Do you think SB companies are out of touch with us?

Yep, my city is all about the vinyl! My nephew is big into collecting records.

Looking from the outside in, it may seem they are out of touch but personally I like general papers that I can work into my crafting. I am not much of a 12" x 12" person anymore so for me I make cards and more mixed media projects so themes like fishing or golfing etc. just dont really interest me anymore. I also think some of the themes mentioned are so small that manufacturers just dont see the benefit in manufacturing thousands of fishing or kayaking paper collections only for a few hundred to sell. It seems it has to make sense on paper (literally). The other day I overheard someone at a crop asking for more Mexican papers that featured cultural patterns, I have a few Latina friends who I crop with and I mentioned this to them and they did not care for the idea. So even though we may see the need for specific themes, if the theme is not widespread (like halloween or christmas) it is just not profitable for companies to create. I think it just is what it is. 

From manufacturers' perspective: If it isn't broke, don't fix it! Manufacturers generally don't stray from the mainstream/established themes because they are proven sellers (ETA: perhaps because they’re often the only available product to purchase!). Especially during continued pandemic supply/labor/etc. issues & economic uncertainty, companies are typically more risk-adverse & hesitant to invest in products that may not sell well. As a result, the industry has become formulaic/repetitive/predictable.

Since our scrap subjects/styles/perspectives/preferences/etc differ, it's also financially impossible for manufacturers to purchase licenses to use copyrighted/tradmarked material from every music artist, college/professional sports team, tv show, movie, theme park, etc. to create custom collections for each of our interests/activities. To document your concert, consider non-themed pattern papers & embellishments in your desired color palette combined with actual memorabilia from the concert plus tickets, labels, music notes, or other icons/shapes created using stickers, stamps, dies, stencils, etc. HTH.

These decisions are likely driven by what the market will bear. Forecasting must reveal generic themes sell well. I don’t know what the profit margin on paper is, but I cant imagine it’s super high.

Like most theme scrappers I have been collecting paper for decades. There have been collections of almost every topic. But scrapbooking shrunk as a hobby and niche themes don't have enough buyers. Many people here have no desire to use themes in their pages. It just isn't finacially worth it for companies.

With that comes die cut machines that let you cut whatever theme you a desire. Back in the early days printed a lot of my own paper and layered it. Like tickets and ads and that sort of stuff. May have to return to that

Shimelle was talking through some of these issues in a livestream recently. It’s a hard balance to create what sells to big store buyers (who she said often ask companies for more like whatever sold well recently) and what sells to the “average” scrapbooker, whoever that is. Not necessarily the kind of people like us who enjoy discussing scrapbooking on a message board. She mentioned that there had been products she pushed for because ‘everyone’ agreed that this particular thing would be good for us, but then nobody actually bought it. And other ones that for some random or unlucky reason just didn’t do well and so they were put on the failed list to never be offered again.

She also mentioned the loooong timeline between the frenzy of designing and the product actually showing up in stores, and alluded to some disconnect between stores and customers, the stores forgetting that people make the pages AFTER they’ve done the thing. I would’ve loved to dig more into that observation. I think she meant that we don’t know what our Christmas photos will look like until after December so selling Christmas supplies July-Nov kind of sets up a situation where people are guessing what they’re going to want and need.

I frequently don't want a particular "theme" but just a good set of coordinating designs - patterns and palette of colours - that I can use and adapt to whatever it is I'm doing. I know I've gone on (and on) before about Basic Grey but I am fast running out of some of my favourite old papers, including those that looked a bit like banknotes, one that was a bit art nouveau in style and another that seems to be a bit like dress pattern designs. I find the very bright colours of a many collections (American Crafts I'm talking about you) difficult to work with - not that I want everything to be dull, but those palettes of full fat yellow, pink and orange are just a bit much for me! Shimelle voices my thoughts exactly when it comes to needing the papers *after* the event too - seems obvious but clearly not!!

That’s a really good point about seasonal merchandising!

I’m considering doing a December daily album this year and found myself struggling to figure out which patterned papers I might need for anticipated activities. I think I was struggling because normally I already have pictures in hand when I go to scrap after an event has happened.

I imagine it’s difficult chasing trends in the retail space. I feel fortunate to find any scrapbook supplies near me. Scrapbook sections in my local stores are dwindling.

I think there's a good balance out there. There are companies that do more generic papers that would work well for anything because they aren't themed - Cocoa Vanilla, Simple Stories Color Vibe, 49 and Market, etc.

Then there are companies that do general themes, like various seasons - which I imagine always sell well, because a lot of people probably have photos that fit seasons but not necessarily anything specific - like going for a walk in the fall, or raking leaves, or starting the garden in Spring, having family over in the summer, etc.

Then there are companies that are really niche - I bought Game of Thrones-style paper from Reminisce, Harry Potter paper a few years ago from someone, can't remember who, Wizards and Witches themed paper last year from Echo Park, Japan-themed paper from Scrapbook Customs, Campus Life paper from PhotoPlay. I bought the retro summer collection from Simple Stories because I have a bunch of pool photos from the 1970s that I want to scrap.

Right now on scrapbook.com when I typed in "music", I see that there are collections for Country Music, music festivals, high school musicals, Rockabilly, and a whole bunch of others. Maybe I don't love each one, but it's something, and I can pick and choose pieces to use, cut up the papers, etc.

So, I do think there are companies that try to be more niche, but it's probably hard to justify coming up with a super specific collection becuase how big is the market for that? Like, a person who plays WarHammer - are they likely to scrapbook? Who knows, I'd like to scrapbook my son painting his figures but I'll have to get creative and combine a GOT-themed paper with some more generic ones, I guess.

I think the really niche stuff is probably easier for digital designers, but I don't buy digital designs so I don't know for sure.

I do wonder how scrapbook companies decide which icon is going to be hot - like llamas or sloths or whatever. That's kind of a weird thing. Is it like Pantone when a color for the year gets announced? Designers get the animal icon for the year announced at their annual convention?