Behind The Scenes
A Letter from Eppie | A Note on Upcoming Price Changes
From 7th January, prices across parts of our range will be increasing. I want to explain why this is happening rather than quietly sneaking it through.
We haven’t changed prices for 4 years
When I started The Fabled Thread, I set our prices and, for the last four years, we haven’t changed them at all. Unlike many businesses whose ranges evolve constantly (and quietly absorb price changes along the way), our designs tend to stay with us for a long time. The only time prices have changed has been when we’ve introduced something new, not by adjusting existing products.
Growth doesn’t always soften rising costs
Over those same four years, however, costs have risen steadily across the board: materials, framing, postage, taxes, property, and simply the cost of employing a skilled team. Every Christmas, we receive emails from suppliers - framers, our wool and thread providers, fabric wholesalers, printers - explaining their latest increases for the following year. And every year, we’ve absorbed them. I’ve always hoped that as we grew, economies of scale would kick in and soften the blow. The reality is that unless you’re operating at a size far, far bigger than we are, those savings simply don’t materialise. Postage doesn’t get cheaper. Materials don’t magically cost less. Suppliers don’t suddenly find room in their margins to offer discounts.
To put just one small example into context:
Four years ago, it cost £2.20 to send a first-class parcel with Royal Mail, and around 30p for a cardboard box. Today, that same parcel costs £4.85, and the box is £1.30. It sounds small, but when costs change across every part of the process, it quickly becomes unsustainable. Our prices, until now, have stayed exactly the same — and unfortunately, that no longer makes sense for the business.
This was our busiest Christmas yet - but it’s not enough
While this has been our busiest Christmas ever, that doesn’t translate to the bottom line in the way it needs to for us to be sustainable and to pursue the growth opportunities we’d like to. So, from 7th January, prices will be changing.
The upcoming changes
We’ve been as thoughtful as possible about how we do this. Some ranges - particularly newer launches that were priced with today’s realities in mind - will remain unchanged. Our Botanicals range, for example, and newer collections like Schumacher or Build-Your-Own-Bargello will stay exactly as they are. The biggest changes affect our longest-standing designs, especially those that include framing, where costs have risen the most. As one example, our oldest range - The Fables - will be increasing from £80 to £95 for a kit.
There are other ways to run a business
There are, of course, other ways to run a business like this. Some companies choose to chase lower prices by moving production, changing materials, or finding new suppliers. That’s a perfectly valid decision - it’s just not one I’ve chosen to make. We don’t price our kits to get rich. We price them so we can keep going: to pay our team fairly, to keep making original work with quality materials, to stay independent, and to continue doing this in a way that reflects our values. If you’d like a deeper look at how and why we price our products the way we do, I’ve written a longer piece about it here.
This is about creating space to grow
We’re not increasing prices to grow for the sake of it. It’s about keeping the business creatively energised, fairly run, and resilient - so we can keep doing the work we love, and maybe even do more of it in new ways.
If you’re a regular stitcher, Studio Membership might be worth a look
What I do hope is that when you think about the hours of joy a kit brings, and the quality of the finished piece you end up with, our kits still feel like something genuinely worthwhile. And if you’re stitching regularly and working your way through a range, it’s worth taking a look at our Studio Membership.
Membership gives you access to refill kits, which are discounted by at least 15% and come with simpler packaging - without extras you’re likely to already have, such as hoops, needles, or repeated instructions from the other kit in the range. If you know you'll be stitching a whole range, it's definitely worth looking at.
Prices on the website will remain exactly as they are until we reopen the studio on 7th January, at which point the new pricing will go live.
Thank you, as always
We don’t take any of this for granted. If you’ve ever stitched with us, told a friend, or shared a kind word - thank you. And if you have any questions at all, please just send a message.
