I've been looking at the various online tellings of this story. The one to read if you're only reading one is
All Craft Media, and Why You Should Run the Other Way, in a blog called Dull Roar.
Basically, Kellie Armstrong, operating as KAL Media, has been publishing a string of craft and needlework magazines:
Suspended publication:
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MagKnits
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Yarn Forward (renamed Knit Magazine; soon to be renamed again)
Current:
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Knit Magazine (see above)
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Inside Crochet
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Simply Beautiful
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Sew Hip
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Handmade Living
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Handmade Fashion
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Modern Quilting
There also are or were associated retail undertakings:
- Hipknits
- The Knit Magazine Sock Club
The knitting and textile arts world is a relatively polite and nonconfrontational place. For years, knitters have been quietly steaming over KLA paying late or never for published designs, failing to return their samples, and in some cases reselling their designs to other publications without giving the designer a share of the subrights. When KAL has sold yarn, shipments have been unreliable and often unsatisfactory, and there've been waaaaay too many instances of the post office supposedly losing outgoing packages.
The knitting community has increasingly been discussing its dissatisfaction with KAL. When designer Ruth Garcia-Alcantud published an
open letter to an unspecified publisher, the community instantly recognized who she was talking about, and responded with a cascade of blog posts confirming and expanding upon the original.
This is good. They should have done it years ago, but it's good that they're doing it now. Needlework and crafts publications are a branch of publishing, and prone to the same problems that turn up elsewhere.
This is from Dull Roar:
Again, designers reported not getting paid for their work, or receiving their samples back in the mail, and, as is par for the course, not getting any sort of communicative response from the company. Finally, last summer/fall, designers began speaking out- on Ravelry, on Twitter, and on their own blogs. Some have been paid, albeit many months late. Some have not. Not just designers, either- tech editors, too. Many designers never got their sample back, despite promises to the contrary.
Owing a great deal of money, KAL Media went into liquidation. I don't know *exactly* what that term means legally in the UK, but what I do know is that the company was "bought" by All Craft Media, which is owned by Kerrie's husband, and apparently absolved of all debts. There were claims that ACM would honor the contracts and debts that KAL had racked up... but, as they are quick to point out, they aren't *obligated* to.
That's right- Kerrie and her husband are still profiting from magazines filled with designs from designers who were never paid, and telling the designers that they don't HAVE to pay them. Neener neener, suck it, designers.
Color me dubious about that liquidation. One half of a married couple declares bankruptcy, so the other half buys them out and dismisses the existing debts? I don't think so. It's the UK rather than the US, so I don't know nearly as much about the laws, but married couples are a legal unit, and unless they have formidable prenuptial agreements, they're an economic unit as well. Since ACM is a new company, and I haven't heard anything about Armstrong's husband being in the needlework business prior to its formation, I doubt it has that kind of separate status.
More simply, if this kind of maneuver were legal, couples could take turns buying out each other's bankruptcies every few years, and never have to pay their debts. More people would be doing it, and we'd have heard the outcry about it.
Here's my question for KAL's creditors: is there any independent confirmation that this liquidation actually took place, or did you just hear about it from Armstrong and her husband? It's worth checking. Consider chipping in on an hour or two of legal advice, and find out what your options are. Kellie Armstrong's many outstanding debts may still be collectible.
The other thing to watch out for is KAL/ACM starting new businesses in the same old way. I think what you have here is a serial scammer. They don't change their line of business unless they're forced to.