The leading crafts and hobby retailer in the UK, Hobbycraft, owned by Modella Capital, reports strong performance, with sales of its Christmas products up +21.6%. Top sellers included Ceramic Baubles, Wooden DIY Advents, Colour-in Cardboard Houses, Artificial Garlands, Dried Floral Wreaths and Velvet Ribbon, reflecting continued demand for DIY festive décor, handmade gifts and kids’ activities.
Total revenue over the past six weeks grew by +6.3%, with eCommerce up by +13.8%, highlighting the ongoing importance of Hobbycraft’s digital platforms in inspiring creativity across the UK.
The festive season saw strong growth for Hobbies and Collectables, with sales for this category increasing by +52.6%. Model Making Kits led the way in this space, with sales increasing by +61.1%, demonstrating a new generation of modellers and a hobby brought further into the mainstream spotlight by actor Danny Dyer, who has spoken openly about his love of model-making. From 3D model tanks, cars, motorbikes, ships and soldiers; best-selling brands include Transformers, Airfix, Gunpla, Warhammer and Revell. Popular collectable character figures come from franchises such as Star Wars, Marvel and Dragon Ball.
Other popular hobbies during this period included Knitting and Crochet, boosted by the “Tom Daley Effect”, which first gained traction when Daley was spotted knitting in the Olympic stands in 2020. Since then, he has helped challenge the traditional image of needlework, making it feel cool, inclusive and accessible to a younger, more diverse audience, including men. Building on this momentum, and ahead of his appearance on The Traitors and the launch of his TV show Game of Wool: Britain’s Best Knitter in November, Daley introduced Made with Love by Tom Daley: beginner-friendly crochet and embroidery kits sold exclusively at Hobbycraft. Designed to inspire newcomers to pick up needlework, sales of the kits rose by +32%, making them a popular seasonal gift choice for budding craft enthusiasts. The seasonal surge was further fuelled by DIY gifting and festive downtime. In the six weeks leading up to Christmas, the retailer sold more than half a million balls of wool, while sales of Knitting Accessories and Knitting Yarn increased by +11% and +12.8%, respectively.
Sewing continued to rise in popularity among consumers in the lead-up to Christmas, boosted by shows such as The Great British Sewing Bee, which attracted 4.5 million viewers for the final. For hobbyists, sewing machines proved to be the perfect Christmas gift: the 12S Beginner Sewing Machine saw sales increase by +72%, while the 19S Sewing Machine and Sewing Kit Bundle surged by +155%. Meanwhile, the Haberdashery category grew by +14.4%, including small sewing items such as buttons, ribbons and fabric, which were used to create personalised festive decorations and gifts.
This year, Hobbycraft saw growing demand for handmade gifts and DIY seasonal decorations, driven in part by viral social media trends such as the “velvet ribbon chain garland” craze on TikTok which propelled ribbon to the top of shoppers’ decorating wish lists, with sales of Hobbycraft’s velvet ribbon increasing by +206%. The handmade trend has also been influenced by festive crafting content on national TV, such as Kirstie’s Handmade Christmas inspiring viewers to get creative at home from personalised gifts to decorative wreaths. Sales of the Plain Artificial Fir Christmas Wreath rose by +65% as more customers opted to create their own. DIY Framing proved popular for thoughtful DIY gifts, with sales of this category up +11%. This craft involves customising blank frames using paint, embellishments and meaningful keepsakes, offering shoppers a way to give truly unique presents.
Workshops were a particularly popular seasonal activity, with Traditional Wreath Making the most popular option. Kids’ festive workshops were up by +38% – examples included ceramic ornament making and advent calendar crafting. All sessions gave customers the opportunity to craft in-store or online with expert guidance. Separately, sales of Hobbycraft’s Christmas Gift Card grew by +37%, showcasing that people are giving the gift of craft this year.
Alex Willson, CEO at Hobbycraft comments: “We’re pleased to see strong trading numbers for the six weeks to Christmas, which is testament to our fantastic colleagues across our stores, HQ and distribution centre. In terms of key highlights, we were buoyed by strong online sales, while still seeing promising results across our store portfolio, too. As we head into 2026 with total sales up 6.3% year-on-year, we’re hopeful that by catering for our core craft fans, alongside our newer cohort of hobbyist customers, we will continue to see growth into 2026.”
The retailer’s free loyalty program, Hobbycraft Club, has also grown rapidly, with +32% sign-ups and +37% revenue. Growth has been driven by regular Club-exclusive deals, early access to Black Friday offers, and improved sign-up journeys across all channels. Enhanced customer segmentation and personalisation has also driven engagement, loyalty, and repeat sales.
These strong festive sales follow findings from Hobbycraft’s Power of Making Craft Report** in partnership with Mind UK (5,941 respondents), which revealed that 60% of people would like to reduce their screen time. Among those who already take part in crafting, 53% said it improves their mood and 59% feel a sense of achievement from getting creative.This shows crafting has clearly evolved into more than just a pastime; it is helping people feel grounded in an increasingly fast-paced and digital world, and more people than ever want to learn a new hobby or skill due to the therapeutic and mindfulness benefits of crafting.
With 80% of adults agreeing children should spend more time on creative activities, and 89% of parents agreeing children should spend less time on screens, Kids’ Crafting Kits grew by +12%, with over half a million kits sold during the six-week period. Each kit makes for a perfect gift and provides engaging, hands-on experiences, encouraging creativity, mindfulness and interaction among children.
