Cotton, the fabric of our lives, has been increasing in price since Fall of last year and continuing speculations show no signs of stopping. I read a headline the other day that said cotton is at it’s highest price since the Civil War and it got me thinking, has the higher price and worldwide shortage of cotton affected your sewing or project plans? Cotton is a staple in sewing and craft and with a shortage in China (the world’s largest supplier of cotton) and natural disasters in Texas (the #2 supplier of cotton in the U.S.) what does that mean for our everyday sewing endeavors? Will higher cotton prices have you using other fabrics? Skipping out on muslin? How much does fabric price factor into your projects? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
May 13, 2011, 07.11 PMby 00nihila00
“What is the real cost of our cheap cotton clothes?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmeojs8E-UE
May 13, 2011, 05.20 PMby 00nihila00
thank you for this post, Burda Style…..and inspiring us to take time to research….
some quotes from The Environmental Justice Foundation website:
“Cotton grows on 2.4% of the world’s arable land, yet it is responsible for the release of over US$2 billion of chemical pesticides each year. Nearly half of these are considered toxic enough to be classified as ‘hazardous’ by the World Health Organization.”
“An estimated 1 million to 5 million cases of pesticide poisoning occur every year, resulting in 20,000 reported deaths among agricultural workers and at least 1 million requiring hospitalization.”
“Despite being particularly vulnerable to poisoning, child laborers throughout the world risk exposure to hazardous pesticides through participation in cotton production. Children are also often the first victims of pesticide poisoning, even if they do not participate in spraying, due to the proximity of their homes to cotton fields or because of the re-use of empty pesticide containers.”
“Monocrotophos:Despite being withdrawn from the US market in 1989, it is widely used in developing world countries. In 1997, Paraguay’s Ministry of Health and Welfare identified it as being responsible for causing paralysis in children living in cotton growing areas.”
“Deltamethrin a nerve agent is applied in over half of the cotton producing countries. Medical analysis in a community in a South African village located on the edge of a major cotton production area found traces of deltamethrin in human breast milk.”
“In Uzbekistan – the world’s 3rd largest cotton exporter – the government orders hundreds of thousands of children – some as young as seven – to harvest the annual cotton crop. Hard work for little or no pay, cotton benefits not the rural poor , but the ruling dictatorship, which derives millions from the export of cotton. In Andhra Pradesh, India, over 100,000 children have been documented working for 13 hours a day for just US50 cents. In West Africa, children are trafficked to work in cotton fields.”
May 12, 2011, 11.17 PMby mlssfshn
Cotton is not the only thing going up. Silk has been affected, as well as synthetics made from oil. Some of our sheer lining fabrics have tripled in in price made of synthetic polyester , a product of oil. While the cotton linings have only gone up slightly. I will continue to use cotton and other sustainable fabrics in my work.
May 12, 2011, 06.16 PMby mirela
I could still find it pretty cheap online, so no, i have not stopped using it. but even if it would double its price i could not give it up. I have been sewing a lot of silk lately too, and that is somewhat expensive.
May 12, 2011, 02.27 PMby kgallagher3
I haven’t stopped using cotton, I think I’ve actually used more cotton this year than any other year. I just make sure I’m only buying what I need and I’m saving tiny scraps that I wouldn’t have saved before. For me cotton has always been more expensive than synthetics, now its just a dollar more than it used to be.
May 12, 2011, 03.44 AMby Chez Vies
yes, it’s increasing so much as 40% here in India too. But still I prefer cotton to synthetic or at least poly cotton for dresses. Polycotton is quite comfortable and it doesn’t crush much..:).
May 11, 2011, 09.12 PMby knighttemplar
I almost always use old sheets or fabric that I get for gifts from people who wern’t using it, so if I’m actually going to buy some cotton specificaly to make something special, I am usually prepared to spend a bit on it. and for making my ‘muslims’ I just pick the cheapest remnant or clearance mateirial I can find.
