Craft Industry Titanic

 I watched a video today from Spellbinders. Spellbinders is a small business that designs and sells craft supplies, mostly focused on paper crafts like scrapbooking, card making, and rubber stamping. They were discussing tariffs and the state of the industry in our recent US economic climate. It was very enlightening, not very surprising, and the comments were amazing. 

So here's what I got from it and thoughts that ran through my head as the video rolled on.

1. Tariffs aren't bad in and of themselves. Tariffs protect US production, supposedly, by raising the price on imported goods. Higher priced imported goods will therefore not be purchased as the consumer will buy the lower priced US goods. This is the theory. In reality, I don't know if it works so easily. Most things made in the US have components that are made in other countries and if those goods have an import tax (tariff) then the US can't produce the same item for less. And corporate greed won't allow said "comparable goods" to be sold for less. FICTIOUS EXAMPLE: If a die cutting machine is made overseas and imported, it would sell here for $200. A die cutting machine made here and not suffering the tariffs could be sold here for $140. However, the manufacturing companies that make the US die cutting machine may realize that NOW that the competition has a higher price, they can increase their price and still undersell them. So they can raise the price of the US die cutting machine to $180. SO, the consumer still deals with higher prices.

2. No country can make everything they need. The video was about the crafting industry which is a "non-essential" market. No one NEEDS to buy craft supplies to survive. But we live in a global market and if we don't manufacture things from the ground up, then we have to get raw materials from somewhere outside our borders. That means importing. I understand tariffs on finished goods but tariffs on raw materials are strange. Why make the manufacturers you want to succeed pay more for the raw materials they need to make goods?

3. We lack the infrastructure for manufacturing as well as skilled labor. There was one manufacturing facility in the US to make steel dies for die cutting machines used in many paper crafts. It closed up abruptly. For lack of business? Hell no. For a lack of skilled labor. It's all well and good to say "make it in the US", "invest in the US", "bring back manufacturing jobs", but the reality is that most people don't want to work those kinds of jobs. It's a tedious assembly line in sometimes hazardous conditions. And let's not forget, that corporations don't really want to pay their workers what they are worth. There are no guarantees that manufacturing jobs would pay any more than McDonalds. It would take tens of millions of dollars to construct new manufacturing infrastructure and tens of years to get it up and running. If the craft industry isn't making money (due to having to pay large tariffs and charging higher prices), where is this investment money going to come from?

4.  The Craft Industry is made up of mainly small businesses. Most of the "big names" in the crafting industry have less than a hundred workers. Spellbinders, which recently bought up Hero Arts, has about 60 employees. Many craft industry businesses are family owned and operated. Most source their designs to be manufactured elsewhere. Small businesses across the board are hurting due to economic uncertainty. It's not all about tariffs; its about the bouncing ball that makes predicting prices impossible. The craft industry is much like the chocolate business (that I know a little bit about). Chocolate products need to be thought out and manufactured BEFORE a season hits. Easter candy needs to be made at Christmas so that there is enough to meet demand (and turn a nice profit because no one wants Easter candy in July). Same with seasonal craft supplies. No one is thinking of making Christmas cards in February. Mostly. But designs need to be created and products thought out so there is time to have them made before consumers want them. And consumers of craft or DIY items want them earlier than most because they then have to make the said item themselves. EXAMPLE: If I'm making my Christmas cards, I need to start making them in November at the latest, so I have time to get them in the mail to people for Christmas. If those supplies don't become available until late October, I may not have time to make the cards at all. You crafting people know what I mean.

5. The Industry will raise prices or go under. Unfortunately, this is the reality of many small businesses. However, as bad as I feel about it, I also feel that the industry has a chance to shift. It may not be as profitable and it may cause a downsizing but it might be better than closing down for good. The craft industry is a bit to blame for the situation. Most companies release new products ALL the TIME. Gina K Designs puts out a new release of stamps, dies, stencils, and what all EVERY MONTH. Spellbinders has subscriptions that get sent EVERY MONTH of supplies. Tim Holtz and Ranger Ink release new products from 4 different designers at least 4 times a year. Other companies release items at least for every holiday or season. As consumers and crafters, we feel the compulsion to buy what's trending, what's new, what everybody else is using. We long-time crafters have rooms of hoarded supplies, some still unopened in our craft rooms, waiting to be used. We haven't used them because before we get the time to, the industry has shifted onto the next big thing. 

