On October 15 at IFAI Expo 2018’s Pre-Conference in Dallas, Texas, Jonathan Palmer, president and CEO of Autometrix Inc., Grass Valley, Calif., presented an educational session that explored the Maker Movement and how cut-and-sew companies can capitalize on the movement.

According to Palmer, alternative crowd-funding platforms that are available today, such as Kickstarter, combined with the technology for developing ideas, have led to growth in the Maker Movement—a hands-on, do-it-yourself movement that encourages people to turn their ideas into products. While crowd-funding platforms like Kickstarter allow ideas to be funded, people looking to turn their ideas—many of which require fabrics and textiles—into products are confronted with having to decide where to take the production process. According to Palmer, this is where cut-and-sew businesses have the potential to “find a piece of the pie.”

If your cut-and-sew business is looking to get involved with the Maker Movement, your business must be willing to:

• Educate and prepare. Involvement with someone else’s work will require you to educate yourself on the product and prepare your business to take on the opportunity.
• Pursue business. It’s important to dive into the shallow end of search engine optimization so you can get in front of people. Your business must be willing to market itself.
• Build the company. Be ready to invest in different tools and machines to grow your business. You want to be the answer customers are looking for.