How expensive can yarn be…
What price is too much for handspun yarn?
…before it is considered too expensive? If you have ever decided to sell your handspun yarns, you’ve run into the problem of pricing them appropriately. If you’ve only sold a few skeins, you probably judged your yarns based on wildly subjective matters (eg.): 1) an approximate time spent spinning it; 2) what fibers you used and the costs of the raw materials; 3) how much you loved that skein. Depending on who bought it, they might have bought it because they were a friend/family member, had to have this unique item, or the price equated to perceived value. Of course, there are lots of reasons why people bought your handspun and you may have had more rigid and objective measures for calculating a price. In my own early days, I often priced handspun based on subjective and emotional parameters and my prices greatly reflected those feelings. When I launched the custom spinning aspect of Expertly Dyed, I needed a system that was fair and reliable. It also needed to reflect what the consumer(s) would support. I posed the question to myself: ‘What price is too much for handspun?’
In strict terms, there’s no obvious or objective option for determining what the market will support in terms of value; that’s something you develop a sense for the more research you do and seeing what sells and for what price. Of course, I can’t help but be an academic so I began thinking about ‘value’ in the abstract sense.
Determining value in modern society is based on capitalistic attributes. Until the early 2000s, Americans (because I am one) tended to buy stuff because it was inexpensive simply because it was cheap. The frugalities of our parental and grand-parental generations had filtered down to kids born in the late 70s and 80s. Using coupons and cooking cheap and wholesome meals was the prerogative of many families in the 70s and 80s, even among the lower middle class (because even my family had a fairly large disposable budget annually). But I think food back in those days was far less processed than it has become in 2020. (To be clear, I mean food that was widely available at grocery stores. I’m exempting organic food markets and specialty shops that have cropped up everywhere over the last decade or so—I’m talking about general trends.) We have come to expect that we can get quality nutrition out of cheap food today. Though I would believe that many consumers no longer equate these two ideas, I was shocked to learn that this notion continues to persist. And it isn’t just in America.
In the UK, I have overheard many young university students exclaim positive sentiments over certain food items being cheaper and somehow ‘better’ because of that fact. I have fallen prey to the same claim in the early 2000s. When you’re strapped for cash, you gamble your health for a cheap meal even if that’s not at the forefront of your mind. When I visited my mother earlier this year, I was upset at the size of a chicken breast; she was happy to have so much meat for such a cheap price. For someone who is accustomed to the chicken of both the UK and Korea, which produce ‘reasonable’ sized breasts and are appropriately priced, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of quality nutrition I was going to eat. My mom has to live on a tiny budget every month so I can see why she was happy (and she cooks at home a lot to save up for fancy date night dinners). I live on a tiny budget each month too, but I have reservations about quality and price. Clearly, our perception of value is different.
So, how does my weird ramble about food relate to pricing handspun yarn? Without minimizing the complexity of the creation and perception of value, I think part of how we price items is through awareness. If I were to say that this ugly painting was made by some famous artist, you might feel like the painting is somehow less ugly and worth the listing price. Handspun is very similar. Many consumers are not aware of the efforts to make a skein of yarn. And the differences in prices reflect different perceived value. I definitely undervalued my first few handspun skeins; then I overcompensated on the value of my handspun when they just never sold. I have finessed my pricing scheme to better reflect the market and perceived value of handspun in the last five years. Though it is still difficult to sell handspun yarn, what could I state as the upper limit of how expensive yarn can be?
Let’s take this as an example. It’s 160 yards and weighs 10 oz. It’s a 3-ply super bulky yarn with enough yardage for two projects. What should its price be?
Obviously, I have the justification to charge $100 for this skein, based on material costs, processing, spinning, plying, listing, and paying myself a fair wage for my labor. Unfortunately, few people would look at the same photo and arrive at my conclusion. It’s too expensive and I agree. I could list this skein of yarn for 10 years straight and maybe someone would buy it at this price. If I broke it down like this:
Cost of materials: $25 just for the wool; $3 for the angora, sparkle fibers, and sari silk
Listing costs: $0.20 plus 2.7%
Fair wage based on dyeing, processing, spinning, and plying ($10/hour, 3 hours): $30
then I think people would understand the price tag. Even if I was meticulous in recording the costs of ever step and selling my handspun based on a strict algorithm, and including it in the respective listing, it would still appear too expensive. Part of the reason is awareness. Many buyers would find something similar but cheaper. They might knowingly exchange quality for price if a company produces a yarn which looks like mine but is $25 instead.
In reality, I have listed this handspun at $54. I am essentially breaking even. So why do I list it at such a cheap price, relatively speaking? It comes down to elevating awareness and garnering new consumers of handspun. I am showcasing the wonderful qualities of having a nice yarn that supports a small business. I am demonstrating quality in products (and customer service). I am elevating the importance of sourcing and sustainability. What I do as a business to help and promote organic and humane practices allows this new buyer to walk away feeling good about a product/business that cares. This good feeling stretches a long way.
Not all handspun yarns can follow this philosophy or else I’d never make a profit. However, I believe that some products have the ability to function as ambassadors for a cause.
I know I have made some assumptions about producers and buyers that might not reflect reality but I am not an economist nor do I study small scale business more broadly. I do, however, think a lot about ancient economies and the perception of value because this is what I research M-F every week. Trying to think through the archaeological record to understand why ancient people did what they did is exceedingly difficult to research but is never a fool’s errand. We talk a lot about visibility of crafts in Iron Age Britain because we are trying to tease out the minutiae of this society in those terms. The ways we can go about a discussion about craft, visibility, economy, and other social pressures in ancient societies isn’t too different to the methods we use to discuss modern issues of profit, sustainability, and desire between businesses and consumers.
I still price my yarns based on very subject parameters but I always list them with what I feel is a fair price. Perhaps this is the wrong attitude to have, but a good seller must always keep what the market will support in mind and that means pricing based on intuition. The price the market will support is always fluctuating and a good seller will also bear this in mind. A good seller will get out of sync with the market occasionally, and I think that’s normal. Small businesses rarely have the ability to drive the market so we must respond to changes accordingly. If you see a product that seems outrageously priced, perhaps react more kindly as I have learned to do. Ultimately, there is no ‘too expensive’ but there is an ‘un-sellable’ price for handspun yarn.
As usual with these thought posts, I have no real conclusion. This is a point of discussion and reflection for everyone who reads this. Consumers drive the market just as businesses do. I think many of us have become smarter and more compassionate consumers in the last 10-15 years. I hope this trend continues. I will be waiting with my bag of wool.
