Two retailers ‘making’ moves with the White House
Etsy and the West Elm division of Williams-Sonoma continue to fuel the maker movement with new initiatives that were launched to coincide with a Presidential Proclamation establishing the National Week of Making.
In conjunction with an event at the White House and a proclamation by President Barack Obama, online retailer Etsy said it planned to expand its Craft Entrepreneurship program to 30 cities by July 2016 from the current 19 cities.
The program provides access to entrepreneurship training for adults with existing craft skills and uses Etsy's e-commerce platform as a learning lab. Participants in the program are taught skills such as pricing, product photography, search engine optimization and how to apply those skills to their entrepreneurial endeavors.
"We are working closely with the Etsy community and government partners to build a people-powered economy, with creative entrepreneurs at the center," said Althea Erickson, Etsy's global policy director. "Makers are helping build more resilient local economies by creating their own jobs, sourcing their materials from other local businesses, and providing consumers access to personal, meaningful goods. Though these businesses are small — most Etsy sellers are sole proprietors working out of their homes — they add up to something big."
The company’s platform facilitated the sale of nearly $2 billion worth of merchandise from 1.4 million makes in 2014. The company contends the nature of work is changing and middle-skill and middle-wage jobs are in a state of decline.
Etsy and other platforms directly respond to a societal shift toward empowering, flexible entrepreneurship that generates needed supplemental income, according to the company. Also feeding into that sentiment is West Elm, the 72 unit division of Williams-Sonoma focused on unique and affordable products.
The company announced plans to expand its LOCAL program to all U.S. stores by the end of this year. The move will support more than 500 makers and designers in the communities where the company’s stores are located. The company currently works with about 200 makers after introducing the LOCAL program in 2013.
“Showcasing local design talent connects, grows, and strengthens the communities where we have West Elm stores,” said West Elm President Jim Brett. “The LOCAL initiative empowers our store managers to be shopkeepers, our customers to discover and support local small businesses, and the makers to reach a much broader audience through our doors and online.”
Like Etsy, West Elm is providing management resources in the form of a Maker Toolkit that includes best practices on matters such as accounting and marketing.
Both companies are headquartered in Brooklyn, NY.