The year the industry got rearranged

2025 was not a normal year for the craft trade, and any honest look at 2026 has to start there.

Joann closed all of its roughly 800 stores in early 2025. For much of the country that removed the default place to buy fabric and yarn in person, and the gap is still being filled. Source: widely reported, including NPR, cited in US Chamber of Commerce, CO-

Design Group Americas also went through bankruptcy and liquidation, hitting the supply side rather than retail.

Tariffs and the elimination of de minimis shipping limits disrupted supply chains, and yarn and ribbon factories closed in the US and Canada despite tariffs being intended to protect domestic manufacturing. Source for both: Craft Industry Alliance, Craft Industry Reflections on 2025 and Predictions for 2026

Participation is high. The trade is under pressure.

72% of US adults completed a craft in the past 12 months. Source: Mintel, Arts and Crafts Industry Trends 2024

Fabric, craft and sewing supplies stores in the US: $5.3 billion in 2025, across 38,137 businesses employing 70,874 people. Revenue fell at a compound annual rate of 1.4% over the five years to 2025, with 2025 itself forecast up 1.6%. Source: IBISWorld, updated April 2025

Nearly three quarters of adults made something this year, and the shops that sell them the materials are shrinking. The distance between those two facts is the opportunity, and it is the argument for putting brands in front of buyers directly.

Quilting specifically

About $4.5 billion annualized, with growth visibly slowing. Consumers have turned selective, are shopping from their own stashes, and Etsy sales have stagnated. Source: Craft Industry Alliance, drawing on thirteen industry leaders including executives from Lion Brand Yarn, Michaels, Cloud9 Fabrics and Simplicity

Who is crafting, and why

The average quilter is 60 or over, while the 25 to 44 cohort is increasingly drawn to crafting. Source: Craft Industry Alliance, cited in US Chamber of Commerce, CO-

Nearly half of US adults reported experiencing stress in the past year, and craft is increasingly chosen as a way to manage it rather than as a way to pass time.

Almost half of consumers say home decor motivates their crafting, and cost-conscious attitudes resonate particularly with women and crafters aged 55 and over. Source for both: Mintel

Colour, now and next

Where the market is now. Pantone’s Colour of the Year for 2026 is Cloud Dancer, PANTONE 11-4201, described by Pantone as “a lofty white that serves as a symbol of calming influence.” It is the first white Pantone has ever chosen. Sources: Pantone, CNN, TIME

For this industry a white is unusually workable. It is a ground rather than a statement, which throws the emphasis onto texture, stitch and yarn structure instead of asking colour to do the work. It also sits naturally alongside the wellness framing drawing younger crafters in.

Where it is heading. WGSN and Coloro have named Luminous Blue, Coloro 125-28-38, as Colour of the Year 2027. Clare Smith, Senior Colour Strategist at WGSN, describes it as “both mysterious and eccentric, with versatility and a broad appeal that will resonate from occasionwear to active.”

WGSN frames 2027 around interconnectedness, and says the colour “bridges the past, present and future”: lapis lazuli, one of the oldest and most prized blue pigments, alongside cobalt, which powers the lithium-ion batteries of the energy transition. They also tie it explicitly to traditional craft and dyeing techniques that transmit knowledge across communities.

The S/S 27 key colours alongside it are Energy Orange (018-57-34), Pop Pink (151-73-22), Meadowland Green (050-61-19) and Clay (014-60-13). Sources: WGSN, Colour of the Year 2027, WGSN and Coloro press release

A calming white now, a saturated blue and a bright key palette next. For anyone buying or developing toward 2027, that is a clear direction of travel: the quiet, texture-led year gives way to colour returning with confidence.

What the trade expects in 2026

From the Craft Industry Alliance round-up:

  • Connection over convenience. Community and education rather than competing with online on price
  • Personalisation and self-expression, particularly in jewellery and appliqué
  • Garment and bag sewing growing beyond the traditional quilting base
  • Values-driven branding outperforming hype-based marketing
  • Handwork as a wellness practice, explicit rather than incidental

The headwind: small retailers are squeezed as rising health care and food costs eat into their customers’ discretionary spending.

See it on the floor

h+h americas 2027 runs May 5 to 7, 2027 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, with the conference day on 4 May.