How Craft Club Grew 300% by Keeping Its Kits in Stock

Craft Club makes craft kits for adults who want to reconnect with their creative side. Founded in Sydney by Nakisah Williams during the COVID pandemic, the brand was built on a belief that creativity is something many people lose as adults and want back. Starting with latch hooking kits for making cushions and rugs at home, Craft Club has grown into Australia's fastest growing eCommerce craft brand, now shipping to customers across Australia, the US, and the UK.

The challenge: Selling out faster than you can restock

Nakisah Williams spent years feeling like craft had left her life for good. Working full time, the creative urge was still there. But the barrier of feeling like you had to be an artist to pick up a needle or a brush kept most people from trying. She saw a gap for a modern craft brand that made it easy, accessible, and fun without the intimidation.

Craft Club started as a side project during COVID. Latch hooking kits, which let customers make their own cushions and rugs at home with a simple hand tool, found an audience fast. The Sydney lockdown in late 2021 brought a first big surge of demand, and the business grew quickly from there.

Growing fast introduced a problem that hit hard and often. Every time a product sold out, the money from those sales went straight back into the next order. That order took months to arrive. While it was in transit, customers were waiting and asking when stock would return.

We were just constantly running out of stock. It was so painful to always have customers asking when is this going to be back in stock? We wanted to do everything to provide for them, but we just couldn't. We had no cash left in the bank. As founders, we were bootstrapping it. We'd put all of our savings into the business.

The bank wasn't an option. A business one or two years old doesn't have the financial history traditional lenders need. Small business credit lines existed but charged rates that made no sense for a growing brand.

We were seeing momentum that could help us grow exponentially. But there was just no way to actually capitalise on that opportunity.

The solution: eCommerce financing that moves with the business

Craft Club looked at the range of options: bank loans, fundraising, small business credit lines, other lenders. Fundraising would have meant giving up equity in a business Nakisah believed she and her team could grow on their own terms. Other lenders expected significant cash reserves, which a fast-growing eCommerce brand putting everything back into stock will never have.

Wayflyer fitted.

What was fantastic about Wayflyer was knowing that it was really eCommerce focused. It suited us in terms of fast payments so we could rely on Wayflyer to pay us when we actually needed to pay for the stock with our suppliers.

The repayment structure worked with the business rather than against it.

Being able to do daily repayments was really helpful because it moves with the flow of our business. It allowed us to repay really quickly, much quicker than we expected, which meant we could get more again, buy more stock, and keep growing.

The relationship evolved as the business did. Wayflyer could see Craft Club's Shopify and advertising data, and the offers reflected where the business had got to rather than where it had started.

When we come back needing more funds, you're not just offering what you did at the beginning when we were brand new. We grow in the same direction together.

The results: 300% growth in under a year

Craft Club has grown by 300% since starting with Wayflyer, in roughly twelve months of working together.

New product categories are in development, with launches planned across the next twelve months. A kids line is on the way. The brand is building out its US presence, working toward a 3PL and Amazon footprint that will allow it to offer fast domestic shipping to American customers.

We're still growing at an insane pace. I'm sure that we'll keep working with Wayflyer into that growth.

Interested in following in Craft Club's footsteps? Wayflyer has funded over 6,000 businesses worldwide with $6 billion worth of working capital, backed by world-leading financial institutions. Apply in minutes and access funds in hours. Start your application today.