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Etsy’s AI Problem

One year after examining the potential impacts of generative AI on creative industries, it’s clear that tools like those on Etsy are both useful and disruptive, leading to policy clarifications and heightened awareness of AI-generated content’s prevalence and challenges.

Navigating the Public Domain: What Craft Businesses Need to Know

For crafters and other creators, the public domain is a goldmine of opportunity for inspiration and material for their creative work. There are, however, a lot of misconceptions about what “public domain” means. The challenge is knowing what’s in the public domain, and what you can use it for.

Go Imagine a Marketplace that Helps Charities: Jon Lincoln Did

When it comes to businesses, Jon Lincoln is a wide-ranging maker. The Boston-area entrepreneur has launched a comedy club, as well as a document manager for insurance companies. But his latest product, Goimagine, is a maker marketplace with a difference.

Buying and Wearing African Wax Prints: An Exploration

African wax prints are fabrics with a complex and nuanced history and, although they’re trending on the fashion runways, some consumers question whether wearing these garments is cultural appropriation.

How to Make Your Website ADA Compliant: A Basic Guide

Curious about ADA requirements for business websites? An increasing number of plaintiffs are filing claims for damages against businesses, alleging that their websites aren’t accessible to all. Take your first steps at making your digital presence compliant with the ADA.

Tips for Dealing with Difficult Customers

Customers are like snowflakes; no two are alike.  Some are wonderful people that reinforce your belief in humanity while others make you question why you ever got out of bed. Thankfully, most customers fall somewhere in the middle and are pleasant, happy people. It’s important to recognize the potential high maintenance customers before you accept their orders and to be aware of potential business challenges you may face.  So how do you spot different personalities? 

Aurifil Takes Step to Offset Plastic Waste By Partnering with The Plastic Bank

At the end of January the Italian premium thread brand, Aurifil, announced a partnership with The Plastic Bank, a social enterprise based in Canada that aims to clean up plastic waste from the ocean while providing work opportunities for people living in poverty. Most weights of Aurifil threads currently come wound on plastic spools.

UK Sewing Magazines Show Lack of Diversity in Cover Models

In 2016 Rumana Lasker looked at 52 sewing magazines published in the UK that year and realized that every single one featured a white woman on the cover.

“One of the things that struck me the most…is the feeling of being undervalued- as a consumer, as a person,” says Lasker a British sewer who was a quarter-finalist on the Great British Sewing Bee. “Because it is no exaggeration to say that by failing to represent us, they are telling people of color that we don’t matter.”

Ethical Dilemmas of Providing Free Content

In the race to gain blog readers and newsletter subscribers, the craft industry has adopted the motto of “free.” They hope offering free patterns as lead magnets will lead to future sales. Many in the industry aren’t buying it. Others still feel that approach works.

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