Craft supply industry statistics span specialty retail, broader hobby stores, participation in textile making, upstream fiber flows, consumer prices and textile waste. The measures below are primarily U.S. figures, but they use different definitions and periods, so retail sales, survey participation, fiber-equivalent quantities and municipal-solid-waste estimates should be read separately.
Key Craft Supply Industry Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2024, U.S. sewing, needlework and piece-goods stores reported $1,119,888 thousand in sales under NAICS 451130.
- In 2024, U.S. hobby, toy and game stores reported $17,914,046 thousand in sales, a broader category than craft supplies.
- During July 2021–July 2022, 11.7% of U.S. adults did weaving, crocheting, quilting, needlepoint, knitting or sewing.
- In 2022, 9.0% of U.S. adults did leatherwork, metalwork or woodwork.
- In 2022, 4.4% of U.S. adults created pottery, ceramics or jewelry.
- In 2022, 52% of U.S. adults did some form of art making.
- In 2023, U.S. net textile and apparel fiber imports totaled 14.8 billion raw-fiber-equivalent pounds.
- In 2023, synthetic products represented 49% of U.S. net textile and apparel fiber imports by raw-fiber-equivalent quantity.
- In 2023, cotton represented 41% of U.S. net textile and apparel fiber imports.
- The 2023/24 forecast put U.S. cotton ending stocks at 2.5 million bales.
- The 2023/24 forecast put the U.S. cotton stocks-to-use ratio at about 18%.
- The forecast 2023/24 average U.S. upland-cotton farm price was 77 cents per pound.
- In April 2023, sewing machines, fabric and supplies rose 8.7% year over year in the U.S. city-average CPI category.
- In 2018, U.S. textiles generated 17,030 thousand tons of municipal solid waste.
- In 2018, the all-textiles recycling rate was 14.7% in the United States.
- In 2018, U.S. landfills received 11,300 thousand tons of textile municipal solid waste.
- In 2022, approximately 26% of U.S. adults learned an arts subject through friends, family or self-teaching.
Contents
- U.S. retail scale and specialty-store sales
- Craft participation in sewing, crochet, knitting and related making
- Textile fiber supply, imports and apparel trade
- Craft-material price and supply trends
- Textile waste, recycling and landfill data
- Craft-making access, learning and market context
U.S. Craft Supply Industry Retail Scale and Specialty-Store Sales
The closest direct retail measure in this dataset is the Census Annual Integrated Economic Survey classification for sewing, needlework and piece-goods stores. Its 2024 sales total was $1,119,888 thousand in the United States, under NAICS 451130.
The same 2024 table reported $17,914,046 thousand for hobby, toy and game stores under NAICS 451120. That figure provides broader retail context, but it includes toys and games and should not be treated as a craft-supplies-only market total. Annual Integrated Economic Survey 2024: Selected Sectors
| Census retail classification | 2024 sales | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Sewing, needlework and piece-goods stores, NAICS 451130 | $1,119,888 thousand | More focused specialty-store measure |
| Hobby, toy and game stores, NAICS 451120 | $17,914,046 thousand | Broader category including toys and games |
The Census Annual Retail Trade Survey covered employer retail businesses in all 50 states and the District of Columbia; territories were excluded. ARTS was replaced by AIES beginning with 2024 collection, so coverage context and survey naming matter when comparing periods. About the Annual Retail Trade Survey
There is no single official national craft-supply total in these sources. Specialty-store sales, broader hobby-store sales, participation rates, upstream fiber measures and waste estimates describe different parts of the industry and should not be added together.
Craft Participation Statistics for Sewing, Crochet, Knitting and Related Making
The National Endowment for the Arts reported that 11.7% of U.S. adults did weaving, crocheting, quilting, needlepoint, knitting or sewing during July 2021–July 2022. The combined category does not isolate crochet, knitting, sewing or supply purchases.
The comparable 2017 share was also 11.7%, with a reported change of -0.1 percentage point to 2022 that was not statistically significant at 90% confidence. The 2020 share was 9.2%, but that figure came from the Arts Basic Survey rather than the SPPA, so the comparison has survey-design context. Arts Participation Patterns in 2022
| Activity category | Period | U.S. adult share |
|---|---|---|
| Weaving, crocheting, quilting, needlepoint, knitting or sewing | 2017 | 11.7% |
| Same combined textile-making category | 2020 ABS | 9.2% |
| Same combined textile-making category | July 2021–July 2022 SPPA | 11.7% |
| Leatherwork, metalwork or woodwork | 2022 | 9.0% |
| Pottery, ceramics or jewelry | 2022 | 4.4% |
The 2020-to-2022 comparison is reported as a rise of 2.4 percentage points, or a 26% rate of change, using ABS 2020 and SPPA 2022. Related 2022 measures included 11.4% of adults playing a musical instrument, while 52% did some form of art making; the latter composite extends well beyond craft and textile activity.
