The list I’m giving you today are business markets that have stood the test of time and continues to make millions of sales and profit.

If you’re looking for ideas to start your handmade business, without further ado, here are our top 10 handmade business ideas. 

Hey there, my name is Mei and I help makers, artists and designers create a consistent income from selling their handmade products online.

1. On Demand T-Shirts

You’ve probably heard of this by now or you’ve seen ads everywhere for this.

You create the design for your T-shirts and a printing company will do all the fulfillment, which means printing your design on t-shirt blanks all the way up to delivering that order to your customers for you on your behalf.

It’s hassle-free, you don’t have to worry about actually making physical products and you can just focus on creating the designs.

Believe it or not, this print on demand industry can make even a small business of fewer than 5 people make millions of dollars in sales every year, as long as you know what the current trends and what the demands of the market are.

In this business, you can really get creative.

You can use your own calligraphy as quotes on your designs or if you’re an illustrator or an artist, you can draw your own art or graphics on the t-shirts.

What’s really cool about t-shirts is that people always need t-shirts and they’re always going to keep buying them. Your designs are literally walking advertisements because people wear them and take it with them wherever they are!

Just make sure you use high-quality t-shirt blanks if you decide to go this route.

2. Furniture Makeovers, Upcycling, or Refinished Furniture

Most of us have furniture lying around that we may want to either throw away or sell, but to other people this has become a booming business that became trendy just in 2017.

This often requires little to no capital. Most of the work is really just hard work and time.

You can often find materials for cheap at local hardware shops, home improvement stores, or online stores.

This business idea can really pay off because you can demand quite a bit of money when you’re pricing your services and products.

What’s trending currently are farmhouse or rustic styles.

3. Knitted Products

Bestsellers on the market right now are large wool knitted blankets that are famous not only for how soft and comfortable they are, but also how effortless and beautiful it can make a living space look.

Other different knitted products you can think of selling that are trending right now are:

• scarves
• finger warmers
• sweaters
• beanies
• even a knitted mouse toy for the year 2020 for those of you who follow the Chinese zodiac

4. Handbags

These days, people love a personal touch and uniqueness to their things. What is the thing that women carry around the most? Their handbags!

Not only are handbags practical (I could not leave my house without mine) but they’ve also become status symbols for some women.

Give your customers the option to personalize their handbags and you’ll make them super happy.

You can design your purses and handbags to sell in brick and mortar stores or for your online shop. Think about all the different options for materials and styles that you can make in.

The possibilities for what you can make are endless and you can get really creative with this.

What’s trending are hand-painted tote bags and premium designer bags.

5. Costumes

So many people love to be in costume. It’s fun. But it’s hard to find good costumes for sale at just regular party shops and making one from scratch is a painstaking process to go through.

That’s why this business is great to be in because it’s so time-consuming.

It’s hard to find great costumes so the supply in the market is pretty low. There’s not a lot of competition.

While it does take a while to make just one costume, don’t give up, this is a great business to be in when you can figure out the logistics.

You can do whatever everyone does and sell your designs once they’re finished and do a big launch for every completed piece, or sell your costumes on a  pre-order basis. That way you don’t make it until you have the money in your pocket and the sales are finalized.

You can target the thousands of different costumed events across the country (like the Vampire Ball in Los Angeles every year) or even target wardrobe or costume stylists who work on movies or TV shows like the Witcher.

Wouldn’t that be super fun to see your work on TV?

6. Caricature Art

Everyone loves a good laugh whenever they see a good caricature of their face.

Caricature art is one of those things that make people smile. It’s a conversation starter and it makes for such a fun gift. What I love about it is it’s personalized to the customer.

Like I was saying with handbags, people absolutely love it when they can buy a product that’s personalized to them.

7. Greeting Cards

Greeting cards are always the top of Etsy’s product sales on their reports. I have so many friends who are artists, painters, illustrators, or calligraphers who sell just greeting cards and make a good living with that.

It’s a staple. Lots of people need and buy greeting cards on the regular. I can guarantee you, your opportunities for selling wholesale is huge because most stores need greeting cards.

Remember to target big special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Birthdays because this is where the demands are on the all-time high.

Make sure you get your shop set up online and you’ll see how sales spike up during these seasons, especially if you do your marketing right.

8. Soap and Bath & Body Products

Everyone needs soap for basic hygiene, and so the demands are constant. Plus, it’s a consumable product, which means once it gets used up, people need more soap.

If you make a good product, people will come back to shop from you again and again. Your repeat sale game is going to be stronger than most other types of businesses.

Bath and body products use only a few ingredients to start with. You can really customize it to however your customer wants.

You can add fun scents and experiment with different molds for different shapes. You can really make it your own.

The current trends for this are on shampoo soaps. People are looking to minimize plastic waste from packaging.

9. Jewelry

Are you surprised to hear me say jewelry?

Yes, jewelry is a highly saturated market, but people will always buy jewelry, just like t-shirts.

There are so many ways you can make jewelry, so many materials to choose from, beads, metals, stones, leather, clay, and glass. The possibilities are endless.

Another potential idea for you is to make personalized jewelry where you let your customers design some elements of the piece, whether that’s hand stamping their name on the jewelry, choosing certain colors, or even getting a photo of their pet printed on a necklace.

10. Abstract Glass Paintings

This is unique because for a lot of other artists out there, we’re used to painting on canvas. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you want a way to stand out, consider using glass for your paintings.

You could even get into making tutorials and teach people how to do this in person with live events that people can book with you. Then after the event, sell your originals for a bigger profit margin sale.

I’ve seen a lot of artists get into this lately and I think it’s a great idea and a neat way to make a living.

Those are my ten on-trend handmade business ideas that you can start this year.

Let me know in the comments which ones interest you the most, or if you’ve got a totally different idea, I’d love to hear about it too!