Knitters, unite! Can we come to the next knitting night? We’ll bring the stats, and we aren’t sheepish to say we have a lot of them—starting with wool.
Statistics Canada's most recent data is from 2020, when Canadian wool producers were paid an average price of 69 cents per kilogram of raw wool (not carded or combed), down by more than one-fifth (-21.6%) from 2019.
The volume of raw wool purchased from producers also declined at roughly the same rate (-21.5%) from 2019 to 891,900 kilograms in 2020.
It’s also the lowest volume purchased from producers since we started tracking these data in 1996. Canadian producers were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related international supply-chain issues.
More time on our hands
When the pandemic hit, a lot of us looked to hobbies as a way to pass the time.
According to Maegen Black, then-director of the Canadian Crafts Federation, textiles were a popular hobby.
“I think that some of the easiest crafts to get into are textile-based,” she said in an episode of our Eh Sayers podcast in December 2021. “You can go on a very basic level to start to make things with just a needle and thread and some scissors and fabric, like really, as a first step.”
Black added that “it gets far more complicated” when it comes to spun and carded wool. And as any knitter would explain, the quality of the wool matters to get that intricate pattern pulled off just right!
Economic patterns
For some, taking up those hobbies meant buying the needed supplies, and the retail sales numbers from that period indicate it.
There were over $192.2 million in sales of sewing and knitting supplies in the third quarter of 2020, up nearly 30.0% from the previous quarter. Sales increased to nearly $215.6 million in the fourth quarter (October to December).
In fact, sales for sewing and knitting supplies have always been highest in the fourth quarter since we started tracking in 2012, including an all-time high of just over $244.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. It’s perhaps an indication that those handmade holiday gifts have always been popular!
And if you prefer to buy something already knitted, you’ll find it in Canada. In September 2022, there were 966 Canadians employed in clothing knitting mills. This industry group comprises establishments primarily engaged in knitting clothing from yarn or manufacturing clothing from knit fabrics made in the same establishment.
Wow, that was a lot of stats we just stitched together! Now that we’re at the tail end, can you help us bind off the last row? Yarn in back!
Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).