Buy What You Know

The Aware House slogan “Buy What You Know” is about a lot more than just the act of purchasing a product. Maybe some of you get it, maybe some of you don’t. Either way, we're here to elaborate. 

To “Buy What You Know” is somewhat of a lost art. Before the days of Amazon, the Internet, the industrial revolution, the average person didn’t have the options we have now — the milk came from the local farmer, the bread from the baker, the suit from the tailor.

We lived, bought and sold largely within our local or extended communities, we bought what we knew. Items from afar and abroad were seen as luxury, not an everyday expense. 

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

The innovations of the modern history opened many doors to our world and the way it operates. Through industrial and technological developments this globalization “growth-spurt” has, ironically, meant our world has simultaneously shrunk. 

We have endless opportunities to connect with and learn about other cultures, and an unlimited access to information and goods and services that simply didn’t exist before. Nowadays, someone from a small town village in Tennessee can buy clothing from Paris, coffee from Colombia, or wine from Portugal, all with the convenient click-of-a-button. 

However, the reality is that, at least in the US, most of us aren’t shopping like this. The surge of US factories outsourcing their facilities to Asia has resulted in an abundance of conveniently cheap products at our fingertips. While this too comes with benefits (everything has a time and place), we seem to have collectively forgotten what it means to support local and small businesses.

This is not at all an argument to never buy something mass produced again, however, it is an opportunity for us to start being more mindful of how we spend our money. 

Putting more thought and intention into even a small purchase can go a long way. For example, buying a locally made soap bar that supports US regenerative farming. If we all contributed, even just a bit, we could make a big difference in people’s lives. 

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Please join us on our mission to expand consumer access to carefully curated and thoughtfully produced goods from small businesses around the world.