Knitters Expand Their Craft With Subscriptions

Before Megan Graddy co-founded the PostStich knitting subscription service, she had served as a publicist and had segued into small business marketing. Her mother, Amy Rosenbaum, was a longtime knitter who had worked in yarn stores in Florida and had a knack for selecting projects for her customers. Graddy recognized her mother’s talent for curation, and they decided to start a knitting subscription service.

The two began PostStitch in November 2014 as “the subscription concept was kind of booming,” Graddy told PYMNTS in an interview. There were other subscription models at the time, but the company found its niche in the higher-end, indie dyed yarn that consumers might not be able to find in their local stores. They wanted to “scratch the itch of helping people discover new yarns,” said Graddy.

PostStitch also sought to recreate the feel of a yarn store, where someone assists a knitter in selecting a project and guides them with the right needle size and tools. Today, the company operates on a recurring subscription model. Knitters visit the PostStitch website, which presents two types of subscription: a KnitStitch accessories subscription or a SockStitch subscription, which provides a skein of sock yarn and a sock pattern.

The KnitStitch subscription is available in three levels to cater to various budgets and knitting styles. The KnitStitch Big option includes “the needles, the yarn, the printed pattern and all the tools you need,” said Graddy. By contrast, the Middie subscription offers the project without the needles, and the Lite subscription offers the project without the needles and only some notions.

Once consumers choose a subscription, they can select a payment term. PostStitch offers month-to-month, three-month prepay and six-month prepay subscription options. Customers can pay for their subscriptions with a credit card or PayPal. The subscriptions ship on the first of every month or the next business day through USPS First Class or USPS First Class International mail.

PostStitch is not alone in offering plan options to customers: According to the PYMNTS Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, 65.7 percent of B2C firms offer subscription options.

Platform for Discovery

The PostStitch subscription service aims to help consumers discover new yarn, notions and patterns from makers, dyers and designers from around the world. The company follows industry trends by keeping up to date with social media and attending trade shows.

While the company sometimes uses big-name manufacturers in the industry, Graddy said they also like to showcase “up-and-coming indie” designers to “spread our support throughout and let our knitters decide what they like best.”

“It is challenging them to try a new color, or encouraging them to try a new skill,” she noted.  Graddy noted that PostStitch enables consumers to discover new options to become more well-rounded as knitters, which helps the industry as a whole. PostStitch subscribers might then visit yarn stores to shop for something new or tell the stores about a new yarn. They might also tell their friends about a new designer, which helps boost sales.

PostStitch claims a wide range of customers that runs the gamut from college students to active military members to grandparents knitting for their grandkids.

As the company heads into the future, it aims to keep its curated projects on point and to continue discovering new artisans in the industry.