We recently connected with Susan Thomack and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Susan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Our story starts in 2019 with Susan, she made it through some serious medical issues and quit drinking. She has been a lifelong crocheter but hadn’t crocheted in awhile and rediscovered how much joy it brought her. Then in 2020 Susan was furloughed from her full time job because of COVID-19 and had a lot of time her hands and started making more and more beautiful crochet goods to give as presents etc. and people started commenting what great quality her work was. Shelly, Susan’s daughter and business partner, planted the seed that maybe, as wild as it sounds, that this might just be the perfect time to open a small business with crocheted goods. We knew we had a desirable product, people had been asking if we sold things the things Susan and Shelly would crochet and people absolutely loved the gifts Susan would make. We did some research and saw that chunky knits and crochet were really gaining in popularity and we thought we could provide quality goods, in modern colors with modern chunky designs, and that particular type of crocheted good was unique. We also find it important to shop local and small businesses that reflect our values and identities and thought people would like to support a women and half queer owned business instead of big corporations and fast fashion. We took the risk because if the dumpster fire year of 2020 taught us anything, it was that life was short, do what you are passionate about and take chances, so we did.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Susan got into fiber arts as a young kid, she started sewing at young age and loved fashion. She would make her and her siblings clothes and dresses for special occasions. She went to college for fashion and merchandising and started crocheting and embroidering. Shelly grew up crafting right alongside her mom and watched her make her make her school uniforms and other clothes and wanted to learn everything her mom could do. We both loved how soothing and fun crocheting is so we started doing more of those projects. In 2020 we opened Off the Hook Fiber Arts to provide quality crocheted goods, in modern colors with modern chunky designs. We spend a lot of time selecting our yarn to make sure its the best while still affordable, we also put a lot of thought into durability and making sure our goods are made for everyday life. We also design a lot our stitches and patterns. Currently we stock our inventory with scarves, placemats, coasters, rugs, ponchos, cowls, blankets, baskets and pillows. We focus on everyday items that will enhance your home or wardrobe and keep you oh so cozy. We mostly use natural fibers like wool and cotton and use synthetic fibers from recycled plastics. Off the Hook Fiber Arts does custom orders too!

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

We make crochet goods and we already knew how to crochet, but we had to learn a lot about where and when to buy yarn and how to get bulk orders of yarn. Mostly we figured this out by trial and error, we also had to learn how to operate with supply chain issues. So many vendors were having trouble getting product and we in turn had to get creative. Yarn can be so tricky as well because manufacturers are also changing their product lines and trying out new product and discontinuing fan favorites. For us the best way to operate is make a just few of an item and to come out with new product or product lines continuously through out the year. We also do custom orders so we usually have to make sure we have everything we need to complete a project before committing to making it.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

We started building our audience by getting people to our Etsy shop and learned that people wanted to hear to more of our story, how we make our goods and when we will be at pop markets etc, so we turned to Instagram. It’s such a visual platform and we really wanted more people to see our gorgeous goods. Instagram is a great way to release new product and direct people our Etsy, it’s also a fabulous to support other small business and collaborate. We are still growing and have a lot more to do our next goals are to build up an email list and get our own website.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://offthehookfiberarts.etsy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offthehookfiberarts/

Image Credits
Shelly Thomack