12 Handmade Goods Business Success Stories [2024]
A handmade craft business entails selling own-crafted products on online platforms like Alibaba, Etsy, an independent website, or social media.
To succeed in selling handmade goods, you'll need solid creative skills. Your creativity can help you build a strong brand.
And with online marketplaces, handmade shopping has become a popular trend.
In recent years, consumers worldwide have shown their support of independent businesses and entrepreneurs, especially those venturing into the handmade goods business.
In this list, you'll find real-world handmade goods business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a handmade goods business that makes money.
1. Batch (Now known as Connect Gifting) ($1.8M/year)
Sam Davidson, the co-founder and CEO of Batch, and his co-founders came up with the idea for their business during a conversation about the lack of a one-stop shop for small-batch, handmade gifts in Nashville. They decided to start with a subscription box concept called Batch, offering four Nashville-made items each month. Their goal was to reach 200 monthly subscribers, but they exceeded expectations by hitting that mark in their first month and saw sales increase to 1,000 by month three.
How much money it makes: $1.8M/year
How many people on the team: 6
Regional gift and retail company Batch has grown its annual revenue to almost $1.8m by honing its operating model, targeting other cities such as its home base Nashville, and relying on repeat business by keeping purchase percentages for gifts at approximately 90%.
2. PortraitFlip LLC ($540K/year)
Sunny Choudhary, along with his co-founders Lavdeep Chahal and Shubhanshu Maheshwari, came up with the idea for PortraitFlip while searching for a platform that could deliver handmade portraits. They realized there were only a few companies providing such a service and saw it as a great opportunity. With a college side hustle, an initial investment of Rs. 23,000, and hard work, they were able to turn PortraitFlip into a successful startup yielding 3.5crs.
How much money it makes: $540K/year
How much did it cost to start: $60
How many people on the team: 15
PortraitFlip is a successful startup that delivers handmade portraits globally with a clientele base in the USA and yields 3.5crs through their 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, and they started with an initial investment of only Rs.23,000.
3. Waxing Kara ($396K/year)
Kara Brook Brown, the founder of Waxing Kara, came up with the idea for her business while working as an artist painting with encaustic, a paint made with beeswax. Through her beekeeping hobby, she became fascinated by honey production and the importance of bees to our food supply. This led her to start Waxing Kara, creating natural Bee Inspired food products and skin-loving bath and beauty goods that include ingredients made possible by honeybees.
How much money it makes: $396K/year
How many people on the team: 3
This case study follows the journey of Waxing Kara, a Bee Inspired® food products and bath and beauty goods business which generates $33K per month, and highlights the importance of inventory management, education, and relationships with customers and bee colonies.
4. Dox Design ($240K/year)
Kaila Piepkow, the owner and principal designer of Dox Design, came up with the idea for her business when she noticed a gap in the market for beautiful branding in the pet industry. After freelancing for about 6 months and receiving positive feedback from the pet community, she filed for an LLC and launched Dox Design. Since then, the business has grown from $4K to $12K in monthly sales, with over 12 clients and $22K in closed business in their highest month.
How much money it makes: $240K/year
How many people on the team: 2
Dox Design, a pet industry-focused design agency, grew from $4K to $12K in monthly sales since launching in 2016, with over 12 clients and $22K in closed business in its highest month by providing bespoke branding, graphic and website designs for pet businesses and animal lovers.
5. Just Artisan ($120K/year)
Just Artisan, a handmade-only marketplace founded by Marcello De Lio, has seen impressive growth since its launch in 2020. With $15,000 in sales during December 2020 and a strong customer base, the platform is on track for continued growth in 2021. De Lio's personal experience selling handmade goods and observing the frustrations of artists competing against drop shippers and facing rising fees inspired him to create a platform that supports artists and provides them with a true handmade marketplace.
How much money it makes: $120K/year
How much did it cost to start: $25K
How many people on the team: 2
Just Artisan is a handmade-only marketplace that has achieved over $15,000 in sales during December and is on track to expand with 400 vendors and 2,000 products since launching fully in June 2020.
6. The Patchsmith ($78K/year)
Cailey Golden, the founder of The Patchsmith, came up with the idea for her business when a representative at a bank asked her if she could embroider patches for his fantasy football league. After successfully completing the job, Golden realized there was a market for custom embroidered patches and decided to start her own business, which has now grown to make $6,500 a month on average. She plans to transition to full-time entrepreneurship in the near future and is currently working on a rebrand and expanding into B2B customers.
