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Tomorrow, October 1, Craftsy.com will unveil a redesign of their website as well as refreshed branding. According to an email sent to instructors at the end of August from Jessica Hutton, Lead Instructor Liaison, the reasoning behind the changes is that “in speaking with many of our members, we realized that by integrating project ideas, learning, and supplies in one place, we could make it easier and more fulfilling for members to get down to what they love to do: make!”

“Think of us as the hostess of the crafting party!” Hutton states as a way of explaining the new brand positioning.

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Preview of the new Craftsy site design.

old-craftsy-site-design

Current Craftsy site design due to be changed on October 1, 2016.

Right now the top navigation bar on the Craftsy homepage is organized into three main categories: online classes, kits, and supplies. In the drop down menus users can select a particular craft such as quilting or knitting, or a particular category of supply such as fabric or yarn.

The new design includes a new, top level navigation bar that is organized by craft with, it seems, drop down menus that will include everything from online classes to kits and a la carte supplies all in one place.

I asked Craftsy’s CEO, John Levisay, what prompted the changes. “For the last six years, Craftsy has produced an unprecedented library of more than 1,300 classes across 16 categories. We will continue creating new classes that support the Craftsy community’s desire to make something that means something,” he said in an email. “We feel that integrating learning, supplies, patterns, and kits within these categories will be a better experience for our members, and that is one of the driving forces behind the site redesign.”

The Denver Post reported in October of last year that Craftsy had laid off 32 employees, equivalent to 12% of its workforce. The majority of those jobs were in online class production, leaving 65 employees in that department. In August of this year the Post reported that Craftsy had cut an additional 24 content positions.

At nearly the same time, according to the Post in August, Craftsy opened a 180,000 square foot warehouse in Indianapolis “to handle its ecommerce expansion” and brought on 40 new people to work in logistics. Levisay told me in an email that these changes “are not directly connected, no.”

Within the last year and a half Craftsy has begun manufacturing it’s own yarn, Cloudborn, as well as its own quilting cottons, Boundless. The company also sells supplies from other major craft supply manufacturers including Moda, Robert Kaufman, RJR, Cascade Yarns, Artyarns, Madeline Tosh Yarn, among many more.

Levisay declined to release revenue details or insight into the financials of the classes or supplies sides of the business, instead stating “…both are incredibly important to us, and we plan to continue building both sides of the business.”

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