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Issue 16– May 2008

 

International Show Report: Handarbeit & Hobby

Linda Pratt of Westminster Fibers gives us a glimpse of Germany’s influential trade show.

At the beginning of April, the European yarn industry holds its annual trade show, Handarbeit and Hobby (H&H), in the Messe, or central convention area, of Koln (Cologne), in northwestern Germany. More than 200 vendors exhibit for three days on two large floors, showing products for crafts from hand knitting and crochet to sewing, quilting, felting, embellishing, needlework, beading and more.

Read the full article and much more in the May 2008 issue of Yarn Market News.

Fall Forecast

If you didn’t already know it, knits are big—and set to get bigger. Big yarns, big stitches, big shapes equal big effects.

By Erika Knight

Textures and stitches are large, often overscaled. The soft yarns are being overblown to accommodate the new volumized silhouettes, and detailing too is exaggerated and dynamic. Think big collars, big buttons, big belts and big sleeves—wide, gathered, three-quarter or ballooned. Conversely, tailoring techniques create slimmer, more streamlined and simpler shapes.

Read the full article and much more in the May 2008 issue of Yarn Market News.

Transitions: Act II

Hardly anyone starts his or her working life in the yarn world. YMN follows up on your follow-your-bliss stories.

By Cheryl Krementz

Where do you come from? Not where were you born or where do you live, but what did you do before you did this? Only a minuscule percentage of yarn-industry types actually begin their careers in the yarn industry. We are an amalgam of talented transplants from every job sector imaginable. We come from Wall Street, the Ivory Tower, LaLa Land. We’ve earned MFAs, MBAs, Ph.D.’s. We’ve affixed to our names the letters VP, Esq., CEO, M.D. We’ve worked center stage, behind the scenes, pulling the strings.

Read the full article and much more in the May 2008 issue of Yarn Market News.

Natural Selection

Keepin’ it green is not always as easy as we’d like. Can eco-consciousness consistently echo practical business realities?

By Leslie Petrovski

Last year, when YMN first reported on organic yarns, we turned the Internet inside out searching for organic fibers. Today, it’s a different story, with yarn companies big and small rolling out ball upon ball of organic yarn. Though we’re a long way from saying “organic is the new eyelash,” the availability of organic yarns is growing, and companies are hinting at new and greener releases come fall. But what exactly does “green” mean? And for yarn stores, does green yarn translate into green cash?

Read the full article and much more in the May 2008 issue of Yarn Market News.

All in the Family

Some yarn companies have found that good business is all relative.

By Daryl Brower

We’ve always known that the yarn industry is a pretty tightly knit (pardon the pun) community. Walk the aisles of a TNNA show and you’re bound to bump into someone you know: Design directors, marketing managers, editors leave one company to work for another, on the whole keeping friendly relations along the way. It’s a cozy industry of small shops, personal relationships and a common love of fiber. So is it any wonder that many of the companies supplying the yarns we all love so much are family affairs? YMN dusted off the family albums to get the back stories on some of our best-known yarn companies and find out what it’s really like to grow up in the business.

Read the full article and much more in the May 2008 issue of Yarn Market News.

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