How much money it makes: $78K/year
How many people on the team: 0
A patch embroidery business based in New York City has grown to earn $6,500 per month on average within 18 months of starting, thanks to no custom embroidered minimum patches and a strong Instagram presence, with a future focus on B2B customers.
7. Mapsery ($42K/year)
Love Regefalk and his twin brother, Daniel, came up with the idea for Mapsery during their second year of university. Frustrated with inventory management in their previous business, Love wanted to create a product that didn't require keeping inventory. They decided to offer customizable map posters, taking inspiration from existing competitors in the market. Since launching in 2018, Mapsery has attracted customers from over 30 countries and continues to grow, although the founders admit they haven't spent enough time on marketing and customer acquisition. Currently, Mapsery generates around $3.5K in monthly revenue.
How much money it makes: $42K/year
How many people on the team: 0
How a pair of engineering students co-founded Mapsery, a unique custom map poster business, and grew it into a $3.5k/month side hustle with a 25% profit margin in just over two years, despite facing increasing competition in the map poster niche.
8. Humble Blades ($24K/year)
In a bold and risky move, Chris Sofia decided to start a custom knife business with no prior knowledge or experience in the industry. Armed with only his passion for knives and a desire to break free from the corporate world, Chris invested his last unemployment check into purchasing materials and embarked on a journey of trial and error. Through perseverance and dedication, he honed his skills and turned his passion into a successful handmade knife brand, attracting customers through authenticity and personalized customer service. As he looks towards the future, Chris aims to scale his business and become a true leader in the industry.
How much money it makes: $24K/year
How much did it cost to start: $5K
How many people on the team: 1
Chris Sofia shares how he turned his passion for knives and his marketing and design background into a bespoke knife-making business with a focus on authenticity and customer service, using social media as his primary marketing tool.
9. Twisted Boards ($12K/year)
Connecticut police officer Dave Cruickshank came up with the idea for his business, Twisted Boards, when he was relaxing with his ex-girlfriend and they molded their faces out of plaster for an art project. Holding the face mold against his dry erase board, Cruickshank had the idea to create a three-dimensional dry erase board. After building a thermo-molding machine in his basement and creating a prototype, Cruickshank realized the potential of his product when a friend's wife, who was a teacher, requested boards for her classroom. Thus, Twisted Boards was born.
How much money it makes: $12K/year
How many people on the team: 1
Twisted Boards is a company manufacturing three dimensional dry erase boards with an impressive broad customer base, growing from a basement to a manufacturing plant and fulfillment center in Michigan, with start-up costs of approximately $100k, and developing an intellectual portfolio that will help the business grow.
10. Turn Touch ($12K/year)
Samuel Clay came up with the idea for Turn Touch when he wanted a simple and stylish remote to control his Philips Hue bulbs and iTunes without having to use his phone or be at the computer. After four years of prototyping and learning how to build hardware out of wood, he successfully launched the product on Kickstarter and sold over 800 remotes in 30 days. Now in its second production run, Turn Touch is revolutionizing smart home control.
How much money it makes: $12K/year
How much did it cost to start: $50K
How many people on the team: 2
Turn Touch is a stylish, wooden smart home remote that controls every smart home device that speaks Wi-Fi and can also control Mac and iOS devices over Bluetooth, raising over $100,000 on Kickstarter and selling over a thousand remotes, with plans in place to expand the product line.
11. Maca ($2.88K/year)
Ben, the founder of Maca, came up with the idea for his business based on his love for Mexico, hammocks, and eCommerce. Growing up with hammocks in Mexico, he invented a bag and sleeve design that made it easy to take a hammock on the go. He started selling his hammocks in 2017 and has since focused on building partnerships and obtaining positive product reviews to attract and retain customers.
How much money it makes: $2.88K/year
How many people on the team: 0
Maca founder Ben started a direct-to-consumer handmade Mexican travel hammock business from scratch, generating sales through partnerships with Vanlife and RV communities and utilizing product reviews to build social proof and customer trust.
12. Paperwallet ($2.4K/year)
Elad Burko, the founder of Paperwallet, came up with the idea for his business in 2007 when a friend showed him a paper wallet from Italy. He wanted to create something similar but more functional, so he experimented with different materials and eventually settled on Tyvek. Through Kickstarter campaigns and online marketing, Paperwallet has sold over 100,000 wallets and other accessories, allowing artists to earn a living from their designs.
How much money it makes: $2.4K/year
How many people on the team: 0
Paperwallet founder Elad Burko created the unique brand to sell minimalistic wallets and accessories for fashion-forward men and women while providing a platform for independent artists to earn a living from their work, which since launching has generated over $600,000 in sales on Indiegogo and over 100,000 sales to date.
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
