The Crafts Report: Public Opinion

Will Sales of American Crafts Be Better, Worse or Unchanged in 2004?

What’s your opinion?

Each month, The Crafts Report invites readers to respond to the Public Opinion question. Responses are published in the magazine.

This month’s question is: How do you chose which shows are right for you?

Please respond by Dec. 8. Responses to this question will appear in the February 2004 issue.

E-mail: publicopinion@craftsreport.com; or answer online here.

Send responses to: “Public Opinion,” The Crafts Report, Box 1992, Wilmington, DE 19899; fax: (302) 656-4894.

Anonymous responses will not be published.

We are currently running 32 percent ahead of last year due mainly to the strength of the housing market in our area. Both primary and secondary home sales (and construction) remain strong. As a result, we are doing very well with decorative home furnishings.

We have also had a strong, positive response to our expanded, up-scale jewelry offerings. We have no reason to believe that these trends will weaken in 2004.

Philadelphia, Pa. I have to think that sales will be better. Christmas is a good indicator for me of how sales will be the following year.

Worse. Overseas competition is eating us alive. I can’t compete. After paying for a mold, the supplies, firing (God forbid if a person doesn’t have a kiln), paint, and other supplies, plus overhead … it just isn’t cutting it.

I think sales of American-made crafts will continue to worsen in the coming year. The general public is being exposed to more and more low-end, imported crafts, thanks to the proliferation of discount and department stores that offer such work.

On top of that, the poor economy is leaving less disposable income in the pockets of many of those buyers who do appreciate the value of work that is handmade in the United States. Hopefully, time will prove me wrong, but I’m not optimistic now.

I’m worried about how big-name designers signing on with discount stores will impact the handmade market. If shoppers feel that what they buy from Target is a “designer” product because it has a designer’s name on it, then the value of handmade may be in jeopardy.

Of course, (these items) could also start to educate shoppers about the value of a good product. Then maybe it won’t be such a big leap for them to start seeking out handmade work.

I am very hopeful that sales of American crafts will be better in 2004. I don’t think it has as much to do with American craft as it has to do with the economy. I am starting to see a slight improvement in sales as this year winds down and hopefully this will continue into 2004. Some consumers will forego the impulse buys until they feel comfortable with where the economy is headed.

Better. The entire arena is learning or has learned how to sell products to this economy. Sales will be up!

As the economy recovers, hopefully sales of crafts will recover as well. But people may not buy luxury items like they used to. So we have to be ready for that. I think artists who make functional items will be better off than those who make purely decorative crafts.

So many people have suffered in this tough economy that even if it rebounds back to how good it was in the late ’90s, buyers still may have trouble making expensive purchases.