Crochet Business School Podcast · 2026-05-12 · 14 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
29 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
The host argues that while selling handmade crochet items typically struggles to generate sustainable income, positioning crochet as collectibles offers a rare exception. Drawing parallels to booming markets like Pokémon cards, Lego sets, and vintage toys, the episode details how collectors willingly spend significant money on items perceived as both desirable and investment-worthy. The core strategy involves creating limited-edition amigurumi figures or other crochet pieces with developed character backstories, rarity tiers, and display-ready presentation. Successful execution requires substantial backend work: developing character names, backstories, and interconnected narratives that create emotional investment. The host suggests pricing individual figures at £200-300, with options for numbered editions, tiered rarity levels, and mystery boxes (similar to trading cards) to drive repeat purchases. Revenue models can blend direct selection (pay more for rarer characters) with mystery purchases. While not guaranteed to succeed, this approach builds loyal fan bases willing to pay premium prices. The host also mentions licensing as an alternative for using established characters, though costs prohibit most small businesses. Social media promotion through YouTube, TikTok, Reels, newsletters, and Etsy is essential for building awareness and demand.
Yes, but only with significant backend work. Collectors will pay £200-300+ per figure if the items have compelling character stories, limited editions, and perceived rarity or investment value - similar to how Pokémon cards or Lego sets command premium prices.
Collectors are drawn to items with backstory, character development, and scarcity. The pricing must reflect exclusivity (higher prices actually increase perceived value), and items need display-ready presentation on stands with numbered editions or tiered rarity levels.
No, unless you obtain an expensive license, which is rarely granted to small businesses. Creating original characters and universes avoids copyright infringement and allows you to build your own intellectual property and fan base.
Through mystery boxes (buyers don't know which character they'll get), tiered pricing (rarer characters cost more), character storytelling that connects figures into a cohesive universe, and consistent promotion on social media, YouTube, TikTok, Reels, and Etsy.
You can explore alternative collectible formats (key rings in eggs, chenille plushies in themed sets) that appeal to different audiences like children collecting with pocket money, but you still must develop a coherent theme and reason for people to collect multiple pieces.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode centers on a single core idea - using crochet as collectible items with numbered editions and backstories - and repeats this concept across 14 minutes with limited novel tactical depth. While the collector psychology framing (rarity, investment mindset, storytelling) is solid, there's significant padding: the Kinder Eggs analogy, the Star Wars Lego anecdote, and the Yoshi bucket example all make the same point without adding new operational insight. A B2B operator learns that storytelling and scarcity matter, but gets few concrete mechanics on pricing tiers, audience acquisition channels, or how to validate demand before building inventory.
You can create a collector's line. Limited edition crochet something that is going to be perceived as desirable as a collector's item.
The back work is what's important. Creating the story, giving people a reason to care, that's what makes these things collectible.
The idea of applying collectible psychology to handmade goods is moderately fresh within crochet, but the frameworks themselves - scarcity marketing, numbered editions, mystery packs, fan engagement through storytelling - are well-established playbooks borrowed directly from Pokémon, Lego, K-pop figures, and sports cards. The host presents these as applications rather than novel insights, and doesn't challenge or reframe conventional collectible strategy. No counterintuitive claims or first-principles thinking are evident.
Pokemon cards, which are insanely popular at the minute, to Lego sets, and they're willing to drop a lot of money on them.
you can treat your figures the same way. That creates a demand for people buying more figures. A bit like Pokemon cards, you never know what cards are in the pack that you buy
This is a solo host episode with no guest. The host appears to be a crochet business instructor sharing observations and anecdotes, but demonstrates no evidence of having scaled a collectible crochet line themselves or having direct operating experience in collectibles commerce. The episode relies on secondhand examples (friend's Lego purchase, cinema bucket sales) rather than firsthand practitioner insight.
I've been saying for a long time that it's very, very difficult to make a living from your crochet
So recently I was talking to someone, and a couple of weeks ago it was Star Wars Day, May the fourth. He's a big Star Wars fan, and he celebrated by going to the Lego store
The episode names specific collectible categories (Pokémon cards, Lego, K-pop figures, sports cards, rare coins, stamps) and provides one concrete price anchor (£600 Star Wars Lego, £300 per amigurumi character, £30 Yoshi bucket). However, there are no metrics on market size, sales velocity, conversion rates, production costs, or examples of successful crochet collectible lines. The pricing suggestion (£200 - 300 per amigurumi) is stated without data on what the market will actually bear or what margins look like after materials and labor.
