Artists, retailers think the crafts market is on the upswing
About the Survey The Crafts Report’s Economic Impact Survey is an informal study conducted annually by The Crafts Report staff. It’s designed to: • determine the effects of the past year’s economy on crafts businesses; • provide a general feeling of the financial outlook of the crafts field for the coming year. The survey was published in The Crafts Report’s October and November 2003 issues, which is mailed to subscribers and sold on newsstands nationwide. It was also made available on The Crafts Report’s Web site, which is accessed by both subscribers and non-subscribers. Respondents were from: Overall results are based on 77 total respondents (58 craft artists, 18 retailers, 1 show promoter). |
The prospects for the crafts industry seem to be looking up as we begin 2004. A majority (60 percent) of respondents to our 2003 Economy Survey feel their financial outlook is good to excellent in the coming year. And while 24 percent are concerned about their own business outlook in 2004, none of the survey participants who responded to this question labeled their outlook as “very concerned.” A year ago, 28 percent of respondents to our 2002 survey were concerned or very concerned about their business outlook for 2003.
Nearly half (48 percent) of those responding this year think the market for the crafts field as a whole will be good to excellent in 2004. We also found that 70 percent of the 18 retailers and one show promoter in our survey think the outlook in 2004 for both themselves and the crafts industry is good to excellent.
The hopes for 2004 are in stark contrast to the year just ended when 62 percent of our respondents say they had stagnant or lowered overall sales. A large majority (73 percent) of the respondents told us that they believe the poor economy hurt their sales in 2003. And while sales at wholesale shows were up for 53 percent of the 45 respondents answering that question, 70 respondents reported almost the same drop (51 percent) in sales at retail shows.
Mixed News in some crafts media
Comments from some of our survey participants also indicate that while some segments of the national crafts market are improving, some crafts media or styles are still faltering. A wearable fiber artist in New York saw her revenues decline in 2003 by almost 25 percent over 2002. “Retail sales are holding steady,” said Margaret Lent in October. “The wholesale market is way down.”
Kay Stratman at Tie Tracks, which sells hand painted ties and scarves in Germantown, Md., agrees. “Wholesale seems to be affected adversely a little more,” Stratman writes. “I have had more retail shows [in 2003], but sales have been down from the highs of earlier years.”
But Patti Dowse, a fiber artist for 32 years, says while her sales of leather bags and purses at wholesale shows were “off by 10 to 25 percent” she still increased her total revenues. “Orders came in from the Internet,” Dowse says. “[Wholesale] buyers seem to be traveling less.”
Home decor and comfort items sold well
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“I make functional/sculptural work (dual-duty items) and sales are on the upswing,” she says. “I look forward to 2004 being a banner year.”
A retailer in North Carolina observed the “strong second home market” in that state fueled the same trend in crafts buying. “Our strong sales experience [in 2003] is due primarily to sales of decorative accessories,” says this retailer, whose personal and industry outlooks for 2004 are both “excellent.”
Connecticut artist Patricia Burling, who has been weaving custom designed rugs for 23 years, says the interest in home décor is a welcome trend. “It seems to me that people are hunkering down and decorating their homes,” says Burling whose rug prices start at $70 a square foot. “There is a renewed interest in art for the home.”
Luxury purchases continue for some
As in 2002, high-end work still had buyers. Michele Tuegel, director of the Florida Craftsmen’s Association and manager of the non-profit’s gallery, says “people with money are still spending it on luxury items.” The gallery’s sales were up in 2003 when Tuegel also spent more on advertising.
Tuegel says she is trying to attract a new generation of craft customers and adding new promotional ideas at the gallery. “We all need to continue to educate the public [about crafts],” says Tuegel, “and also embrace new young artists and young collectors.”
Stratman, while reporting lower overall sales in 2003, also had increased sales of her pricier work. “I notice I am selling more of my newer high-end product and less of my low end,” she says. “Go figure!”
But, Bill Koch, who has been producing highly decorated gourd works for the past nine years in Oklahoma, says he hasn’t benefited from this trend. “The current market seems to be down somewhat,” Koch told us in October. “Most of my expensive work hasn’t sold this year.”
