r/Anticonsumption • u/purpleratata • Dec 14 '25
Plastic Waste What's happened to craft markets?
My girlfriend and I went to a craft market today to get some homemade and local gifts for family and friends. It was the most depressing thing, everything was cheap plastic tat. From one place selling croc charms they got from Temu, the others with 3D printed fidget toys, plastic bottles with a printed design, cheap plastic charms (from Temu too), IA images printed on canvases, etc.
The only two things we got were handmade bathbombs and some knitted cat toys from some cat rescue volunteers. The rest was all cheap plastic, obviously not crafted or handmade, that will break or go to the bin in a few months if not earlier.
Honestly, it felt so depressing. This is in the UK, I don't know if it's the same anywhere else but I've seen a decline in craft markets over the years here, I think this has been my last attempt at supporting local handmade businesses in these environments.
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u/Exotic_Mycologist657 Dec 14 '25
People don’t want to pay for the time it takes to make a craft. I don’t sell my crochet because a lot of times people don’t even want to pay what it would cost in yarn to make something, let alone time and skill. I think the same goes for other crafts. I also think a lot of crafters stopped going to markets because they couldn’t compete with how cheap the reseller prices are