You're talking two, 300 pounds a character. For every amigurumi figure you make, that's the price tag.
he's a big Star Wars fan, and he celebrated by going to the Lego store and paying £600 for a brand-new Star Wars Lego set
This is a monologue without a guest or interview dynamic, so there is no host-guest dialogue to evaluate. The host asks no questions to external sources and produces no intellectual push-back or challenge. The structure is pure exposition with anecdotal examples; there is no interrogation of assumptions (e.g., whether a crochet collectible line can realistically achieve scarcity perception, or whether the £300 price point is tested). Self-directed monologues lack the rigor of genuine conversational inquiry.
So let's get into crochet collector's items.
So I would love to hear what you think about this, about, um, the creation of characters, the storyline, using your crochet as collectibles. Please do let me know.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Making a living from the crochet that you make and sell isn't easy, but there are a few ways that it's possible. One of those is by turning your crochet into collectors items. But how do you create a line of collectibles and is there really a market for them? Thank you for listening to the Crochet Business School podcast. If you are loving the show, I would appreciate it if you would leave us a review here , and don't forget to
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
I've been saying for a long time that it's very, very difficult to make a living from your crochet when you sell what you make, that you need recurring income there as well. Now, there are exceptions to that rule, but they're very rare. But one of the ones that I'm intrigued by is using your crochet as collector's editions, collector's items, and appealing to the people who love to collect things. I think this is, uh, it's a very niche idea, but it can also be very lucrative.
So let's get into crochet collector's items. So if you're not familiar with the world of collectibles, this might sound insane, but there are a lot of people who are willing to spend a lot of money on collector's editions. Anything from Pokemon cards, which are insanely popular at the minute, to Lego sets, and they're willing to drop a lot of money on them. Actually, if things are priced cheap, they're not considered very good value.
Think about kids, what they like to collect. My son loves the little figures inside Kinder Eggs. They're cheap little plastic figures, but he loves them. He loves collecting them.
Are they considered a collector's item beyond kids? No. Adults don't really collect those, and if they do, it's something that's cheap and easy to do. The big must-have items for collectors are the ones that cost a lot of money, that not only are they seen as fun to have now, they're also considered an investment for the future.
So recently I was talking to someone, and a couple of weeks ago it was Star Wars Day, May the fourth. He's a big Star Wars fan, and he celebrated by going to the Lego store and paying £600 for a brand-new Star Wars Lego set, and he's absolutely thrilled with it. It's gonna take him a few days to build, and then he'll display it in his house for everyone to see. It's a collector's item.
He's willing to pay the money because to him it has value, and it may be worth something in the future as well. The point of this is that people are willing to pay a lot of money for collector's items, and actually the more it costs, the more they perceive it to be a must-have item, and this goes to the whole collector's mindset. You look at auctions from antique toys You know, the '70s Star Wars figures, the original Pokémon cards, magazines, um, comics from the original, uh, Marvel Comics, they change hands for, for fortune now.
The more rare it is, the more valuable it is and the more desirable it is for collectors. They're willing to pay a lot of money. A lot, a lot of money. And this is where your crochet comes in.
You can create a collector's line. Limited edition crochet something that is going to be perceived as desirable as a collector's item. Now, the thing that comes to mind for me is amigurumi figures. You can't use, uh, existing characters, so you can't take characters from, say, Star Wars or Disney.
That would be copyright breach. But you can create your own line, and actually, if you can team up with someone who is an artist and creates, um, fan art as well, these two go really well together because you can crochet the amigurumi figures of the, um, artist's creates. You've gotta team up because if you don't, you can't just take another figure because of somebody else. That's copyright breach.
That's gonna land you in a lot of trouble. But if you create your own line, you can create limited edition. You can create just the normal set, and then you can have, um, a character or two that is very rare. Only make a few of them.
Is this easy to set up? No. No, it's not. It does take a lot of work 'cause you've gotta give them the story behind it as well.
Who is each character? What's their name? What's their backstory? Why should we care?
You do have to develop that. But it means that you can sell your crochet figures for a premium price, and you will build a loyal army of fans. Now, not easy to do. You are gonna have a lot of setup, but if you do want to have selling your crochet as a career and having pay the bills, there is no way to do it that is quick and easy.
You have got to put the work into it to make it happen, and this is one of those where there's a lot of background work. Is it guaranteed to succeed? Absolutely not. But it is an intriguing idea that you could develop.
Having collections that h- are numbered, so each of your figures that you create, um, would have a number attached to them. They would have a different, uh, rarity for each character. And of course, you would have to have them on stands ready to display. They're not meant to be cheap, they're meant to be very expensive.
You're talking two, 300 pounds a character. For every amigurumi figure you make, that's the price tag. And you could have it that they can choose the more rare one and pay to have that expense. Um, the rarer it is, the more they pay, or you sell them as a mystery figure.
They get what they get. A bit like Pokemon cards, you never know what cards are in the pack that you buy, and you can treat your figures the same way. That creates a demand for people buying more figures. And for that price, it may or may not work.
