Posted on 01/31/2022 6:05:13 PM PST by blam
The global fashion industry is on the rebound as BMO Capital boosted Under Armour’s rating to Outperform from Sector Perform. Fashion retailers breathe a sigh of relief as demand picks up but comes at a high price for consumers.
This year, about two-thirds of fashion executives expect to increase costs due to snarled supply chains. Average prices are expected to rise about 3% across all clothing and apparel, according to the State of Fashion 2022 report by the Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Co.
About 15% of respondents said clothing and apparel prices could jump by more than 10%.
Inflation in fashion hasn’t just been due to transportation bottlenecks and rising shipping costs but also rocketing commodity prices. Bloomberg reports cotton futures have soared to a decade high on Monday due to a “global deficit of the fiber squeezing mills holding huge short positions.”
March cotton futures in New York rose as much as 2% to $1.26 per pound, the highest since June 2011. Prices are up for the seventh straight quarter, the longest streak since 1959.
“Supply disruptions and soaring costs pushed the industry to draw on stockpiles, which have practically vanished at ICE Futures U.S., with higher prices unable to lure supplies into the exchange-tracked warehouses,” Bloomberg said.
High prices for the fiber indicate inflation is coming to shirts, blue jeans, dresses, sweats, and so much more.
Demand for cotton worldwide “is simply not being met,” said O.A. Cleveland, a consultant and professor emeritus at Mississippi State University.
“Industry group Cotlook on Friday shifted its global outlook for 2021-22 back to a deficit, the second shortfall in a row, citing diminished production in top exporter U.S. and India. More plantings in the coming season have been put into question by soaring costs for crop inputs including fertilizer,” Bloomberg continued.
Cleveland said the cotton dynamics are “extremely bullish,” and the “last time I recalled such a situation, I stopped forecasting futures prices once the market reached $1.50 a pound. Will the May or July futures price ascend to such a level? I do not know. This is a no man’s land.”
It’s still unclear how consumers will act when their favorite clothing brand prices continue to rise. But since clothes are considered discretionary spending, there will be a point where consumers will buy fewer of them due to higher prices.
Dang, naked and hungry.
Every year I watch the Yankees stop on the side of the roads and take pictures of themselves standing out in the cotton fields near me. I always chuckle.
Nooooooo!!!!!!!!!
Sell the house - Sell the car - Sell the kids -
Find someone else - Forget it
I’m never coming back!”
All my cotton products come from India, Pakistan, etc etc. Our cotton sucks.
Milk is now 2.89 a gallon. It was 2$ a gallon not that long ago.
Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and even Forever-21 use slave & child labor to sew their garments.
They have a supply prob bc their slave plantations are overseas.
The lefties have NO PROBLEM with slave labor. They happily pay 100x mark-ups for their slave-produced baubles, wear the slave produced clothing on TV award shows, and like the NBA, get contracts to pitch their slave-produced products.
Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and even Forever-21 use slave & child labor to sew their garments.
They have a supply prob bc their slave plantations are overseas.
The lefties have NO PROBLEM with slave labor. They happily pay 100x mark-ups for their slave-produced baubles, wear the slave produced clothing on TV award shows, and like the NBA, get contracts to pitch their slave-produced products.
“Inflation is COMING to clothing”???
I was at Kohls a couple days ago. Levi Dockers pants were $73 per pair! For DOCKERS. I think the last pair I bought was maybe $35. I couldn’t believe my eyes. For ages, my fine dress slacks were $75 to $100.
Retirement is now looking problematic because of the ridiculous COVID trillions the government blew for no good reason.
The dollar store is now $1.25!
I haven’t ever seen a cotton field. I think I would do the same.
Joe Biden was confused when heard this in his morning brief, and told the press “Good times are back people! We’re in High Cotton”!
“All my cotton products come from India, Pakistan, etc etc. Our cotton sucks.”
The end of tariffs and quotas killed the US textile and apparel industry as well as a million domestic manufacturing jobs. Our Democrat and Republican politicians, in collusion with the big retailers, apparel brands, and Wall Street investment firms decided it would be better if our dollars employed Asian workers instead of Americans.
Who would have guessed? My huge fabric stash was an investment.
I stocked up on this stuff too
“Our Democrat and Republican politicians, in collusion with the big retailers, apparel brands, and Wall Street investment firms decided it would be better if our dollars employed Asian workers instead of Americans.”
True statement.
You want to know what else happened.
Americans were freed up to focus on “high end stuff”(In their own minds) instead of textile manufacturing, which is beneath the talented power lunch crowd. Wealthy foreigners don’t want those kinds of jobs either, they want college education & the power lunch.
Clothing won’t be considered a necessity until we are all running around naked or in rags.
When the prices get high enough, we’ll probably bring back the Lady Garment Worker.
Cotton is the most obviously racist thing evah.
I used to never buy shirts with more than 40% polyester because I really smelled bad because of polyester.
Since I was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer 7+ years ago, 100% polyester is no longer a problem. The drugs I take lower my testosterone level to that of a 8-10 year-old girl, so oder is not a problem, at all.
The basics of life are food, clothing and shelter. The clothing supply chain is almost completely gone from our country. Many building materials are now being sources out of this county, probably 30%. Farmland is being bulldozed for the expansion of cities and construction of solar farms. Billionaires are buying up millions of acres of farmland. As a result Mexico, Central and South American are supplying increasing amounts of our fresh foods. Processed food production is also moving offshore.
US politicians enjoy sanctioning foreign countries. Reports of sanctions against one country or another are almost a daily occurrence. To date most countries in the world comply with the US sanctions. However the day will come when China sanctions the United States, cuts off its exports to our country, and insists the other nations of the world do likewise. Unlike during the 1940 when the US was self sufficient, there will be no wholly domestic manufacturing and food supply chains. Within months the US will have to:
1) Surrender and capitulate to whatever terms are offered.
2) Go to conventional war and likely suffer a horrendous defeat if the war lasts more than a few weeks. A military dependent on suppliers outside the homeland is a military that cannot resupply quickly during war.
3) Initiate a nuclear war which ensures the destruction of the homeland as well as the enemy.
A nation that cannot feed, clothe, shelter and defend itself is a nation in peril. Over the past 30 years our politicians have led us from independence to dependence. Long term there is no good outcome from this choice.
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