If You Can't Figure Out What To Get Someone For Christmas

Buy handmade. And take the "buy handmade" pledge while you are at it.

I Took The Handmade Pledge! BuyHandmade.org

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Comments (Archived):

  1. Tom W.

    Hey Fred, thanks to you we’re shopping at Etsy this Christmas.

    1. fredwilson

      AwesomeI hope enjoy the experience and the gifts too!Fred

  2. rahulgupta

    Fred, my wife and I have done almost all of our shopping at Etsy this season. It’s great fun, and as artists on hiatus, it’s a great way for us to give back to a community we love.

    1. fredwilson

      That’s great!

  3. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

    Fred, I think you’re a terribly smart and engaging fellow, but I also think the handmade pledge is one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard.It’s so typically bobo, and it smacks of anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism. It’s authenticity at a bargain; if you want real authenticity, move out of New York and go to an ashram. If not, don’t willfully restrict your choices of gifts for friends. Doesn’t it matter more that you get your friends THE gift they like/want, rather than the warm fuzzy feeling of telling yourself “I bought handmade!”?

    1. fredwilson

      I don’t get your point at allI am making the pledge to buy handmade. Not telling my friends that they have to buy handmadeAnd etsy and crafting in general is a very commercial activity. Tens of millions of dollars of holiday gifts will be bought on etsy this yearBuying handmade is authentic Real people make these things. And its eco-friendly tooAlmost 10,000 people have taken the buy handmade pledge in its first year with little pr around itI think this is very much a movement and I am very invested in itFred

      1. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

        “Buying handmade is authentic Real people make these things.”But see, according to me this is completely irrelevant. When I shop for gifts, I shop for what I think my friends & family will like, period. That means looking for best quality, and for some products the best quality is always handmade, but that doesn’t mean I should willfully limit my shopping choices. If my nephew really really wants an iPod for christmas, should I say “Sorry, this year I’m buying handmade?”I’m sure that buying handmade can be a real movement and commercially viable; by all means buy a stake in the company, but that doesn’t mean you should drink the Kool-Aid.(By the way, I’m sure the people who design and make non-handmade products would be surprised to find out they are not “real people.”)

  4. fofolle

    As a maker of handmade clothing, I thank you for getting the word out!

  5. JJ

    handmade crap is good for secret santa but i’d be pissed to get a gift from etsy. sorry but handmade is just not as cool as factory made in my book.

    1. fredwilson

      It isn’t crapIt’s fine if you’d be pissed to get something handmadeBut please don’t call it crapfred

  6. denmeade

    i think Etsy is wonderful. i’ve bought some lovely gifts (for myself and other people) via the site during the year and this Christmas. i enjoy supporting people doing their thing and for me there is something special about knowing even a small piece of the story behind the creation. the walls of my house are much more colourful now thanks to Etsy connecting me with some very talented people.