But you can also mix the two. Have the ability to buy w- whatever figure they want. The rarer it is, the higher the price. The more common it is, the lower the price.
But you can also set up a listing for a mystery figure, where the price is somewhere in between, and they may or may not get something rare. That can be set up, but you gotta do the back work of creating the backstory for each character and telling us why we should care and how they all pull together. They need their own story. They need to fit together somehow, and that does take a lot of background work, 'cause then you gotta promote it.
You've gotta put it on your social media or in your Etsy shop or in your newsletters. Um, maybe use videos on YouTube or Reels or TikTok and really build that following. This is not something that happens overnight. But you put that work in, and you can develop a fan base that are willing to pay those prices for your amigurumi figures.
This is one way that you can make selling your crochet that you make, um, a business, and make it work by itself. It's, it's not an easy one. It is a very niche thing. It does take a lot of back work, but it is one of the ways that you can do it.
And it doesn't have to be amigurumi. If you can make something else work that, as a collector's item, that people are willing to collect, then you can do that as well. Maybe you are gonna target, um, kids who want to spend their pocket money. You can make little key rings in, um...
That come in some way as a, a collectible that are hidden inside eggs. Also something that's very popular with kids is just the eggs that they, they don't know what's inside. But again, you gotta do the back work. Figure out how to pull these figures together into a...
Or the key rings into a theme so that kids want them. It could be, um, plushies. Also very popular, especially with ones with the chenille yarn. Maybe there's a range, and they wanna collect them all.
However you choose to do it- You've got to make sure that you do the back work of building the buzz, as it were, and making people care about them, and that usually means creating a story behind each, um, each figure or each character that you create. The back work is what's important. Creating the story, giving people a reason to care, that's what makes these things collectible. If you don't have that, you've just got a series of figures that nobody goes, "Well, why?
Why should I buy these?" You do have to do character creation, storytelling. But if that's something that you're really into, then great. You you can combine the two and create this really, really nice line of your crochet figures or characters and have a business that runs on selling what you make.
The effort that goes into the storyline is what does the selling. You've gotta get that right. You can't just come up with something off the cuff. It's really gotta make sense.
It's really gotta tug at people's heartstrings and make people want to buy these things. Collectibles are massive, massive business. K- kind of everywhere in the world, people will collect all kinds of things. And yes, there are people there who have the money to do it.
Um, my friend who went and paid £600 for a Star Wars Lego set, he's not earning a fortune, but it's something that he saves his money for because to him it's worth it, and that's really what it comes down to. It's not if people earn enough to buy them, it's a case of do they value them enough to want to drop that money on it when they can? So there are people out there who'll spend a fortune. Um, in the US, sports cards, they are, you know, very highly valued.
Um, people will pay a fortune for rare coins, stamps. You know, if you look at what people collect, there's a lot of money trading hands with these things. Um, the K-pop figures, also very sought after. People will collect all sorts.
I went to the cinema the other week with my son, and it was the, um, Mario Brothers Galaxy movie was out, and the cinema was selling a collectible popcorn bucket in the shape of Yoshi, and it's really just a plastic figure that holds popcorn. They were selling it for £30, which I thought was ridiculous. I was very glad my son didn't ask for one. Um, but people were coming out with them.
They're walking out with these Yoshi figures, and they were willing to pay the money because they wanted to collect it. And if you're thinking that you can't create this storyline to make people care, but you do want to use figures from something popular like a cartoon or a film, the only way to do that and do it legally is to get a license. Now, these licenses, the more popular the, um, characters, the more expensive the license, and you can have to pay thousands upon thousands to get license for these figures.
If that's something you want to explore, then that exists. But for small businesses like us, those licenses are very rare. It is possible, but they are rarely handed out because these companies, Disney, Pixar, um, the Star Wars characters, they, they want to protect their image. So they are very, very careful about who they license, um, to create products with their, with their merchandise, basically, with their copyright figures.
But the licensing process does exist, so you can explore that route as well if you want to piggyback onto something that is popular. But you are gonna have to be prepared to pay through the nose for that, and then it's up to you whether you can get back that money or not through your crochet. So there are ways to be able to use, um, these popular characters, but it's gonna be hit or miss whether you succeed, and then you've gotta come up with a really tight plan to earn that money back that you are gonna pay for that licensing fee.
So I would love to hear what you think about this, about, um, the creation of characters, the storyline, using your crochet as collectibles. Please do let me know. If you're watching on YouTube, let me know in the comments. If you're on the podcast, you can come and let me know on Substack at crochetbusinessschool.
substack.com, 'cause I would love to hear your thoughts on this. So thank you for listening, and I shall see you next time for this episode. Bye for now.
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