ETSY Merchandising Info for January

From Etsy Forum:

Our central merchandising topics this month will center around plans for the new year, winter fashion, seasonal escapes and emphasis on Valentine's Day.

Below you'll find the extended list of topics we're excited to highlight. While emphasis will be placed upon the seasonality of the Northern hemisphere, it's important to remember the Southern hemisphere is heading into summer.

Maintaining seasonally appropriate options year-round is good practice for boosting international and overall sales. We're looking for your creative voice on each of the upcoming seasonal motifs.

• Ringing in the New Year:
• New Year's Eve Celebrations: Parties, entertaining, eats, spirits, decor, and favors.
• Fashion: Party-wear, cozy style, activewear, and accessories.
• Resolutions: Fresh starts, new beginnings, renewal, goal setting, organization, self-reflection, athletics, cooking, redecorating, taking on new DIY projects.
• 2011 Calendars: Start the new year with this organizational must. Channel classic styles, multifunctional versions, and personalized takes, such as chalkboard surfaces.
• Winter Fashion: Clothing basics, outerwear, accessories, and jewelry. Emphasis on outerwear, winter shoes and boots, weather resistant materials and rich cozy fabrics. Winter Accessories: scarves, hats, gloves, fingerless gloves, mittens, legwarmers, cowls, cozies, coats, jackets, and footwear.
• International Vacations and Resort Wear: Winter months are the season for destination vacations in exotic settings. Think travel gear and packing essentials, luggage, carryalls, photography, preservation of memories, foreign languages and seasonal style. For a fashion forward escape, think in terms of casually elegant, yet comfortable, swimwear, cover-ups, formal dinner fashions and accessories.
• Cozy Home: Feather your nest with storage solutions, multifunctional furniture and key accent pieces, cozy accessories, quilts, blankets, throws, candles, centerpieces, kitchen updates, DIY projects and wall decor.
• Weddings and Celebrations: Think grand indoor affairs, snowy accents and party details, long sleeves, thick fabrics, hearty delectables, and memorable favors. Don't forget to stay a step ahead for brides currently planning and shopping for spring and summer weddings.
• Valentine's Day: Think decor for parties, favors, DIY projects, fashion, lingerie, sweets, love notes and cards, flowers, jewelry, the naughty and nice side, gag gifts, and personalized keepsakes. Emphasis on gift ideas for him, her, family, kids, friends, and coworkers.
• Garnet is January's birthstone, and January's astrological signs are Capricorn and Aquarius (December 22 - Jan 20: Capricorn and January 21 - February 19: Aquarius).

January Trends:

* Calendars, journals, and thank you cards
* Valentines Day references
* DIY kits and projects
* Recipe books, culinary gadgets, journals, organizational and storage solutions, to-do lists, and goal setting/tracking essentials
* Personalization: Monograms, initials, text, numbers, zodiacs, constellations, portraits, custom labels, stamps, fingerprints and family trees.
* Winter Fashion: Vintage boots, saddle shoes, oxfords, carryall bags, knit accessories, cardigan and wrap sweaters, long sleeves, rich fabrics.
* Teacups, kettles, pots, and confections
* Beards and mustaches (we know, we know!)
* Feathers, arrows, diamonds, geometric shapes and patterns, paper cuts and silhouettes
* Lockets, secret hiding places, vintage letterpress blocks, and skeleton keys
* Farmhouse references, vintage industrial decor, chalkboard and writable surfaces, vintage cameras, letterpress drawers, and typewriters
* Fortune cookies, wishbones, fortune tellers and honey bees
* Gadgets, gadget cozies, docks, and carriers
* Vintage brass and cast iron animals
* Natural history and woodland forest themes and animals, namely birds, owls, squirrels, hedgehogs, chipmunks, bunnies, butterflies, feathers, nests, eggs, acorns, leaves, trees, branches, woodgrain, and natural colors.
* Colors: Cozy neutrals, taupe, oatmeal, turquoise, aqua, saffron, deep red, metallics.




Upcoming Dates to Remember FOR TREASURY THEMES

* January is known as:
o National Blood Donor Month
o National Hobby Month
o Hot Tea Month.
* January 1: New Year's Day
* January 2: Berchtoldstag (Switzerland)
* January 6: Epiphany, Three Kings Day
* January 16: Golden Globes
* January 17: Martin Luther King Day
* January 19: Edgar Allan Poe born
* January 25: Foundation Day (Brazil)
* January 25: Robbie Burns Day (Scotland)
* January 26: Australia Day
* January 26: Republic Day (India)