Hey Maker! If you’re a small business owner, you know how hard it is to decide what inventory to offer and what your customers will buy, especially at markets. You typically don’t take orders at a market, so you need to have actual items available for purchase. I usually do one or two markets during the holiday season and I am by no means an expert. So I polled my followers on Instagram who do markets and asked them for their best selling items! I have rounded up my favorite patterns/designers in each category to give you a list that I hope will be helpful as you prepare for another successful market season. You got this!
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Hats
Hats is the obvious first category, right?! I selected a few simple, gender neutral patterns that would be great sellers at markets. If you live somewhere cold, you will most likely sell a lot of hats in a variety of sizes.
The first is my own. The Lazy Day Beanie is a bulky weight design written in 8 sizes. It’s quick and great for the whole family. You can top with a pom pom or leave it plain! I almost always use Lion Brand Color Made Easy for this design!
Next is The Dawson Beanie by Knot and Stitch Design. It is a super bulky pattern that is especially beautiful with luxury yarn! Geneva also has a baby, toddler, and child size pattern available here. This is a great gender neutral pattern with bigger yarn!
If you are a crocheter, you will want to check out Cozy Moon Designs. Her Juneberry Beanie and Linden Beanie patterns are both ones I have made and sold at markets in the past. Her Breck Beanie is also a great neutral design for anyone and it also includes a cowl pattern! I’m not a huge fan of crochet beanies so you can believe me when I say these are good ones. 😉
Another crochet beanie I have personally made and sold a lot of is the North Shore Beanie by Poppie Joe & Co. Megan’s pattern uses super bulky yarn and is SO quick. I can make one in 30 minutes. It’s also super flattering and cute when worn.
Accessories & Small Items
This is a category you do not want to skip because these are going to be your best sellers. If you’ve ever been to a market then you probably have wished you could support every single small business there. You will have a lot of people come by your table or booth who want to support you in a small way but either can’t afford a large ticket item or just don’t need one. They’ll most likely pick the cheapest thing on the table so they can have something they like but not break their budget. It’s a great idea to have some items like keychains, scrunchies, dishcloths, etc. that are quick for you to make and affordable for this type of customer!
I absolutely love Christina Ann Studios’ 1987 Scrunchie, Halcyon Keychain, and DayBreak Trivet patterns. I have made all three of these and they are exceptional patterns. I really just love everything in her shop so go check it out for tons of great market product patterns!
I just came out with a new dishcloth and matching towel pattern! You can find The Cali Color-Block patterns for FREE on my blog. Or you can purchase the ad-free and printer friendly PDF for $3 on Ravelry. I have lots of other free dishcloth patterns, including knit ones, on my blog as well.
Cozy Moon Designs has the CUTEST drink sleeve patterns. I always sell a lot of the Morning Hustle Cozy! I also love the Sunset Chill Cozy and the New Moon Cozy. People love drink cozies and it’s a great idea to display them on a cup so people don’t have to ask what they are.
I also have a blog post showing you how to make cute coffee sleeves with little patches on them!
Another one of my own patterns that is quick and great for markets is the Arcadia Coaster pattern. You could make sets of 4 or 5 and tie them with some twine! I used Billow cotton yarn from KnitPicks but you can substitute and try different things.
Another fun item to take to markets is ice cream cozies! These are quick to make and really cute with a logo tag on it. Make sure you have some way to display it that customers can tell what it is because most are confused by the name. This is an excellent pattern by The Pink Cedar.
Other winter items…
Unless you only sell hats or you don’t offer knitwear at all, you’ll want to have some other winter items to choose from. People like to buy these things as Christmas gifts even if they aren’t shopping for themselves.
My Hazel Headband pattern is great for scrap wool and quick to make. I sold more headbands than hats last year, actually. A lot of women like to wear their hair up or don’t need something quite as warm as a hat here in Virginia.
Christy of Farmhouse Knits designed these beautiful Essential Fingerless Gloves with super bulky yarn. They are a classic design that I believe would be a great seller at markets!
Cowls seem to sell better than scarves because they’re easy to wear and style. I designed the Stone Street Cowl with super bulky yarn and a big crochet hook. It has a knit look and is super warm and quick to make with exactly one skein of yarn. I typically use Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick for this one.
Larger Home Items
Pumpkins are super fun to sell at markets in the Fall and seem to be a great seller! Fit Food Art Shop has a GREAT pattern because it’s 5 in 1! Her pumpkins are goals.
The Madeline Wall Hanging is quick and easy to make with one skein of super bulky yarn. This is from my Madeline Collection and I usually take one or two to markets and it gets a lot of compliments and adds another level to your display.
I also always take a couple Rainbow Pillows. This gorgeous pattern is from Poppie Joe & Co and the colors are endless. They add a nice touch to your display as well!
Baby Items
I am not recommending any baby items for markets and suggest you sell them at your own discretion. Some larger markets may ask if you are CPSC compliant and if your products have been tested for safety hazards. You can google all of this to answer your own questions, but I just want to bring your attention to it in case you do sell baby or children’s items!
Need tags and poms?
Looking for good quality logo tags or poms? I get my faux leather tags here, and my poms here. Both are great shops with quality customer service, bulk discounts, and quick shipping.
So tell me, do you sell at markets? What’s your best seller?! Feel free to leave any item recommendations in the comments too! And as always, if you liked this post, please pin on Pinterest. 🙂
XO, Kalley