Maybe it's not about new items. Maybe for a little while, when times are tough, the industry could cut back a bit on the new stuff and invest in TEACHING. I certainly feel that learning new skills is more valuable than increasing my supplies. I would pay for knowledge as I wouldn't pay for "stuff". Maybe instead of a subscription box filled with things I won't ever use, I could buy a subscription to monthly learning live videos. Show us how to use the OLD stuff that we still have! And if we don't have the exact thing, show us how to adapt what we do have! Reassure us that we just need to sit down and make things, that they don't have to be perfect, they don't even have to be shared; they just need to bring joy in the making of it. 

See, the industry itself has been so product based that it has devalued the heart of the hobby. We papercraft to release stress, to find and share joy, to brighten someone's day with a card, to preserve memories with scrapbook pages. We have stashes of things like papers, and stamps, and dies, and inks. Produce content that encourages us to use it. 

In the comments section of this video, I saw many content creators voice that they were getting concerned over their jobs. If the companies didn't have money to make products, they wouldn't have any money to pay them or provide free products to them and their jobs would be cut. My gut feeling is that this is NOT the way to go. If you cut content creators at this point, you really will sink. Most crafters at this point watch their favorite creators via YouTube or FB for ideas and tips and tricks. I would say that their jobs are the most secure. Teaching how to use what you have is WHAT the CONSUMER wants. I can't tell you how many times I see that pop up in comments of videos. Show us some old, well loved stamp sets and tell us why you still use them or why not?

The industry has conditioned its consumers to want the newest things and only the newest things. The industry has been retiring items after a single production run, and you never see the item again. Especially in paper. So, if we consumers DON'T buy the newest thing, it's gone. We have become conditioned to buy it now, even if we don't have a plan for it because we may not be able to get it again. Now this industry is feeling the pinch of this anxiety inducing form of consumerism. 

Now obviously, I'm not an industry insider. I'm not an expert in the craft industry. Maybe only new items sell well. Maybe those many commenters I see in so many YouTube livestreams are the minority. Maybe we don't buy enough stuff to impact the bottom line. But we have been asking for the craft industry to SLOW DOWN for years now and no one has listened. We've wondered when you were going to notice the many of us who went on "no buy" weeks, months, and even years. We've begun to shift our focus from the newest thing to the most versatile things, to the "fill the gap in the collection" things. I am often left feeling guilty when I'm on my No Buy year because I hear that I should support these small businesses. I follow their socials and try to like their posts etc. But sometimes that is hard, too, because the posts are aimed at selling you something. 

Look, I. GET. IT.

I don't want these businesses to go under. I hope a happy medium can be found. I REALLY want to buy the new Spellbinders Cardstock in 12 X 12. It's hard to find thick cardstock in that size BUT I also need to pay my bills. My fear is that it will be gone or discontinued before I even get a chance to try it. THAT fear is built on years of the craft industry clearing out the old and making way for the new. The industry conditioned me to feel this anxiety (called FOMO, fear of missing out) and it takes a while to realize that when one thing goes away, something else will come in to replace it. 

I. GET. IT. 

I just don't think the industry gets it. 

I feel unheard and unseen by this industry. We, who have been hoarding craft supplies, who have inherited our mother's craft supplies, who are drowning in craft supplies, just want the industry to acknowledge that they once made THIS and here's an idea of how to use it NOW. We just want the industry to keep things around for longer than a season. Stop retiring things and let's not pretend like these old things don't exist.

Ok. I need to stop. I'm just going off on tangents of griping, now.

-Wy