The Design Cuts approach has always been one of honesty and transparency, and today especially, you deserve nothing less. We realise that the sudden and public closure of Design Cuts has left questions for many of you – I hope today’s update can provide some clarity.
As many creatives will know, it’s been a tough market in recent years. So much so, that for the past 3 years, Design Cuts has been losing money. As a self-funded startup, this has been particularly challenging, although through team adjustments, hard-work and new ventures such as Creative Club, we’ve tried to endure the storm. Directors have taken no salary for months to give us the best chance of survival. Throughout this time, we’ve been committed to continuing our regular live events and maintaining our community’s experience. We want to share a huge appreciation for our team for everything they’ve given over this period.
Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, last year we found ourselves facing insolvency if we took no action. We had not expected to reach that point so quickly, but some shifts within the market meant that we increasingly had less time than we could have imagined to make decisions.
Faced with this, we began working frantically to try and find the best resolution for everyone – our team, our shop owners and of course, our community.
In our explorations, Creative Market came to our rescue as a great ally. They agreed to purchase the DC brand, as well as take on the original products we have released, which would allow the designers involved in co-creating them to continue earning.
The funds from this acquisition have ensured that we can pay out all shop owners for all sales owed, as well as being able to honour any refund requests for Creative Club subscription memberships. Our remaining team will be actioning both of these things from next week.
Whilst we know most of our customers download their assets following purchase, we recognise that for many of you, this may not be the case. Unfortunately despite our best efforts, we found ourselves in a position where we could no longer sustain our Amazon hosting bill for downloads (which is significant).
As a team who truly cares about our people, this felt like an impossible position. Of course, we want to look after everyone – but in this case, we know we’ve let some of you down as we close our doors. We understand the frustration, disappointment and even anger this series of events may have caused for some. Believe us when we say, no-one is more disappointed than us that we couldn’t continue DC into the future, or be in a position to wrap-up more ‘smoothly’.
On a personal level, with the business closed, we are still working to explore potential options for trying to provide download links privately, although truthfully, we are encountering some limitations in terms of cost and security. We will try and provide an update in time if we find a solution.
Thank you,
The Design Cuts Team.