smartpatterns.com – Create your own Knitting Pattern

I wasn’t exactly sure what to think when I first took a look at smartpatterns.com, a Waterloo, On startup that has 2 employees and has been in development since 2003. Smartpatterns is a windows application, not a web application, that lets you create knitting patterns using a drag-and-drop interface.

Once you have created an image of the sweater you want, and have added the proper measurements as well, the software will produce a standard knitting pattern that will let even an amateur create a complex piece, such as a sweater.

Etsy.com is a great example of how a company can build and leverage an Arts and Crafts community in order to build a healthy market. I think SmartPatterns, with their knitting-specific tools, has a huge opportunity to create a market for custom-made knitted items. This might sound crazy to some, but there might be a market for it: On-Demand custom knitted sweaters, scarfs, afghans and more.

One thing I loved about Indochino was their on-demand access to production labour that allows them to create tailored suits on demand. In that case, Indochino outsources to specific tailors in China.

I don’t know a lot of knitters, but the ones I do know all love to create things for their friends and family. I can imagine that they might enjoy getting paid to knit just as much. A sort of return to a more primitive economy, but with all the efficiencies and possibilities of a piece of custom-design software like SmartPatterns.

The opportunity for SmartPatterns is to provide their software so people can design the perfect item and then SmartPatterns provides the knitting pattern to the knitter, who will produce the item and then ship it to the buyer directly.

Is there are market for custom-made knitted goods? I am not sure, but I am convinced that it is far more scalable and profitable to become a platform for a market than it is to simply be selling software to a small community of users. That said, SmartPatterns seems to have a solid tool that produces solid results for their users. That can’t be underestimated.

Since their launch in December, SmartPatterns has brought in over 1000 paying customers and they have sold their first pattern to a yarn manufacturer (which I understand gets included in the yarn as a perk). That shows me that there is a huge need for their core product and that their opportunities to generate more profit, such as the way I suggest, could be something they experiment with as they grow their core market.

SmartPatterns is Angel funded, but is currently seeking a new round of funding.