The Yarn Consumer Survey details yarn shopping trends over the last year. Online yarn shopping continues to trend up post pandemic.
At h+h Americas 2024 Jan Hurwitz, General Manager of Berroco, presented a summary of the results of the Consumer Yarn Survey. This survey is in its second year and its goal is to gain better knowledge across a broad range of knitters, crocheters and yarn enthusiasts about demographics (including age, gender, and employment), buying habits, sources of inspiration and pattern selection, and frequency of knitting and crochet at all skill levels. Over 7,000 consumers responded to this year’s survey.
According to the survey results, the average age of yarn consumers is 58 and the median age is 59. The vast majority of yarn consumers, 98%, are female and their average household income is between $72,000-$91,500. 48% of yarn consumers are retired and 31% are employed full-time.
When it comes to specific crafts, 73% crochet while 84% knit, but 58% do both. 69% of knitters also crochet, while 79% of crocheters also knit.
53% of knitters knit every single day, but only 27% of crocheters say they crochet every single day. Clothing items, accessories, and home décor were the most popular types of projects (this question was not broken out by knitting or crochet). Baby, toys and amigurumi, and menswear made up the remaining types of projects.
Young yarn consumers start, and finish, far more projects than any other demographic. Respondents under the age of 18 report starting an average of 30 crochet projects and finishing 24, or 35 knitting projects and finishing 27 (depending on their craft of choice), annually.
Shopping behavior changes from the pandemic are still present when it comes to how yarn consumers are buying yarn today. On average, respondents are making slightly more purchases online than in-store, and they’re spending more per purchase when shopping online. 56% report that they buy more yarn online now than they did last year. Still, 38% of respondents say they prefer shopping for yarn in person.
It’s notable that younger makers, especially, are shopping online. Yarn consumers in the 25-34 age bracket spent an average of $411 online shopping for yarn in the last year, for example, versus $215 in stores. And the youngest age bracket (under 18) spent $310 online and $226 in store, spending just $119 less overall than the 55-64 age bracket, so the yarn industry’s youngest consumers are definitely spending their disposable income on their hobby.
When it comes to preferred type of fiber, the survey didn’t break out respondents by knitting or crochet, but wool yarns were most popular followed by blended fibers, synthetic yarn, cotton yarn, and just 2% of respondents preferred luxury yarns.
Consumers overwhelmingly prefer to get their patterns from online marketplaces (64%) and online stores (19%) and 70.4% say they get their inspiration primarily from Ravelry.
Abby Glassenberg
Abby co-founded Craft Industry Alliance and now serves as its president. She’s a sewing pattern designer, teacher, and journalist. She’s dedicated to creating an outstanding trade association for the crafts industry. Abby lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
A very interesting report. Thank you, Jan.
As a knitting and crochet teacher for young yarn consumers, I am privilege to witness first hand the love young yarn consumers display for yarns. Hence my advise for yarn and craft supplies company is to invest in passing on skills to the younger generation. This report proves that they spend almost all their disposable income on yarns, hence proving my theory RIGHT!
Thank you, Jan. The graphics are very helpful! (Yes, I prefer charts to written instructions ;))
Very interesting information. Two thoughts: while the largest 10 year block is 65-74, the 35-65 blocks total 50%, a higher percentage; it would be interesting to include weavers in this survey as well as other fiber enthusiasts. For instance, I weave, knit, crochet and my primary fiber practice is contemporary coiled basketry. I use commercial knitting yarns for all of these.
Personally, I’m spending more time and money online because my LYS’s, several in the metro area, often don’t carry complete color lines, stock sweater-quantities, or have specific tools and accessories I need. They will cheerfully order anything, but hardly have any advantage over online sources as they no longer have color cards. Driving an hour round-trip is not worth repeating just to pick up an order.
This information is very valuable to me as I am opening a brick-and-mortar yarn shop. Thank you for sharing.
As an eco-friendly knitter, it’s so nice to see that a natural yarn (wool) tops the charts by quite a long way! I’d got the impression that most knitters still knit with manmade fibres, so this was really heartening to know.