February 2022
Over the last couple of days, I’v been watching with interest of a situation play out in the knitting community about Those Two Dudes from eCom Crew who shared a podcast about them buying the knitting (dot)com URL for $80 000.
During the podcast, they talked about how they thought knitting was a niche market that they could use to build content from ‘grandmas who knit’. Their aim was to build a 7-figure brand within 12 months making it into an e-commerce brand that was supported by content. The aim to be the number one knitting brand on Amazon.
You can read about their strategy in this blog post which was resurrected in Wayfinder (which they since deleted due to the backlash of the knitting community) called Knitting.com Day 1 – Choosing a Niche and Paying $80 000 for a Domain.
However, this transcript of that podcast through Twitter tells you the enormity of their mistake. So this is blowing up in the #knitting community a really interesting way and is a great example of how looking at pure data can lead you to, well, wrong conclusions. So I'm going to listen to the pod cast and live tweet along the way. https://t.co/D1F2MDKaRM
Well, look at how ANGRY knitters became with their nonsense – and quite rightly. Do not assume the things people do for hobbies also must be created by hobbyists. The skilled professionals working in the knitting world are technical writers, textile experts, and math whizzes. Underestimate them at your peril.
Oh it was a joy to read how angry knitters were – men and women – who were doing this for their livelihood, livid that two men who don’t even knit thought that the hobby could come in and exploit others for their gain. Knitters and designers rallied online to make it known and help each other out.
Their aim was obvious. Cut their costs and maximise short term profits by saturating the site with crap without really understanding the niche industry, Knitting folks, there's going to come a time in the not too distant future when Those Two Dudes start trying to solicit patterns.
If you're an experienced designer, please give some thought to talking VERY OPENLY about why giving your work away for 'exposure' is a terrible idea.
This thread explains the anger. I have figured out what it is about Those Two Dudes that bothers me!
I mean beyond the obvious.
What it is about their approach to business that feels like an absolute affront when turned on this community.
Because I understand why I'm so mad now.
?/
I for one, will never buy or support anything from this site as I prefer to buy my yarn and accessories from local yarn stores, from the pattern designers themselves or from spinning mills to support the industry and keep it alive.
