I was very excited to sit down and virtually chat with one of my favourite small business owners, Annie Shead. Annie started her handmade crochet business, Hookd in May and has already accumulated over 1000 followers and many more happy customers. Annie crochets everything from winter mittens to bikini tops and skirt sets. In this interview we talk about how she started, the friends she made along the way and her take on the fashion world.
1. When did you first start knitting/crocheting?
I first started crocheting back in April at the start of lockdown due the pandemic. I had a lot of free time as my A-Levels had just been cancelled and I had always wanted to learn how to crochet and knit. It took around 3 weeks and a lot of trial and error to make something that would be worth selling!
2. Are you at university and if so, what are you studying?
I’m currently in my gap year-I’m taking time to myself to build my business, work on my art and hopefully do some travelling in the new year. I’m hoping to go to university in London to study Fine Art in September.
3. How do you decide new items to add to the shop?
I mostly gain a lot of inspiration from social media and what’s currently in trend- I then adapt it to a crochet style to create my own niche.
4. Where do you buy your needles and yarn?
My first and only needle I use was gifted to me last Christmas in a ‘make your own crochet crab’ kit. It’s a 5mm steel hook, which I find is much easier to work with than plastic and wooden hooks. I try to source as much yarn as I can from second-hand stores, but sometimes this proves difficult to find specific colours, so I turn to shopping in Hobbycraft where they have a huge range of materials.
5. When did you first get the idea to start your own shop and when did you finally set it in motion?
I never really had a forward direction of starting my own business, it’s kind of happened gradually and out the blue. It originally was just a new skill I wanted to learn to pass the time of being stuck indoors, but soon I discovered I could really go somewhere with this. I was also inspired to start my own shop by a friend of mine who also owns a crochet business called @joopsieclothing, she looked like she was doing really well from it, so I decided to give it a go! My shop officially opened at the start of May and I have been creating unique handmade pieces since.
6. Is your end goal to make this a full-time business?
I haven’t really thought about whether I want to make this a full-time business. I have a passion for art, and I can imagine when I start university I won’t have as much time as I do now to create pieces.
7. How does it feel to see all your happy customers wearing your clothes?
I love love LOVE getting customer pictures, it’s probably the most exciting part of my week haha! I honestly can’t explain how excited I get when I see my gorgeous customers wearing items I have made, especially when someone from the USA or Australia buys an item, I’m always fascinated at how my handmade pieces have travelled across the world.
8. What’s your favourite item in your shop? Personally, mine are the mittens.
I think my favourite item in the shop is definitely the mittens. I originally had just made myself a pair for the winter months but I go so many replies via DM from people who wanted a pair, I decided that I would add them to the shop(As well as this, they take the shortest amount of time to make compared to a skirt that takes 8 times longer hahaha)
9. I noticed that one of your followers is Mathilde Mellor who happens to be one of my favourite youtubers. Personally, that would be the ultimate measure of success. What was the first milestone that made you feel like your shop was a success?
I think the first milestone that felt like my shop was a success was when I started gaining a lot of international followers. I couldn’t believe that my small business was gaining so much coverage in places such as the USA. I think it also helped that lots of followers shared my account to their followers which aided my presence online.
10. What advice would you give people starting their own small business?
Advice I would give to others starting their own small business is, stick with it. It’s really difficult at the beginning to gain a large following and to encourage people to buy from you, but soon enough it become a lot easier. I would also say that packaging your items nicely is so so important.
11. Does the amount of orders you get ever get overwhelming since it’s just you?
Sometimes I get overwhelmed with orders and find myself crocheting about 15 hours a day haha (this is not an exaggeration lol). I do try to avoid doing this, but I am very fussy and never want to keep my customers waiting too long for their items. I now set myself a limit on how many orders to make in 2 weeks, so I don’t find myself getting stressed.
12. Do you think fast fashion is crushing small businesses or do you think they can peacefully co-exist?
Fast fashion brands have a global negative impact on both 1st and 3rd world countries, along the supply chain they cause danger to the lives of workers and are polluting natural environments. Therefore, I have always been opposed to shopping off the high street. I regularly buy from charity shops and second-hand online selling platforms such as Depop and Ebay, and I encourage all my family and friends to do the same. I have been amazed at the amount of support I have gained from buyers who shop regularly from self-regulating, handmade stores and I do believe we are slowly shifting into a more sustainable generation that prefers to purchase unique, independent items. There is also part of me that accepts that it’s not so easy to just ‘get rid’ of fast fashion brands as they provide a great amount of jobs to people worldwide, however it is important to inspire people to support smaller businesses, especially during such times like these.
Annie’s small business Hookd is still taking orders for the Christmas season so make sure to get someone a lovely warm pair of mittens for their Christmas stocking this year!