I have a little bit of disgust for the way knitting’s new market is shaping up, and I’m sure I’ll discuss this in excruciating detail on some horrible day. One of my pet peeves is the way that branding is becoming more prevalent, at the consumer’s ultimate loss.

So it was with great interest that I started following the Girl From Auntie articles about Tilli Tomas Yarn’s enforcement of a ‘keystone price’ on Sarah’s Yarns. Some salient posts on Sarah’s blog can be found here, here, and here. Or you could just skim the September ’06 archive. Basically, ‘keystone pricing’ in this instance seems to be a pretty clear euphemism for that scourge of Microeconomics 101, price-fixing.

But why is the manufacturer price-fixing, rather than the usual suspects (a group of evil retailers)? To protect the quality of the brand. Tilli Tomas is a high end yarn, and has very distinctive-looking lines. The company needs to preserve the perception that Tilli Tomas yarn is worth 40 bucks per skein by making damn sure it costs 40 bucks per skein.

I’d like to interject here that I’m not against paying a fair price for yarn, and I do understand that there are many reasonable intangibles that go into pricing. Brand name is starting to become an unreasonable intangible, however, and I think we knitters need to be on guard lest designer yarns become tomorrow’s designer handbags.

The dilligent Ana has started a blog to document keystone pricing, and I intend to check it frequently to stay informed. Regarding the murmur for boycotts in the comments of Sarah’s Yarns, I’m not completely sure that I’m on board. I suspect that manufacturer ‘keystone pricing’ happens pretty frequently in all businesses (or else books would not come with a retail price printed inside their jacket). I am willing to bet, however, that ‘keystone pricing’ becomes more ridiculous in proportion to consumers’ perception of the item as ‘luxury’.

So my solution? We need to think before we buy, and cast votes for a reasonable yarn market with our wallets. If 225 yards of a designer yarn isn’t worth $38.00 to you, find an alternative. I mean, what are we paying for here? The sequins? Do we even like sequins? Ugh.