The end of cheap clothes is near

BBC ^ | 23 April 2008 | Jorn Madslien

[fishhound]

ood prices have shot up in response to a surge in crop prices. Now consumers should get ready for clothes prices to follow suit.

Garment makers are seeing demand shrink as consumers in the US and Europe are cutting back on spending.

US cotton consumption is set to fall 6.5% from last year to less than a million tonnes whilst EU consumption is expected to fall 11% to about 460,000 tonnes, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) predicts.

At the same time, they are hit by more expensive raw materials and by soaring oil prices, which make their factories more expensive to operate and which pushes up the cost of shipping to foreign markets.

In India, the weaving industry is in crisis. In China, the textile sector is squeezed.

And, yet again, the root cause of their problems can be found in America.

[fishhound]

You are thrifty.

[familyop]

"I’m a size 3 or 4X depending on the manufacturer, suit size 62, and I rarely spend more than $10 on a shirt or $20 on a pair of slacks or jeans. And no, I have never bought clothes second-hand or from a thrift store. This guy is nuts!"

...same here on the thrift and nearly the same on the size. And if cheap clothing does go up, clients will have to pay me to dress peasant-office-casual. Polish the old class A shoes, and starch those cotton rags to new stiffness every day. ;-)

[2ndDivisionVet]

My houseman in Korea used to starch EVERYTHING! I had a heck of a time getting into jeans! LOL

[familyop]

;-)

We weren’t supposed to starch our BDUs (field uniforms), but as you probably know, most of us in combat platoons did so heavily when in garrison/reserve component drills. ...except for those who paid laundry businesses to do it. After a few years of doing that, starching casual work clothes became a habit for me.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I only wore BDUs my last couple of months in the service. I still think fatigues were a better looking uniform.

[Kozak]

Now consumers should get ready for clothes prices to follow suit. Garment makers are seeing demand shrink as consumers in the US and Europe are cutting back on spending. US cotton consumption is set to fall 6.5% from last year to less than a million tonnes whilst EU consumption is expected to fall 11% to about 460,000 tonnes, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) predicts.

Falling demand = higher prices? In what alternative universe?

[Dahoser]

The sad part is that far too many people believe it's government that can save us and help is just a government program away. This latest notion began in the aftermath of 9/11 and it's picked up steam over the intervening years to where we are now in our eerie living out of Atlas Shrugged. (I hear they're supposed to be making a movie out of it, but this is ridiculous.)

[Nervous Tick]

The end of cheap EVERYTHING is near! At least, when the price is paid in US $.

The inflation Ben Bernanke is content to cause, to bail out debtors, the profligate, and the financially irresponsible, will ensure higher prices.

Savers be damned.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Falling demand = higher prices? In what alternative universe?

Inflation => higher prices for everything => falling demand for some things

[thackney]

Will this bring the mini-skirt back?

[cybervyk]

Here's an Ood: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/gallery/s2_08-09gallery/800/ood1.jpg

Last week's episode of Doctor Who said, however, that you could have your own Ood servant for only 50 credits. Apparently they had been more pricey at some point in the past.

[Overtaxed]

What’s an ood?

(It's a Doctor Who thing.)

[CDHart]

"squirrelier "

Is that a word?

Carolyn

[thackney]

You skipped right by “tinfoil-hattish” to ask about “squirrelier”?

[CDHart]

LOL! I must have missed that one!

Carolyn

[RSmithOpt]

Hopefully, if not we can always dream.

Those miniskirts can sure get a man's 'distillation tower' cracking.

[fishhound]

Thanks.

[cybervyk]

Sorry for the second post. Just testing out the embed. Yeah, that's what an Ood looks like. Thanks for the assist Overtaxed.