Panic in the curtains business as textile charges go up

The cost of raw materials such as cotton and polyester has increased a lot in the recent past and carrying on this rising on a daily track. The rate of clothing has raised between 60% - 80% since mid 2010 and keeps going to going up in costs due to shortages caused by lower inventories being held during the global recession and this year’s crop again being knocked down by inconsistent weather and mis-timely rain in India, Pakistan & China who in total export almost 50 percent of the global textiles.


Few big names have predicted that cotton production may not make up with consumption for at least two years. This has been bunched up with a more than expected increase in demand not only from the United States as it climbs out of economic downfall but also from the local demands in the Far East. The price of polyester has also increased unpredictably in the last few weeks with increase of 30 to 40% on raw stuff with marketers predicting that this upward trend in costs is expected to continue for the upcoming months. The thump on cause of this has been fright booking in the markets and many


clothing companies have factually stopped fabrication this month. The condition is so unbalanced at the time being that we have been clued up by one of the reliable suppliers that they foresee 60% of the manufacturing companies to have stopped up supplies by the end of the month.


The bigger companies like NEXT are also effective to rising prices and have been announcing to customers that upcoming year will bring a price increase throughout their assortment. An individual shopper in Primark yesterday only told me that a t-shirt which had been £4 in 2010 January is currently £7 in 2011 April. This is actually 75% increase in rate!


Andy Ryman, Director of one of the UK’s main online curtains and cushions store, recently informed in a meeting that since January 2011 they have been up-warding their textile relevant retail prices by 15-35%. Surely you’ll consider this is a huge increase in costs. When queried if sales have been affected, the answer was, "Yes surely, look at these curtains and cushions for instance, we in early times retailed the cushions for only 5 euro per cover. Now they are 9 euro with a very big reduction in profit to uphold value for our consumers. This has really affected sales during all our channels and we are lucky to be diversifying into other industries outside of textiles to go on. Many organizations without this peripherals benefits will undeniably suffer. Customers now only acquire what they require and cart totals are noticeably low on our website. Persons are not purchasing accessories such as tie backs to attend their curtains without thinking, now it’s developed into a extravagance to have them with your curtains!"





Going for a walk around in one of the warehouses I couldn’t restrain myself but noticed the empty shelves; which was explained by Andy, that they are a result of exporters in China who are refusing to supply the commodities in anticipation of raising prices in future, although they had products available for immediate dispatch. Take example she continued "These cushions and tie backs manufactured from polyester have been the most popular assortment in terms of number, but today we are not even able to confirm any orders due to deficiency in supply".


Polyester and cotton is rapidly becoming a product like gold; none would have ever predicted that!