Ply Magazine
PLY Magazine publishes a quarterly themed print magazine on handspinning and operates the PLY Spinners Guild, a recurring online learning community. It serves intermediate-to-advanced handspinners and indie fiber businesses across the US and international markets.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersBend, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Ply Magazine does
PLY Magazine is a privately held, community-funded independent publishing company founded in 2013 by Jacey Boggs Faulkner and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with a small staff of approximately 8 employees. Its core product is a quarterly themed print magazine on handspinning, each issue exploring a single topic in depth across 121-128 archival-quality pages while maintaining a deliberately low 15% advertising ratio (versus an industry standard of 40-50%). The company also operates the PLY Spinners Guild, an online learning community launched around 2023 that provides progressive video lessons, spin-alongs, forums, and teacher interactions for $85/year or $12/month, with an estimated 1,500-2,500 members. In 2025, PLY expanded its editorial footprint by launching WEFT Magazine, a sister publication covering weaving.
The business is monetized primarily through recurring subscriptions to the print magazine and guild membership, supplemented by limited print advertising (starting at $100 per 1/8 page), single-issue and back-issue sales through its plytogether.com shop, and festival/event retail at fiber-arts gatherings such as Convergence and Wisconsin Sheep & Wool. Distribution combines direct-to-consumer subscriptions via plymagazine.com with wholesale placement through 50+ independent yarn and fiber shops across more than 20 US states plus international retailers in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. The company's technology stack is straightforward: a content website with a searchable article index spanning 1,457+ articles, a blog with 841+ entries, and a guild platform accessible on desktop, tablet, and mobile (iOS/Android). The brand is anchored in a niche hobbyist community and emphasizes editorial depth, diverse voices, and archival-quality production over scale or advertising monetization.
Ply Magazine firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ply Magazine
- Legal name
- PLY Magazine
- Website
- https://www.plymagazine.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- PLY Magazine publishes a quarterly themed print magazine on handspinning and operates the PLY Spinners Guild, a recurring online learning community. It serves intermediate-to-advanced handspinners and indie fiber businesses across the US and international markets.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ply Magazine industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Craft and hobby publishing
- NAICS
- Periodical Publishers (513120), Periodical Publishers (51312)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN)
Keywords
Where Ply Magazine is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bend
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Ply Magazine business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Magazine Subscriptions: Quarterly themed print magazine subscriptions for handspinners, funded by the community with less than 15% advertising (compared to industry standard 40-50%)
- PLY Spinners Guild Membership: Annual or monthly membership ($85/year or $12/month) providing access to video lessons, spin-alongs, forums, and community features. The guild requires 1500-2500 members to remain financially viable.
- Print Advertising: Limited advertising spaces in the magazine, starting at $100 for 1/8 page (Bazaar), supporting indie fiber businesses with a low 15% ad-to-content ratio.
- Single Issue Sales: Individual magazine issues sold through plytogether.com shop, including current and back issues.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Quarterly print magazine subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | PLY Spinners Guild annual membership |
| Subscription | Monthly | PLY Spinners Guild monthly membership |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | 1/8 page (Bazaar) print ad |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | Full page print advertisement |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Ply Magazine product offering
Product offeringCore offering
PLY Magazine publishes a quarterly themed print magazine for handspinners, with 121–128 archival-quality pages per issue containing only 15% advertising. Each issue deep-dives into a single spinning topic, and the company also operates the PLY Spinners Guild, a paid online learning community offering video lessons, spin-alongs, and forums at $85/year or $12/month.
Product overview
PLY Magazine operates as a print publication with complementary digital offerings. The core product is the quarterly PLY Magazine print publication featuring themed issues on handspinning topics with in-depth articles and photography. The PLY Spinners Guild provides an online video-based learning community with progressive lessons and community forums. The PLY Article Index offers searchable access to over 1457 articles across 53 published issues. Additional offerings include a blog with community content, subscription services, and print advertising opportunities. The publication focuses exclusively on handspinning content with an archival-quality format that readers keep like reference books.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- PLY Spinners Guild: Online learning community for hand spinners featuring progressive video lessons, spin-alongs, make-a-yarn sessions, teacher teas, and community forums. Priced at $85/year or $12/month.
