How to start a craft business: What the 2026 World Cup kits can teach us
If you have had one eye on the 2026 World Cup, you may have noticed something rather wonderful happening beyond the football itself. This year’s tournament has seen many of the 48 participating nations take to the pitch in kits that are genuinely works of craft. The major kit manufacturers have produced bespoke uniforms drawing on each country’s history, national identity, folk art and textile traditions, and the results are extraordinary.
Argentina’s away jersey carries intricate swirling filete porteno folk art, a vibrant Buenos Aires street tradition; Mexico’s home shirt features the ancient Aztec Sunstone printed directly on the front; Senegal’s kit celebrates the spirit of Teranga, drawing on the vivid wax print traditions of Dakar’s streets and using an inside-out printing technique to reveal a full-colour kaleidoscopic design. Japan’s Samurai Blue kit takes its pattern from centuries-old aizome indigo dyeing.
These are not just football kits. They are handmade ideas, translated into fabric at scale, by people who understood the value of craft.
Every great craft business starts somewhere, like every team.
If you are thinking about how to start a craft business, the World Cup offers a useful frame. Those 48 teams did not arrive at the tournament without preparation. Behind every kit and every match plan are months of groundwork that most spectators never see. The same is true for a craft business. What looks effortless from the outside is built on decisions made long before the first sale.
The kit designers at Nike, Adidas and Puma did not turn up on the day and improvise. They researched, planned, got permissions where they were needed, and made sure every detail was protected before anything went public. When you are starting a craft business, that same instinct to prepare properly is a large part of what makes it thrive.
One of the most important preparations any new crafter can make is getting the right insurance in place before they start trading. Not because something will definitely go wrong, but because the unexpected has a habit of arriving uninvited, and a craft business without cover is like a team without a goalkeeper!
Kitted out properly: what craft business insurance covers.
Our foundation insurance is public and product liability insurance. This is the essential cover that protects you if a customer or member of the public makes a claim against you for injury or damage caused by your products or your activities. Most craft fair organisers will ask for proof of this before they allow you to take a stall, and it applies equally to online sales, rent-a-shelf arrangements and selling through other retailers.
Everything else builds on that base. Employers’ liability cover is a requirement if you have anyone working with you, whether paid or voluntary. Business items insurance protects your tools, materials, stock, equipment, display stands, card readers and laptops against loss, theft or damage. You choose how much to insure, and the standard excess across all claims is just fifty pounds, which is one of the lowest available for craft insurance. At Craft Insurance, your stock and materials are treated as a single category, so if you ever need to make a claim, there is no complicated separation to work out between what was finished and what was still in progress.
Professional indemnity is included as standard with every liability policy, which means that if you teach your craft, run your own exhibition or demonstrate your skills at an event, you are covered for that too.
Avoiding own goals: the exclusions other insurers do not tell you about.
Here is something worth knowing before you shop around. Some of the most widely used insurance providers have exclusions that are easy to miss and genuinely damaging when you discover them. Some will only cover crafters selling branded soaps, not products they have made themselves. Others exclude home fragrances, room sprays and reed diffusers entirely, which is a significant gap for candle makers, wax melt sellers and home fragrance businesses who may not realise they are unprotected until the moment they need to claim.
In football terms, those are own goals waiting to happen. The good news is that Craft Insurance has very few exclusions. We cover what you make and what you sell, and we are always upfront about the small number of things that fall outside the policy. No hidden small print, no surprise gaps.
We also do not charge administration fees. If your craft business grows and you need to update your cover, change your details or adjust your policy as you start travelling to more events or scaling your operation, we handle those amendments at no extra cost. Other providers charge up to fifteen pounds for exactly the same thing. We think that is the wrong way to treat customers who are just getting started.
Getting match ready!
The World Cup kits that have captured everyone’s attention this summer were made by people who understood that craft, preparation and identity are inseparable. That is exactly the mindset to bring to a craft business. The work you make reflects who you are. Protecting it is part of taking it seriously.
Whether you are just working out how to start a craft business from your kitchen table, or you are an established maker heading into your busiest trading season, getting the right cover in place is one of the most straightforward things you can do. Fill in our short online form, get your quote in minutes, and have your documents in your inbox the same day. If you want to talk it through first, Samantha or Naomi will pick up the phone and walk you through exactly what you need. No call centres, just two reliable people who know craft insurance inside out, ready to help you kick off with confidence.