Cotton Prices Driving Brands to Increase Prices, Alternative Fabrications

By John A. Stefani

Prices of promotional clothing are beginning to be hit by a cotton shortage. Vendors of printed clothing are having to pass the increases on to the end user. Prices have been changing almost week to week for cotton clothing. What would you be willing to pay for a cotton T-shirt? Hmmmm...
Here is an interesting article that relates to the promotional product industry -

Cotton crunch could push up apparel prices in 2011 - Sept. 9, 2010

First, a drought in China, the world's largest cotton producer and consumer, damaged crops there and forced the nation to ramp up cotton imports to make up for the shortfall.  At the same time, Pakistan, another major cotton producer, was hit by devastating floods and lost 30% of their cotton crop, that further exacerbated the cotton shortage and boosted raw cotton prices even higher. Meanwhile, the world's second-biggest cotton producer, India, restricted its exports to protect their domestic supplies and prices.

Whats likely to happen is cotton clothing will be more expensive and clothing items may have a higher percentage of man-made materials (like polyester) in the fabric make-up.

Although American cotton farmers are being helped by the increases, American farmers are likely only to increase cotton crops IF they believe that the prices will hold. At this time, 80% of the US cotton production is exported.

Since there is a typical  four to six month lag time in the order-to-production cycle, the 2010 jump in cotton prices will be factored into merchandise hitting stores at the beginning of 2011. Have you noticed this yet?

Overall, the USDA estimates that global cotton consumption will exceed cotton stocks for the sixth consecutive year.

Just thought you'd like a better understanding of why clothing prices are on the rise, including those in cotton clothing products in the promotional markets.