Etsy — that online marketplace of handmade goods — has long been dominated by sales of felt owl tchotchkes. But dig a little deeper into the craft fair, and you’ll find independent designers selling unique made-to-order pieces, shipped to your door within a week.

It’s a strategy that drives the success of Montreal-based designer Angie Johnson. Since 2007, her Etsy shop, iheartnorwegianwood, has garnered 8,117 user “likes” for her cage skirts, harnesses, and colourful fringe necklaces.

A big part of the line’s crossover mainstream success was Johnson’s “style blogger du jour” status.

Early fans, like Style Rookie’s Tavi and Style Bubble’s Susanna Lau, became early Norwegian Wood advocates, blogging often newly released pieces to style influencers.

Lau — recently considered by the Telegraph as Britain’s top style blogger — was especially instrumental in the development of the Norwegian Wood “cage skirt” staple.

Lau shared with readers in March 2008 her desire to recreate a Comme des Garçons cage dress.

“I wrote a comment suggesting that I’d be the first person to bid on the design if (Lau) posted it on Etsy’s Style Alchemy,” Johnson says, referring to a site service where users with style ideas (but lacking sewing skills) post a priced custom item “request” that various sellers can “bid” upon to make.

Lau’s stamp of approval was key in Johnson being named as the first Canadian to be invited by British retailer Topshop to design Fall 2009 pieces for its EDIT collection.

Fun with Etsy
CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-DENIM indiDenim, a San Francisco retailer of customized jeans, allows online shoppers to decide upon cut, fabric, rise, leg, hem, back pocket shape and wash.

CASE MAKER Tech company Case-Mate recently launched “I Make My Case“, an online iPhone case personalization tool, where you can choose images from renowned graphic artists.

– Rea McNamara writes about the on/offline statuses of niches and subcultures. Follow her on Twitter @reeraw