Handmade hobbies have been around forever and can be a great way to start a side hustle.
Handmade hobbies have been around forever and can be a great way to start a side hustle.
Owning one-of-a-kind pieces and helping small Australian businesses are a high priority for many people at the moment, so now is a good time to start selling. If you’re thinking of creating handmade goods to sell, social media is a great place to discover what’s popular. There are always trends in this space, as well as those products that stand the test of time.
In this post we highlight current trends, and the types of products that are always popular.
How to spot trends
The best way to identify and evaluate trends is to do your research! Here are some suggestions on where to start.
The popular social media platform is one of the best places to start your research. Focus on DIY and handmade oriented hashtags to get a clear picture of what’s hot. If you’re looking for what’s popular in your country, use hashtags that are location based.
Here are some examples:
#handmadefeaturesau
#handmadeau
#handmadeinaustralia
#australianhandmade
#supportaustralianhandmade
#loveaustralianhandmade
#handmadeaustralia
#handmadesinydney
#handmadeinmelbourne
#handmadebrisbane
#handmadeindarwin
#handemadeinadelaide
#handmadeinperth
#aussiehandmade
#aussiehandmadeloves
Look at one hashtag and scroll through posts that contain this hashtag.
Popular posts aren’t always fresh off the press, so choosing the Recent filter gives you a better idea of what’s trending now. Scroll through and make notes of any common themes, or products.
To the right we can see handmade soaps, earrings and baby clothes are popular! Keep in mind that the longer you scroll, the better idea you will have have.
You can also click on individual business profiles to see what else is popular on their page. Delve deeper and check captions on posts to see if a popular product has been restocked, comments for customer reviews, and tagged photos and stories to see if any customers have shared pictures of their purchases. You can really learn a lot from a successful business by analysing their instagram profile!
If a business has a website you may want to look and see what products are sold out, have been restocked or are on sale.
Google trends
Did you know you can check Google Trends to see how popular a search term has been? You can filter by country, time period and search category.
In this example we looked at macrame in Australia over the past year.
100 indicates when the term peaked in popularity, 50 shows when the term was half as popular and 0 means that not enough data is available for the term. Here we can see that macrame was most popular from April 12-18 2020 and is still trending!
Handmade trends
Now that we’ve touched on ways you can research trends, let’s take a look at what’s hot now, and what’s always popular.
Handmade candles
Who doesn’t love a handmade candle? They are so versatile: you can experiment with scents and holders (a simple glass jar or how about a teacup?) and are perfect gift ideas.
Face masks
With masks being mandatory in some states and schools, and many people choosing to voluntarily wear them, people are creating fashion-friendly alternatives to clinical masks. Why not? It’s a great way to look stylish and stay healthy.
Macrame
These beauties are made by knotting and tying materials like hemp, yarn, jute or cotton twine.
Popular designs are bohemian inspired wall hangings, pot hangers and table runners, and smaller items like key rings and coasters.
Scrolling through posts using the hashtag #macramesydney will help give you an idea of the types of products available.
Earrings
Handmade earrings have been a staple in the DIY world for a long time, and the trending material is always changing. A year ago acetate was the rage, today it’s polymer clay earrings. These are made out of baked clay, which is known for being incredibly easy to work with.
Earrings that have stood the test of time are those that are made out of semi-precious stones or natural materials.
Baby and children’s clothes, fashion accessories and toys
These are always popular – and we can see why! There are millions of ways to show your creativity and create cute items for little ones.
The below items are popular in this area:
- Baby and children’s clothes
- Accessories: beanies, bonnets, mittens, booties
- Bright bows and hair clips
- Toys: rattles, knitted toys, building blocks
- Name cards
The handmade world is a growing industry and we hope that we’ve given you some ideas on how to discover what’s hot, and even things you can make! Whatever you do, don’t forget to take time to assess what you enjoy doing and before you know it, you’ll be turning your passion into a profit!
