the right manufacturers for their project, or they need assistance with quality control. Therefore, we offer a la carte services, so you can book only those services that you actually need, without any obligation to continuously place your orders through The Bali Curator.

Next to supporting artisans and families in Bali, by working with The Bali Curator you are supporting an ambitious team with talented people from various backgrounds, who are given a chance to develop their professional skills and reach their individual goals. At The Bali Curator we work compactly together as a team and support each other in order to reach our company's and individual goals, while providing the best possible service for our clients.

Our clients are both start-ups and established brands, their levels vary from start-up companies run by only one person to established brands with offices and stores worldwide. We offer personalized services and are happy to work with any serious client, regardless of the size of the company or the production amount. What our clients have in common is that they value co-creation and fairness throughout their supply chain as much as we do. 

We offer services outside the actual sourcing and production management tasks. We can help you with techpacks, prototype development, creating labels/hang tags, and also create professional, high-resolution photo stories of your production process and organize campaign shoots of your final products. 

Another important point is that PT. The Bali Curator is a legally registered, tax-paying company. It is important for your business that you are working with a legal entity.