Wool
Millions of people around the world get pleasure from knitting, whether they are knitting by hand or using a home hobby machine it is a productive hobby that can be done whilst talking, watching TV etc. and of course being a skill is something that has an aspirational element to it as well.
Most developed towns have at least one wool shop or a knitting machine shop that also sells wool/yarn. You probably don’t notice them unless this is a hobby that you are interested in but they are out there and are quietly making profits
Unlike sewing most people don’t want to buy one kind of wool/yarn and make a sweater. The skill in knitting is in interweaving different wools/yarns to make patterns as well as varying the stitches. This means that people want to buy several different wools when they start a project and often have some left over when they finish. These may get used in the next project or simply be left lying around for when a suitable project does come along.
There are two ideas for making money here, the first is to facilitate the swapping of these extra bits of wool/yarn, either through a system where you buy and sell at a mark up possibly based on weight, or length or simply by taking a flat membership fee and allowing people to swap what they have. Both systems could be facilitated online
The other idea would be to simply by large quantities of wool in bulk and then re-wind it into smaller lots and sell it for a profit. There is no reason that you couldn’t do this in conjunction with the first ideas. If you are particularly industrious you could also buy nasty colours that no-one wants from your local yarn shop and then re-dye them.
Distribution can be done using the following channels: -
Ebay
Website
Advertise
Knitting clubs
Shop
Ebay has 1900 listings for yarns, 561 of which are blue, and 22 of which are light blue. This level of detail is fantastic if you are looking for something very specific. The fact that most listings have pictures and you can see what you are getting must make this an ideal marketplace for knitters the world over, I mean what store has 1900 yarns in it and stores them in a way that you can find what you want easily?
There are 703,000 listings under “Yarn Swap” and a further 632,000 under “wool swap” on Google so you will be getting into a fairly competitive market. Having said that, if you simply want to drive business to a website that stocks your yarns then an Ebay store may be the answer. There are over 3000 Ebay stores that sell yarn but providing you plan to promote your store offline and/or through online activities other than search engines this does not matter. The benefit of using an Ebay store as opposed to a dedicated website is that you benefit from the Ebay search mechanism.
Advertising can be on or offline but should target your given audience. Sticking a notice up in the local community centre may get you some customers but putting an advert on a knitting website or forum will bring you more from around the globe. Equally an advert in a knitting magazine in your country or state will bring in more customers that are likely to buy; international shipping for wool can make it less attractive due to the shipping cost.
There are all sorts of clubs and organisations that organise group projects and competitions. To find local ones simply ask in your local knitting shop, or look for courses at local evening classes. If you can’t find one then organise one yourself, after all the greatest entrepreneurs often create their own markets. You could organise a club that meets regularly or a class and make sure that your members/students know they can buy yarn from you directly if they want to.
Opening a shop is an expensive proposition and most towns only seem to have one knitting store. Providing you keep an eye on the start up costs, keep décor to a minimum and rent somewhere in a back street (B/C grade location) you should be able to turn a profit. Similarly to an online store you will need to promote the store and make sure that people know where to find you. Offer a specific sourcing or dying service to stand out from the crowd and keep the more discerning customers coming back.
www.alibaba.com has 17000 listings for yarn suppliers and a further 9000 for wool suppliers. If you plan to buy in bulk and rewind into smaller lots then these are the guys for you.
I think the over-run and swap idea has merit however and if you can find sufficient people who are willing to part with their partially used skeins then you may well be able to pick up cheap wool and sell it on at a profit. Providing everyone benefits there will be little back lash against you making money out of it.
In the UK we call Yarn “wool” hence the somewhat stilted start to this idea. It was only when I started searching for wool that I found this out. The internet remains US dominated.