Where are the Designers Going? The Economics of Knitting

In August I wrote this post about how many designers appear in Ravelry. In it I mentioned a shift in the responses when I send out a invitation to do an interview.  After a conversation with one of my peers about specific designers moving into other careers I looked back at my interview series. While many of those interviewees are either still active or in some cases retired due to age or the retirement of spouses, some have definitely left the industry. 

I sent out six emails to designer interviewees (mainly from 2010). I purposely chose ones that I could find no recent pattern releases for. My note read: I did a interview with you in 2010. Are you still actively designing? The reason I ask is I'm becoming aware of many designers who are dropping out of the knitting world. I'm working on a post on the topic. If you have changed your career focus and feel comfortable sharing a few of the details I'd love to hear about it.

I got two responses. Only one of the six is still actively designing. She had a name change that I was unaware of which is why I couldn't find recent patterns. 

The other one did give me a full answer, which I'm sharing with her permission in an anonymous way by changing the identifying details.

She said, "I would say that for me, it was a couple of factors: My husband and I are both self-employed. His company suffered during the 2009 economic downturn and basically all the income that my company was making went to keep us afloat. That left me no capital to invest back into my business. I don't say that with any kind of resentment; it was just what we had to do, and looking back, it gave me a good reason to get myself out of designing, because I was getting terribly burnt out.
 
I probably could have kept designing and made enough money to get us through the lean times, but I was getting tired of what I was seeing in the industry. I was tired of all the flame wars about intellectual property and knitters thinking they were entitled to do whatever they wanted to with patterns, as if designers were somehow part of the lofty 1% and were making a financial killing off knitters. I was tired of rude knitters expecting to get instant customer service at all hours of the day and night. I was tired of traveling, and it has gotten terribly expensive over the past decade. My kids were teenagers and getting ready to go off to college. I felt like it was really a struggle to keep up a continuous flow of creativity. In retrospect, it just seemed like a good time to make a change.

Being burnt out, I was ready to do something else, so I went back to school for a year and trained for an alternate career. I have a wonderful, flexible job that I love. I started doing other crafts, and now I really just have no desire to knit. My youngest child is a senior in high school this year. We expect to have an empty nest next year and I am looking forward to the free time to devote to things I WANT to do as opposed to things I HAVE to do.

I think there is a tremendous amount of competition out there from women who design knitwear with no intention of it being a business, and that does make it harder for everyone else. I have to say that Ravelry is a two-edged sword; it has done some wonderful things on the one hand and on the other hand, it has really affected certain parts of the industry rather negatively."


I was able to find one other designer's public posting about her career change in her Ravelry group. It is from Kristeen Griffin-Grimes.

"Thank you all so much for doing this revitalization!!! As many of you know, my full time business (and then some) is French Girl Organics and; leading our Cuvée:Wine and Cuisine Tours in France. I so appreciate everyone’s desire to keep French Girl alive and well on Ravelry and I will direct inquiries that I receive to this wonderful group! You all are the best…xoxo"

The Economics of Knitting - Free Patterns

Many designers publish free patterns. They see this as a way of getting their name out to the pattern buying public. At this point in my career I have no plans to release any free patterns. I get asked why I'm not doing free patterns often and we've discussed it at our Pro-knitters group frequently. The opinions of our members vary widely on this topic.

Some of the concerns of those who do not release free patterns include the undervaluing of the work of designers. They often feel that knitters need to be realistic about the actual costs involved in producing patterns which include yarn, sample knitting costs, photography and tech editing and layout. The thought is that we are educating the knitter to expect that patterns should have a minimal cost.

One of our members shared details of the graphic arts industry and how, to her way of thinking, freelancers destroyed the marketplace by undervaluing their work to such an extent that people could not make a living wage. 

Many feel that the knitter who wants free patterns may never pay to buy a pattern so perhaps they are not our target market and the effort is a wasted one.

Pattern support comes up as an issue because no one wants to have these patterns tech edited. Pattern support is a reality in this industry. Some long time traditional publishers do not have an online presence specifically because they do not want to do pattern support. Interestingly some designers see it as a major benefit because it allows them to improve their writing skills.

A member of an unrelated industry tells me that a lot of time is wasted listening to pitches for work by vendors that are completely under priced. He can't use the vendor as history has proven they either go out of business quickly or they can not maintain the low rate of the initial quotes. The price skyrockets on subsequent projects to make up for the loss on the original quote. His internal clients are constantly questioning why existing vendors are so expensive since "ABC company" quoted a much lower price?

I think that originally free patterns were distributed by yarn companies as a way of selling yarn and in that context they do make sense as the overall business is profitable. Some are designed by full time staff and many companies commission designers to create patterns for their yarn. That means the pattern is free to the customer but the designer has been compensated. 

Some bloggers issue free patterns as they see it as a thank you to their readers. Others admit that they are just bending to the pressure of the marketplace as many designers do release freebies. For these reasons, free patterns are usually super simple, small projects.  

I'm more interested in expanding our craft and I don't want to spend time producing patterns that are already out there in a similar form. My biggest concern is that I build a sustainable business model. I just can't see how free patterns play into that goal. What do you think?

The Economics of Knitting - How the Yarn is Chosen

A designers motivation in choosing a  specific yarn for a knitting project isn't always as simple as most knitters would assume. 

Sometimes the creative idea comes first and that drives the yarn choice. At other times the yarn itself suggests the project. 

However this is a business, so here are a few more motivations that may play a role in yarn choice.

If the design is for a yarn company who also sells patterns they only want patterns that will sell their specific yarn. That may mean a fabulous pattern is executed in a less than optimal yarn or that a very expensive yarn is showcased and it may not be possible to find a substitution. When I worked in my LYS the latter situation came up frequently when customers brought in patterns.

If the design is for a yarn shop they want patterns to sell standard yarn weights like DK, worsted or whatever type yarn they have invested capital in. That means a pattern that can be worked in many potential yarns and that can easily work with different budgets. Shops often buy patterns that support the yarn they order at the same time from the distributor.

If the design is for a designer's own pattern line they want to sell the pattern and have less interest in the yarn itself as long as it shows off the design features to their best advantage. After being burned several times by yarn companies discontinuing yarn immediately after I received it, I'm personally much more interested in working with yarns that have easy substitutes so I can sell my patterns.

Are there any other reasons that I've missed? Please feel free to comment.