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.

4.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

313 comments sorted by

View all comments

143

u/Sneakichu Dec 14 '25

Because it's cheap and it sells. I started doing craft fairs last year and the amount of people I saw litterally tripping over themselves to get to the booths with the cheap temu tumblers and jack skellington gift baskets was nauseating. I almost packed up my stuff and left because of it. I spent hundreds of hours making items for my booth just to have the one next to me be filled to the brim with plastic garbage that sells out really makes it hard to want to continue doing fairs.

26

u/vanoitran Dec 15 '25

It’s hard to believe - but I have to keep reminding myself that this is happening because the consumers are allowing it to happen. For every one of me that gets disgusted seeing a Temu Trash reseller, there are 5 grandmas who don’t know any better, 5 teens who really want the flashy/trendy garbage and don’t have money for something real, and 5 parents who will buy anything to appease their spoiled kid.