We’re so pleased to bring you this special episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast. This is a recording of the State of the Industry panel discussion which took place live on stage on May 6 at h+h americas 2026 in Chicago. With over 800 people in the audience, our panelists dove into the biggest issues and ideas the crafts industry is wrestling with right now. It was an exciting conversation among four industry professionals each of whom has a unique vantage point and perspective.
Our panelists included crochet designer Natalie Thomas of Detroit Knots, CEO of the sewing notions company Kearing based in China, COO and President of Michaels Nicholas Bertram, and independent retailer Erin Love of Firecracker Fabrics in Pittsburgh. We hope you enjoy listening to this conversation, and we invite you to join us at h+h americas 2027, which will be held May 5-7 in Chicago.
We begin this panel discussion with brief introductions. Then we talk about the bankruptcy and. closure of Joann last year and how that has impacted the industry over the past 12 months. We discuss shifts in the craft retail environment overall.
Next, we dive into retailers diversifying their product assortment, bringing in new categories such as cross-stitch or embroidery, or expanding from yarn into fabrics. The panelists weigh in on whether this is a wise decision and on ways to do this successfully.
Our paenlists address the economic conditions our industry is currently facing including tariffs, inflation, and shipping and freight costs. We talk about how businesses are dealing with these changes and actions businesses can take to defray these costs.
Our next topic is trends. Our panelists talk about whether they follow trends, how they are discovering what consumers will want next, and how their consumers are finding trends. Related to this topic, we discuss social media use and how social media platform changes have impacted business in the past year.
We talk about how to nurture the next generation of crafters and how to reach more diverse audiences who craft or could become interested in crafting.
We touch on the importance of environmental sustainability and the changes businesses are making in order to become more eco-conscious.
At the end of the panel, we talked about how to encourage new shop owners and help them succeed. We then take a few questions from the audience before closing.
