How SUPERTANYA got started
Introduce your Etsy shop and tell us your story. How did you begin and decide on what to sell on Etsy, and how do you create your products?
I’m Tanya, a.k.a. SuperTanya, founder and leader of the team of the most skilled knitters I ever had the chance to know, Hand-knitting is a skill that I inherited from both my grannies and my mom. I don't even remember my first attempts to knit. I feel like I was born with the gift of knitting. Making various kinds of knits for friends and family was always my hobby, until a moment nearly 15 years ago when I decided to list online for sale a mohair sweater that I had knit myself. At that time, Etsy wasn't THE Etsy that you know today. It was just one of the many marketplaces for crafts, unique and handmade stuff, and independent designers. None of the other marketplaces exist today. I could say that Etsy and I grew up together.
After I sold my first sweater, the demand was so great that I asked my mom to join me in my knitting endeavors, which she gladly accepted. The hand-knitting of a single sweater takes around a week, so the demand was much greater than the capabilities of a single person, and a few days later, my aunt joined the newborn team of SuperTanya, and this is how my fairy tale all began. Now I don't knit myself anymore because I am too busy with design, modeling for photo sessions, and management tasks, but I still do all the designs. This creative part of my work is probably the most appealing part of knitting. To design and craft something that didn't exist before makes knitting a real art. I don't resell or outsource knitting in any way. Every single piece that can be ordered in my online boutique is crafted in-house by a member of our local, European team.
Probably the simplest way to describe the concept of my work is that it is everything opposite of fast fashion;
I predominantly use natural and organic fibers for making one-of-a-kind garments, accessories, and home decor that will last for years.
I don't make hundreds of pieces from the same design, but I gladly design unique single pieces for my clients.
All creations bearing the brand SuperTanya are 100% handmade, knot by knot, and no machine or semi-automatic operations are involved in the crafting process. This, in addition to the use of natural fibers, makes hand-knitting a sustainable, environmentally clean process with a very positive social impact on the communities of our knitters. The variety and complexity of the designs and patterns are limited only by the imagination. While we use traditional skills that humankind developed many centuries ago, the level of technological advancement nowadays is still insufficient to replicate our designs with machines.
Favorite items
What are your favorite items? What makes these so special? Why do you think these items might be selling well?
It is really hard to specify my favorite items from my collection. The process of creating each unique piece is so individual, time-consuming, and requires a lot of attention and love that pointing out a few items means skipping many more. It is like asking a mother to point to her favorite child. Instead of talking about favorite items, I will tell you about my favorite features of some of the fibers and why I prefer to use them. I will try to tell you this in a more rational way because I am afraid if I allow my emotional strings to come to the surface, this interview will become too extended.
The most important feature of natural fibers is their breathability. This feature is crucial for the proper balance of body micro-climate and makes the natural yarns equally suitable for warm and cold seasons, delivering incomparable comfort. One of the fibers that you can see more often in my designs is mohair. It is unique with its long hair and allows for making fluffy designs. The way the hairs catch the light and form a halo is simply divine. Here are a few examples:
The downside of mohair comes when the design features fine details. The strands are great for graduating in colors and shapes, but they hide fine ornaments. Here comes the wool, especially the merino wool, which I use a lot of, and also the cotton. These are really very soft yarns and have no hair. Perfect yarns for baby knits and for designs where fine color or embossed ornaments are required. Please see what I mean here:
Getting sales on Etsy
How long did it take for you to earn your first sale and how do you currently attract customers to your Etsy shop?
The nature of my products doesn't suggest thousands of sold pieces a day, but the first sale on Etsy happened really soon after some listings appeared in my boutique. My efforts to drive sales are focused on two main directions:
- Attracting new buyers: I use social media to showcase my work to new potential clients of my boutique;
- Creating custom designs for my clients is a large part of my work, and it requires patience and close collaboration with the client. There are many parameters of the order to be clarified before the knitting starts. Most of the clients are professionals in areas different from garment making, and I strive to lead and support them in the process of describing their wishes in the best and clearest way.
Managing SUPERTANYA
How do you manage your shop? Are you running solo or do you have any team members? What tools or services do you use to run your shop and how do you handle fulfillment?
Aside from the knitting team, I rely on the help of a few other people. My mom and one of our first knitters are now involved in organizing and controlling order fulfillment. They work closely with the knitters, transfer the orders, and explain in detail the knitting instructions that I develop for the specific designs. My son is doing a lot of technical work with social media integration. My husband is also partially involved in technical and legal work, plus he is the man behind the camera while I am modeling.
My creations are present and regularly delivered to all continents, and in my daily routine, I need to lead conversations in many languages. For that purpose, I often use online translation services like Google, Bing, etc. for translations from and into languages other than English. I strongly prefer written communication, even within our team. We facilitate our communication with email and a few instant messaging programs.
The future of SUPERTANYA
What goals do you have for your shop in the future?
The future of SuperTanya, as I see it, is to get even closer to our clients and supporters. Attracting localized co-workers to our team who are proficient in languages used by important groups of our clients is just one possible step to take toward achieving this goal.
Advice for new sellers
What’s your advice for a new seller starting an Etsy shop?
There is no substitute for great customer service. All the apps, technologies, ad campaigns, and other kinds of marketing activity (if properly executed) are just making your reach to clients wider and easier. But after you make contact, if your service and product are not at the level your clients expect and deserve, all your efforts and expenses will be in vain. Don't forget, you only have one chance to make a first impression.
Accurate product presentation is a must. A full and exact item description accompanied by great photos is what your client uses to make the decision to buy or not. By presenting your unique products for distant sales, you actually sell promises, and it is your full responsibility to keep your promises. When your clients open the box they receive from you, they expect to see what they saw in your item description. Over-expectation = under-satisfaction.
Don’t look for products to sell for profit. Look for opportunities to earn money by doing what you love to do. If you find a way to make money from your hobby, you will never need to work. You will earn your financial independence by having fun. If you are focused solely on financial profit, you probably will achieve it, but at the price of enormous and exhausting stress, and at the end of the day, your efforts and sacrifices won't improve your life. Wealth and happiness do not always go together.
- Be persistent and don’t be afraid if things happen slower than you desire. An opportunity that pops up quickly can also suddenly disappear. Stable success, in the long run, is usually grown and not caught.
Don’t underestimate and properly evaluate your time and talent. Give it a chance; it is worth it.
Etsy is a great place for buying and selling unique products. Even if you don't feel that this marketplace is the right stage for your talent, you still may love it as a buyer. Browse it, and you will find goods that are not available anywhere else.
SUPERTANYA
PREMIUM BRAND KNITWEAR AND CLOTHING
