Inside Faire, The Platform Where Artisans Go Corporate
Can this startup succeed where Etsy Wholesale failed?
Jenny Lockton was in a tight spot. Like many small business owners, the 57-year-old entrepreneur wanted her business Bohemia Design, which sells handcrafted items — shibori scarves, tasseled straw bags, beaded jewelry, and other goods that would be right at home in a trendy Williamsburg boutique — to reach a wider audience of retailers, particularly in the United States. But flying to and from New York trade shows from her offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, was costly. And even when pitching potential buyers in New York, Lockton felt she was missing out on some smaller retailers from the West Coast and the rest of the country, who stick to trade shows closer to home. “We did look into other U.S. trade fairs, but the costs and risks of trying these are daunting for a business of our size,” explains Lockton, whose business employs six people, including herself.
To keep costs down and boost Bohemia Design’s visibility, last June Lockton joined Faire, an online marketplace that serves as a kind of Etsy for retailers. On Faire, makers and designers display their wares for buyers to peruse and purchase at wholesale prices. But where tradeshows can be messy, sprawling affairs jammed into convention halls, Faire’s website takes the opposite…
