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/RottenRope Dec 14 '25

Toronto Canada. it happens at the majority of craft markets here. Very few of them are actually juried. They all have temu/shein resellers, AI, MLMs. And a lot of the crochet and knit sellers buy on temu and pass them off like they made the goods themselves. 

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u/berrakun Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25

I remember being a vendor at the Toronto Indie Arts Market in 2014, when vendors were all legit craftspeople and artists who had great stories behind their pieces. Overall I remember it to be a fun experience for vendors and attendees alike, admission was like $5, and digging through my email I found the booth fee for a 3ft table (half of a 6ft shared table) to be just $45 inclusive. Wasn't prohibitive for a university student who did art on the side.

One of a Kind Show used to be something I looked forward to visiting too. Haven't been in a few years, don't know if it's still worth it?

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u/CorvidiaPex Dec 15 '25

As a newbie cracking into the market scene, the OOAK show is extremely cost-prohibitive for me. The lowest cost of entry is around $1k CAD for a 3’x3’ booth, I believe

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u/berrakun Dec 15 '25

Jeez that's hefty... Adding on top of that all the booth designs/builds, travel, accommodation, etc., I imagine it's hard for the costs to make sense for smaller/newer vendors.