One of today's most diverse and popular crafts is jewelry making. Defined by AFCI as the craft of creating wearable accessories such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and brooches, jewelry making spans multiple materials and mediums. Depending on a crafter's level of experience and style/tastes, jewelry making encompasses everything from simple beading to advanced metalsmithing.
As with many other craft segments, jewelry makers constitute not only a powerful market, but also a powerful community. For brands that make the products jewelry crafters need, it's important to know what these potential customers have in common. Collected from the most recent Creative Products Size of the Industry Study by AFCI (formerly the Craft & Hobby Association), here are the most important jewelry making statistics and demographics that maker brands need to know.
Jewelry Maker Demographics
The results of AFCI's extensive research emphasize both the widespread (and growing) popularity of several different crafts both among the general population and within the already established crafting community. While many crafters take part in multiple crafting activities, here are the most interesting results within the jewelry making segment.
Jewelry Making as a Market Segment
- In 2016, 27.8 million Americans were involved in jewelry making at least once.
- That same year, jewelry makers spent $2.5 billion on their craft.
- Jewelry makers are nearly equally spread across different regions of the U.S.
- 51% of jewelry makers consider themselves beginners.
Jewelry Maker Buying Habits
- 62% of jewelry makers buy their products in-store, 10% buy outside a physical store, and 28% shop in both (remember that just because some crafters might not buy online, they're certainly doing their research online before they hit the stores!).
- 50% of jewelry makers purchase what they need, while 16% stocked up in advance. 34% do a little of both.
Jewelry Maker Motivations
- Of all jewelry makers, 61% give the pieces they make as gifts, 54% keep their pieces, and 25% sell their jewelry.
- Jewelry makers have a high affinity for their craft, stating that they "would really miss participating" if they stopped and that jewelry making "is special" to them.
- They also most highly associate jewelry making with feeling relaxed and content.
- Jewelry makers highly value the sense of accomplishment and feeling of relaxation they gain from their craft.
Jewelry Maker Demographics
- 66% of jewelry makers are women and 34% are men.
- 51% consider themselves suburban, and 39% work full-time.
- 82% of jewelry makers describe themselves as Caucasian/white.
- Jewelry making is most popular in two age brackets, with 18-34 and 35-54 demographics both represented in the craft at 38%.
Jewelry and the Maker Movement
As the Maker Movement continues to grow, spreading not only awareness for but also access to many different varieties of crafts and hobbies, more and more crafters across the country are getting involved. Jewelry making is such an attractive craft to many creative-minded folks, from children to seniors, for many reasons: it can be relatively low-cost to start, it can be simple and relaxing, and it allows them the freedom to design any piece they'd like to wear--even when they can't find it on the racks or online. Here's one last statistic for you: 16% of existing crafters are also interested in getting into jewelry making. That suggests future growth in the segment. It's time for your brand to reach out and help those crafters get started.
