Your crochet business name is going to be the first impression anyone gets of your business, and it’s a name you’re going to be saying and promoting and displaying around the web a lot for a long time to come so you want to get it right. But how do you go about choosing your crochet business name?
There are no absolute rules to picking a name, but you should definitely have a good long think and reflection on the name you come up with before settling on it.
Let me give you my thoughts on choosing a crochet name and I’ll use my own history of name picking to show you why some names are terrible choices, and how some appeal to very particular groups of people.
You can also check out this episode of the Crochet Business School Podcast, where I talk about some other considerations about choosing a crochet business name, that I haven’t gone over in this blog post.
The name you pick for your crochet business doesn’t need to have the word “crochet” in it or allude to any sort of crafts or that you’re a handmade business. Using these words is down to your personal preference, and it won’t do your sales any harm to leave them out. In fact in can be beneficial not to use the words crochet, crafts or handmade. These words can be seen as old fashioned or indicate someone who has a kitchen table business and doesn’t charge high prices. This notion isn’t universal of course, but it is something to consider when it comes to choosing to use any of these 3 words in your business name.
Don’t Swap Letters
I would also avoid swapping letters of words so that you get matching first letters. For example, my very first business name was KellsKrafts (yes, it was a terrible name choice!). I swapped the C of crafts for a K so that it matched the first letter of my name. At the time I thought it was a cute idea, now though it makes me cringe. Names like this make us think of bargain shops on the high street. They make us think of childish, playful brands that have low price points. We never think of them as high quality outlets that deserve us to drop big bucks on their offerings. Again these perceptions are often subconscious, but be honest, what do you think when you see a name like KellsKrafts? What kind of prices would you expect to find? Your very first thought when you see the name, is what many others will think too.
My very first business name and logo – cringeworthy now but seemed a great idea at the time. Believe it or not, I had to add GB at the end because someone already had a shop with the same name on Etsy.
I got rid of the KellsKrafts name after a couple of years when the light finally dawned and I rebranded my crochet business to Cotton And Aloe.
This name came about because I wanted something more professional sounding and that would appeal to far more people. My crochet was meant to appeal to those with some cash in their pocket and wanted to fill their lives with eco-friendly, reusable and more natural alternatives. I was mostly using cotton as my fibre of choice, and I was having a bit of an aloe obsession at the time. So I combined the two and Cotton And Aloe was born.
Yes, I could have just used my own name with crochet in it – Crochet By Kelly Thomas isn’t a bad name for a business, but it’s never appealed to me and I never wanted to have a personal brand like that. It’s just not for me. Besides, brand names seem to stick in our minds better that our own names. When I get emails from people using their own name rather than a business name, I struggle to remember who they are and why I signed up to tehri emails. So picking a brand name has always been the better choice for me, as they are more memorable, and you most definitely want to be remembered by your audience.
Sound Professional
I was far more comfortable with the name Cotton And Aloe, and it made me feel much more professional. This automatically made me more willing to up my prices (never underestimate the power of your psyche!)
Cotton And Aloe was a great fit for my business and the right choice at the right time. I mostly sold practical crochet for the bathroom like soap savers, reusable cotton pads, bath mitts etc. It appealed to the right customer market for me, and gave me a professional air.
Not having the word crochet in my business name did not hurt me one bit and I was getting more orders than ever. I built up an audience that was interested in my crochet and I was properly niching down, which only made me more successful.
This brand saw me through until I decided to stop selling what I made completely and switched to selling crochet patterns. But I felt this name did not suit a pattern business at all and was not going to serve me. So a new name was needed.
Be Comfortable With Your Name
Unfortunately when it came to choosing my crochet business name for my new pattern business, I didn’t choose well. In fact I didn’t choose it at all. I couldn’t think of a name, so I let someone else come up with a name. They chose The Cool Crochet Society. I was eager to get started with building my new business and couldn’t think of anything else, so I went with it – big mistake!
This name never sat right with me, I was never comfortable with it. But I kept The Cool Crochet Society for 4 years. I still didn’t have any other ideas and any name is better than no name right?
But that uncomfortable feeling about by chosen business name just got worse over time. Eventually I was just plain embarrassed by it. I didn’t like telling anyone what my brand name was, I didn’t like sharing it on social media. It meant I wasn’t promoting my patterns enough simply out of embarrassment of my business name.
Eventually at the end of 2023 I finally came up with a name that I loved and went on a rebrand. I don’t ever recommend rebranding your business the way I have. But bad name choices and a complete change of business types has meant I’ve found it necessary. Rebrands, especially when you have been in business for a while are messy, hard work and take a lot of time to do. But even though I’m still finding things that need changing even a year later, I don’t regret the decision.
It’s Fine To Have A Playful Name
Froggity Frog is now my crochet pattern business name. I LOVE it!! It’s mine, I came up with it, I love how playful it is being a play on that crochet term of Frogging your yarn – I certainly do enough of that every week. My whole business is built around playing with new crochet stitches, so having a name that is playful and fun suits my brand and my way of creating patterns down to the ground.
I’m no longer embarrassed by my brand name and that means I’m comfortable sharing my business around social media and the internet again. I don’t feel like I have to explain, apologise or dread the reaction to my business name anymore. This alone has given my business a boost.
The truth is, the name you choose for your crochet business can have a huge impact on how you show up in your business, how willing you are to promote it and how comfortable you are setting your prices higher. The wrong name can impact your sales and your profits – maybe you won’t realise that straight away, that may only show itself over time.
Choosing a crochet business name is a big deal. You will be using it for years and it will be on everything you sell, every picture you publish on social media and in in how you introduce yourself to new people. Not only does it have to suit your business, you have to be comfortable with it and it has to appeal to your customer base.
Choose well, choose carefully, because if you get it wrong like I did, it’s a lot of work to fix.
For more tips on how to start and grow your crochet business, check out my Free Resources here. Grab whatever takes your interest to create your ideal crochet business. You can also follow my free Substack here for more crochet building tips.