Textile Fiber Supply, Imports and Apparel Trade Statistics
USDA’s fiber-equivalent framework places craft materials within a much larger textile and apparel supply chain. U.S. net textile and apparel fiber imports were 14.8 billion raw-fiber-equivalent pounds in 2023, 20% below 2022; this is not domestic consumption or craft-supply sales.
| U.S. textile and apparel measure | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Total fiber-product imports | Approximately 21.4 billion lb | 17.2 billion lb |
| Net textile and apparel fiber imports | — | 14.8 billion raw-fiber-equivalent lb |
| Textile and apparel exports | 2.9 billion lb | 2.4 billion lb |
By quantity, synthetic products represented 49% of net imports in both 2022 and 2023. Cotton represented 41% in 2023, down 2 percentage points from 2022, while linen, wool and silk combined represented 10% in 2023.
These are broad textile and apparel shares, not measures of handmade-fiber demand. Cotton and Wool Outlook: March 2024
Cotton inventory indicators were also marketing-year measures rather than retail stock measures. The 2023/24 U.S. cotton ending-stocks forecast was 2.5 million bales, with a forecast stocks-to-use ratio of about 18%, compared with 29% in 2022/23 and 24% in 2021/22.
Craft-Material Price and Supply Trends
Upstream cotton prices help explain material-market conditions, but they do not translate directly into the price of fabric, yarn or a finished craft kit. The 2023/24 average U.S. upland-cotton farm price was forecast at 77 cents per pound, compared with an observed 84.8 cents per pound in 2022/23.
The forecast was 7.8 cents per pound lower than the prior marketing-year figure. In a March 2024 revision, the 2023/24 ending-stocks forecast fell nearly 11%, a reduction of 300,000 bales, to the report’s forecast-based lowest-in-a-decade level of 2.5 million bales. Cotton and Wool Outlook: March 2024
Consumer-price data provide a different lens. In the U.S. city-average CPI-U, the relative importance of sewing machines, fabric and supplies was 0.023 in April 2023, and the category’s unadjusted price index increased 8.7% from April 2022 to April 2023.
The detailed table also reported a 3.77% median price change for the twelve months ending April 2023. That median-price-change statistic should not be conflated with the 8.7% unadjusted category index change, and neither is a sales-volume measure. Consumer Price Index—April 2023
Textile Waste, Recycling and Landfill Statistics
EPA’s textile figures cover discarded clothing and other textile-containing goods entering municipal solid waste, not craft-textile waste alone. Reused textiles are not included in generation until they enter MSW, and EPA’s estimates distinguish recycling, energy recovery and landfilling.
| U.S. textile MSW measure | 2018 estimate |
|---|---|
| Textiles generated | 17,030 thousand tons |
| Share of total MSW generation | 5.8% |
| Textiles recycled | 2,510 thousand tons |
| All-textiles recycling rate | 14.7% |
| Combusted with energy recovery | 3,220 thousand tons |
| Share of all MSW combusted with energy recovery | 9.3% |
| Sent to landfills | 11,300 thousand tons |
| Share of all MSW landfilled | 7.7% |
Category results varied: clothing and footwear textiles had a 13% recycling rate in 2018, while sheets, pillowcases and related items had a 15.8% rate. The first rate was based in part on American Textile Recycling Service information; neither rate is a craft-material recycling rate. Textiles: Material-Specific Data
EPA’s historical estimates show textile generation of 16,060 thousand tons in 2015, 13,220 thousand tons in 2010, 9,480 thousand tons in 2000 and 5,810 thousand tons in 1990. These long-run figures cover the listed textile MSW sources and should not be interpreted as craft-supply waste specifically.
Craft-Making Access, Learning and Market Context
The 2022 SPPA was a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults covering the 12 months ending in July 2022. It found 11.8% took classes or lessons in an arts subject, while 25.5% learned an arts subject by other means; approximately 26% learned through friends, family or self-teaching, and 29.1% learned through classes or other means in the broader combined measure.
These learning figures cover all listed arts subjects, not only textile crafts. They nevertheless describe the range of formal and informal routes through which people may encounter making practices, without measuring supply purchases or craft-store visits. Arts Participation Patterns in 2022
Broader arts-event context included 17.1% of adults attending arts events at open-air facilities in 2022. Among adults who attended an arts event, 17.0% first learned about it through social media and 14.7% through friends, neighbors or coworkers; these are communication measures, not craft-supply discovery rates.
The participation picture is therefore wider than the specialty retail measure: textile making reached 11.7% of adults in the combined 2022 category, while learning and art-making measures capture additional pathways and activities. For market interpretation, the most defensible reading is to keep consumer participation, retail classifications, fiber supply, price indexes and waste management as linked but noninterchangeable indicators.