Originally posted by FMFhe's an exporter! he's got employees to pay, and margin!
I've just been reliably informed that if the cobbler tried to supply an exporter with these "$40 shoes" he'd be offered about $10 a pair. This comes from a furniture exporter (who knows about these things) with whom I am having a drink in a cafe, as I type this, and who has had a bit of a laugh at zeeblebot's expense, having just read this thread.
picture the tourists back home gloating over the deals they got cheating the locals out of fair trade prices for their African masks, for example.