May 11, 2011, 02.23 PMby laha5822
I don’t sew to save money (not specifically anyway) and I don’t buy cotton because it’s cheap. Luckily time, not money, is the limiting factor to me sewing more, but if it did come to pass that I couldn’t get a decent cotton for a decent price, I would probably just make fewer things. I feel pretty strongly that cheap clothing in the US has not done us many favors, so while in the short term it might hurt, paying a bit more but getting quality pieces would bring some perspective to American fashion. I hope so, anyway.
May 11, 2011, 01.51 PMby nikkishell
No i won’t stop using cotton. I generally buy more expensive fabrics for quality therefore i plan before i buy and buy only what i need for a project to limit the leftover fabric.
May 11, 2011, 12.28 PMby ladykatza
There’s also some interesting news to go along with the “high price of cotton”. The mid-west is looking at replacing corn with cotton as their cash cow crop. With the scrutiny over how much fertilizer corn takes (and corn fertilizer is made with… wait for it… OIL!) it would make more sense. Corn ethanol has turned out to be not as efficient as people had hoped for making bio diesel.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/05/08/3608494/global-market-spike-spells-boom.html
The floods do pose a problem and is hard on farmers. But no, its not going to stop me from buying cotton.
May 11, 2011, 09.55 AMby rogue-cellist
I wouldn’t switch to polyester either but if it gets to the point that I can buy bamboo or hemp based fabrics as cheaply or cheaper than cotton I’d switch to those.
May 10, 2011, 07.46 PMby oonaballoona
well, this is probably ridiculous in the first place… but i noticed that my 2 buck a yard shop is now 5 bucks a yard. i honestly don’t understand how they stay in business with those prices, but at the same time i lament the 3 dollar hike. hasn’t stopped me from buying.
muslin-wise, i don’t get it. i mean, i get it, concerning fit and alterations, but in the long run it seems wasteful to me. i already have more scraps than i know what to do with!
May 10, 2011, 07.36 PMby suzeb
I wouldn’t stop using cotton, but the higher the price the more careful I am about buying the right yardage (and not too much) for a project.
May 10, 2011, 07.33 PMby ruthw
It’s at its highest price since the Civil War? Do you mean the American Civil War? So does this mean that slavery has finally been abolished worldwide and we might all have to pay the “ethical” prices that everyone was so keen on when Peter posted about Sewing as a Protest only last week? I mean, if production costs go up, or there is a shortage because of natural disasters, the only people who can get “squeezed” are the workers, so if you don’t want to support forced labour, then you have to “suck it up” and pay…… So yes, I will not stop buying cotton, but I don’t stash so I don’t need a lot.
2 Replies
May 10, 2011, 07.44 PMby oonaballoona
these are some very good points!
May 11, 2011, 09.00 AMby sarsaparilla
Good point! I don’t have a problem paying more for fabric if it means it’s produced ethically.
For me, the cheapest decent cotton in my local fabric store is about $15/m. Dresses become expensive quite quickly, so I buy fabric from thrift stores whenever possible. I use old sheets if I wish to make a muslin – mostly I don’t bother ;)
May 10, 2011, 06.51 PMby NYAM Afia Cayee'
I use cotton as well as cotton/linen & cotton/silk blends…I love them. However, I noticed the cost of all fabrics increasing over the last couple of years. I have to buy from a discount online source (designer fabrics) as well as when our local fabrics stores offers 75% off. If I didn’t buy discount, sewing would not be an option because fabric would exceed my sewing budget.
May 10, 2011, 06.29 PMby Anita Merrill
I’ve started to notice a lot of bolts of fabric with higher prices but they’re usually the new stock coming in so I try and purchase as much as I can of the old, less expensive ones so I don’t have to go without. The rising cost may slow my purchases down but won’t curtail them entirely by any means.
May 10, 2011, 04.57 PMby anuchka
I love working with cotton fabrics and I loooove wearing pure cotton (stretchy soft, crispy thick – you name it) The price must be unreasonably high for me in order to refuse buying cotton. So, as long as the prices are in OK range, I’ll always purchase cotton fabrics because I LOVE cotton.
1 Reply
May 10, 2011, 06.16 PMby wzrdreams
I agree. I love cotton and won’t stop using it. Although I will be more careful about what I purchase. I certainly won’t be switching to polyester anytime soon.