And a ceramics artist in Oregon, while acknowledging that customers can still be found for “very large ticket items — over $500,” also noted that the economy kept the average consumer from making expensive purchases in 2003.
One retailer in business for about five years in Wisconsin says that gallery increased sales by selling “more one-of-a-kind items at a higher price.” While agreeing that the economy is a concern, the retailer also believes savvy merchandising can still make a difference. “Retailers can compensate by looking for niches in the market that are not filled and going after that,” says this retailer, who reports a 38 percent increase in 2003 sales over 2002.
Economy not only factor fueling lower sales
Many artists and retailers cited other issues besides the national economy as factors affecting their 2003 sales. In business for more than six years, Stratman charted her sales both before and after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and says the usual market fluctuations disappear after that date. “The bar chart goes steadily down beginning in September 2001,” she says. “It’s interesting and depressing.”
Stratman and others also blame the U.S. war with Iraq for lowered consumer interest in crafts purchases. “As long as the U.S. is at war in the Mideast, I think sales of art-related items will be depressed,” says Stratman.
Wood artist Mike Rhonehouse, among the few artists who told us they are very concerned about the outlook for the crafts market in 2004, shares this view. “People purchase less art when they feel concerned and threatened about their lives and the world,” says the West Virginia artist.
Other artists say that their prices were in the wrong range in 2003. “The public is more careful shopping at craft shows and price points are critical,” says Massachusetts artist Bob Cory. “Exhibitors who don’t change with the times will have trouble surviving.”
Cory says his sales revenues were down slightly in 2003, but he plans to adjust his product and do more retail shows in 2004.
Teresa Mathews, a jewelry artist and sculptor in Arkansas, says the higher cost of doing retail shows hurt her bottom line in 2003. “Entry fees went up 100 percent, but profits were only at 10 percent,” Mathews reports. “I’m spreading out to other states where business seems to be looking up. And keeping my fingers crossed.”
A few artists told us that unseasonable weather on the East Coast put a damper on their crafts sales. “My sales for 2003 would have been much higher had it not rained,” says a show promoter in Maryland. “Sales were very strong considering bad weather and low attendance.”
And a fiber artist who hand dyes wool strands before weaving them into material for high-priced vests and scarves, says the cool temperatures and rain were a disaster for her business in 2003. “The dyes have to set for 48 hours at temperatures of at least 70 degrees,” says Margaret Stalmann of Handwoven Heirlooms in Maryland. “I was panicking during the summer because I usually do marathon sessions of the dying outdoors on my patio while it’s hot.”
As a result of the lost production time, Stalmann, in business for 14 years, had fewer items to sell at fall retail shows in 2003.
Hopeful signs for sales in the new year
In addition to anticipating better sales in 2004, many artists also saw encouraging signs as 2003 ended. “The craft market dropped like all businesses after 9/11, but you can see an improvement in people buying now,” says Texas artist Hellen Martin, who decorates gourds and her husband’s woodcarvings with paintings, wood-burned designs, and pine needle coiling in Southwest themes. “As always, fall/winter shows are better than the spring/summer shows.”
Lent says customers at 2003 shows were still giving her “good feedback” on her work and her goal has been to just carry her 20-year-old business through the economic downturn. “A good [holiday] season in 2003 would put us back on track,” Lent commented in her survey.
Another longtime craft artist in Illinois says contacts and experience paid off in 2003 and is optimistic about 2004 — with a few reservations. “I benefit from a high level of repeat business, enhanced by 31 years of being in business, 18 of those years in wholesale sales,” says this artist. “But, I am concerned about the increasing amount of [mass-produced] work … creeping into handmade sections of wholesale shows and diminishing its distinctive appeal.”
And then there’s artist Rusty Dorr, who says she is eliminating one-third of her 2004 show schedule because she has too many orders from shows in 2003 for her handcrafted deerskin and fur wearables. In business fulltime for 33 years, Dorr lives in the Catskill Mountains of New York and sells almost exclusively at retail shows in the northeast.
“I believe that really fine and unusual craft still has a real audience,” Dorr says. “The work I do happens to be wearable. That is a market that has a broad audience and sometimes I also have a client who becomes a collector of my work. Very satisfying, and indeed, fun!”