About us – Behind the scenes of TheHappyScarf

loom with weaver

We are Harco and Benny. In 2017, we sold our Bed & Breakfast in Spain and moved to Southeast Asia.
We now live in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.

August 2018, during one of our tours of Thailand, TheHappyScarf arose.

It started in a village in Suphanburi

our first introduction to scarves

Our first taste of scarves

We were in the Dan Chang District in Suphanburi and visited a small village where scarves were hand-woven with friends.

The shack where the community’s stock was kept served as a showroom and sales outlet.

One of the weavers proudly showed us her work and that of her colleagues.

She told us:

  • That everything is made without machines
  • It is a natural process from start to finish
  • It takes two to three days to finish a scarf
  • Dyes from nature are used
  • Poor farmers trying to earn extra money that way

Our first purchase

the scarves are purchased one by one from the weaver
Shoes off and picking out scarves in a cross-legged position

It looked good, no two scarves were the same. Naturally, we wanted to support this welcoming, poor community.

A charity we could give as gifts to our friends and wear ourselves. Win-win, in other words.

Why not start selling these beautiful scarves in the Netherlands and Belgium? The idea was born.

We bought 20 scarves and took them to Europe. The response from friends and family was enthusiastic.

How they were made in a sustainable artisanal way and supporting poor farmers appealed to everyone.

Visiting the country and shopping

At the market in the Netherlands, we sell scarves

A lot has happened since our visit to this village. We have crisscrossed Thailand, spoken to weavers, inspected and purchased scarves. We now know a lot more about dyeing and weaving the yarn. And our customers benefit from that.

cotton harvest
Cotton, just harvested

And we continue to buy scarves from the weavers. We regularly travel to the Netherlands to visit event markets in the periphery. In the meantime, our scarves can be ordered online.

In the shop

dyed cotton
The yarn hangs to dry after dyeing

The scarves on this website are already in the Netherlands. After ordering, we make sure the scarf arrives in your letterbox quickly.

And if you don’t like the scarf, you can return it to our postal address in the Netherlands. We will then refund the purchase price.

But take note!

Once unpacked, you won’t want to part with this unique piece of craftsmanship.

You have been warned!

Also read: Why it’s not just a scarf

3 thoughts on “About us – Behind the scenes of TheHappyScarf”

  1. Liebes The Happy Scarf Team,

    zunächst congrats, ich bin von eurer Idee beeindruckt und die Schals sind wirklich wie ein Stück Glück und Gemütlichkeit!
    Ich würde mich interessieren, ob Sie auch Baumwollgarne verkaufen und gerne bestellen. Ich freue mich über mehr Info – eventuell Farben, Preise und auch auf eine zukünftige Bestellung!

    Herzliche Grüße,
    Daniela

  2. Liebe Daniela,

    vielen Dank für Ihre begeisterte Reaktion auf unser Projekt.

    In Thailand ist Baumwolle ein knappes Gut und wir wissen, wie besonders es ist, dass wir Schals und Tücher aus Baumwolle anbieten können.

    Angesichts der begrenzten Verfügbarkeit können wir kein zusätzliches Garn exportieren. Das gesamte verfügbare Garn wird sofort zu Stoffen verwebt.

    Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

    Benny und Harco
    http://www.derschal.com
    http://www.thehappyscarf.com
    http://www.staatjebeeldig.com

  3. Daniela Vassileva-Vladkova

    Eh, schade! Benny und Harco, vielen Dank für die Antwort, viel Glück und schöne Grüße!
    Daniela

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