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Pinterest And Michaels Team Up For Limited Number Of Crafting Kits

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- Time may be valuable, but people still love to make things by hand.

Experts say that's leading to a kit culture, and now a San Francisco social media company and a brick-and-mortar craft retailer are hoping to cash in on the craze.

Take for instance, the hot new trend for home and fashion décor: Shibori-style tie-dye.

Pinterest users saved 2.6 million Shibori pins to their idea boards last year, out of over 1.7 billion home decor pins overall.

Which is why the social network -- where users share home decor and project ideas -- decided this would be the perfect project to launch its partnership with arts and crafts retail chain, Michaels.

"Pinterest is really an idea board, the material you must go to another source for and we feel we're the perfect source to partner with Pinterest," said Donna Howe, with Michaels.

Michaels' new make-it-kits have everything you need to create a featured Pinterest project.

The first is Shibori for your home.

Consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow (And yes, her real name happens to be Kit) says, "It's going to be huge," pointing to the popularity of kits in general.

Surveys show a majority of millennials and a third of Generation X-ers have tried, and like, those pre-made meal kits and Yarrow anticipates similar success for the DIY-kits.

"It's a mentally soothing thing to do to make things and so it's no surprise that people want to do that. They just don't want added stress to figure out what they need in order to create," Yarrow said.

She suspects the make-it kit partnership will pay off for both brands, bringing Pinterest to life and making social media more tangible, while helping Michaels stay relevant and allowing the brick and mortar to offer new solutions.

But in addition to satisfying a genuine consumer need, Yarrow says their marketing is brilliant.

"Their limiting the quantity of these kits. So when the consumers feel the fear of missing out, I think it will feel a lot like being the one to get the Black Friday special," she said.

They only released about 1,000 kits, sold exclusively online.

They plan to release new make-it kits monthly, based on trending pins, with a focus on home decor.

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