Products and services
- PLY Magazine (quarterly print)
- PLY Spinners Guild
- WEFT Magazine
- PLY Article Index
Quantifiable outcome
- 121-128 archival-quality pages per issue with only 15% ads (vs 40-50% industry standard)
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Ply Magazine
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Ply Magazine technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Ply Magazine partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- Tempe Yarn & Fiber (Tempe, AZ)minorArizona yarn shop retailer distributing PLY Magazine to local spinning community
- Shuttles Spindles & Skeins (Boulder, CO)minorColorado fiber arts retailer carrying PLY Magazine wholesale
- WEBS (East Hampton, MA)minorMajor yarn retailer carrying PLY Magazine wholesale for distribution
- The Woolery (Frankfort, KY)minorKentucky fiber arts shop carrying PLY Magazine wholesale
- Halcyon Yarn (Bath, ME)minorMaine yarn retailer distributing PLY Magazine to Northeast spinning community
- Fiber Creek (Prescott, AZ)minorUS yarn shop retailer carrying PLY Magazine issues for local fiber community
- Virginia Farm Wool Works (NSW, Australia)minorInternational Australian yarn shop carrying PLY Magazine for international subscribers
- Das Wollschaf (Zweibrucken, Germany)minorGerman yarn shop retailer distributing PLY Magazine in Europe
- SpinSpul (The Netherlands)minorDutch yarn shop carrying PLY Magazine for Netherlands fiber community
- Beyond Measure (Todmorden, UK)minorUK yarn shop retailer carrying PLY Magazine wholesale
- Wonky Weaver (Carmarthenshire, UK)minorUK fiber arts retailer distributing PLY Magazine to British spinning community
- PLY Spinners Guild (Internal Platform)coreInternal online learning community developed by PLY Magazine with progressive video lessons, spin-alongs, forums, teacher teas. Features guest teachers including Jill Duarte, Deb Robson, Stephenie Gaustad, Jillian Moreno, Heavenly Bresser, Roy Clemes, and Michelle Boyd. Provides $85/year membership or $12/month subscription with 1500-2500 current members.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Ply Magazine competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Spin-Off Magazine (Interweave Press): Spin-Off is the established mainstream handspinning magazine, covering spinning techniques, fibers, and projects for hobbyists. Directly comparable to PLY in product category, audience, and topic focus, though distributed by a larger media company (Interweave/Peak Media).
- PieceWork Magazine: PieceWork focuses on historical and traditional needlework, including handspinning heritage. It overlaps with PLY's archival and historical-fibers content and serves hobbyist craft audiences with editorial depth rather than mass-market coverage.
- Pom Pom Quarterly: Pom Pom is an independent, quarterly craft magazine focused on hand knitting with high editorial design standards and a low advertising ratio. It is closely analogous in indie positioning, quarterly cadence, and art-direction quality to PLY's craft niche.
- Creativebug: Creativebug is a subscription-based online learning platform for arts and crafts, including fiber arts, with video lessons and community features. Directly comparable to PLY Spinners Guild in model, pricing, and craft-learning audience overlap.
Broad incumbents
- Interweave Knits: Interweave Knits is a long-established knitting magazine from the same publisher as Spin-Off. It serves an overlapping but broader fiber arts audience than PLY's spinning-exclusive focus, making it a wider-incumbent fiber arts publication.
- Vogue Knitting: Vogue Knitting is the premier mass-market knitting publication with high fashion and design overlap. It is comparable to PLY in craft-magazine form but addresses a much larger, more mainstream knitting audience.
- Craftsy (now Blueprint): Craftsy is a large online video-learning platform for knitting, spinning, quilting, and other fiber crafts. It overlaps with the Spinners Guild in offering spinning lessons and community features but at broader craft and category scope.
- Etsy: Etsy is a large online marketplace for handmade goods including spinning tools, fiber, and yarn, many sold by indie advertisers in PLY. Comparable as the broader ecosystem platform connecting to PLY's advertiser and reader small businesses.
Regional players
- Mason Dixon Knitting: Mason Dixon Knitting is a US-focused independent knitting publication and brand. It is comparable to PLY in indie craft publishing and community-led model, though knitting-focused rather than spinning-focused and US-only in primary reach.
Others
- The National Needlearts Association (TNNA): TNNA is the trade association for the needlearts industry, running the major needlearts trade shows where PLY has an event presence (PLYtogether). Comparable as an ecosystem partner connecting the indie fiber business community that advertises in and distributes PLY.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Ply Magazine social profiles
Digital presencePly Magazine financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ply Magazine leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles16 records
Ply Magazine subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Ply Magazine funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ply Magazine M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ply Magazine
What does Ply Magazine do?
PLY Magazine publishes a quarterly themed print magazine for handspinners, with 121–128 archival-quality pages per issue containing only 15% advertising. Each issue deep-dives into a single spinning topic, and the company also operates the PLY Spinners Guild, a paid online learning community offering video lessons, spin-alongs, and forums at $85/year or $12/month.
Is Ply Magazine a public or private company?
Ply Magazine is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Ply Magazine founded?
Ply Magazine was founded in 2013. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Ply Magazine based?
Ply Magazine is headquartered in Bend, United States, in the North America region.
How does Ply Magazine make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Magazine Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are PLY Spinners Guild Membership, print Advertising and single Issue Sales.
Who are Ply Magazine's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Spin-Off Magazine (Interweave Press), PieceWork Magazine, Pom Pom Quarterly and Creativebug. Broad incumbents are Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, Craftsy (now Blueprint) and Etsy. Mason Dixon Knitting is listed as a regional player. The National Needlearts Association (TNNA) is listed as an others.
Does Ply Magazine have an API?
No public API is recorded for Ply Magazine.
What industry is Ply Magazine in?
Ply Magazine's product category is Craft and hobby publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAEAN, Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines. Its NAICS code is 513120 and its SIC code is 2721.