Price of Cotton
10-28-2011, 02:41 PM
#11
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Location: western NY formerly MN, FL, NC, SC
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Originally Posted by Holice
think of it this way.......if the price of the fabric does go down it will be many months before we see it as what raw goods is bought now won't show up in the stores until next fall or winter. A business (LQS) would be foolish to drop their prices now to below what they paid for it.......just because the raw cotton price has dropped.
10-28-2011, 03:09 PM
#12
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: was Upstate NY, now NC & TN
Posts: 2,328
Originally Posted by QuiltnNan
Originally Posted by Holice
think of it this way.......if the price of the fabric does go down it will be many months before we see it as what raw goods is bought now won't show up in the stores until next fall or winter. A business (LQS) would be foolish to drop their prices now to below what they paid for it.......just because the raw cotton price has dropped.
10-28-2011, 03:13 PM
#13
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: northwest Ohio
Posts: 1,202
Originally Posted by QuiltnNan
Originally Posted by Holice
think of it this way.......if the price of the fabric does go down it will be many months before we see it as what raw goods is bought now won't show up in the stores until next fall or winter. A business (LQS) would be foolish to drop their prices now to below what they paid for it.......just because the raw cotton price has dropped.
10-28-2011, 03:30 PM
#14
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Posts: 294
When I ran prices through a currency converter, $12 in 2010 dollars was $2.79 in 1975 dollars. In my hazy, dim memory, that sounds like about what good quality 100% cotton fabric cost back in 1975.
In other words, even though $12/yard seems high, fabric was about the same in 1975.
I also remember 30 year mortgages for 21% in 1980!
I think the reason fabric prices seem so high is because so many people are hurting financially and quilting is essentially a hobby expenditure. While I love quilting, if it's a choice between buying fabric and buying food, I have to buy food. If it's a choice between fabric and paying the electric bill, I have to pay the electric bill.
That doesn't mean I want to quilt less, in fact, all the stress makes me want to quilt more. So it hurts my heart when one of my main stress relievers has to be cut from the monthly budget but I don't think the LQS is the problem.
If I were inclined to point fingers, I'd be looking at the industry where the total bonus pool in 2010 was $20.8 billion (yes, that is BILLION) dollars. The average Wall Street bonus last year was over $120K (that is over and above salaries and benefits).
Why, yes, those are the same people who got us into this economic mess. Not my LQS or anyone else's LQS, for that matter.
In other words, even though $12/yard seems high, fabric was about the same in 1975.
I also remember 30 year mortgages for 21% in 1980!
I think the reason fabric prices seem so high is because so many people are hurting financially and quilting is essentially a hobby expenditure. While I love quilting, if it's a choice between buying fabric and buying food, I have to buy food. If it's a choice between fabric and paying the electric bill, I have to pay the electric bill.
That doesn't mean I want to quilt less, in fact, all the stress makes me want to quilt more. So it hurts my heart when one of my main stress relievers has to be cut from the monthly budget but I don't think the LQS is the problem.
If I were inclined to point fingers, I'd be looking at the industry where the total bonus pool in 2010 was $20.8 billion (yes, that is BILLION) dollars. The average Wall Street bonus last year was over $120K (that is over and above salaries and benefits).
Why, yes, those are the same people who got us into this economic mess. Not my LQS or anyone else's LQS, for that matter.
10-28-2011, 03:39 PM
#15
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Orchard Park, NY (near Buffalo, which is near Niagara Falls)
Posts: 3,884
We didn't raise the prices on the goods we had on hand, or on fabric that we had been able to order at last year's prices. (That would not be very nice to our customers!)
For instance: we ordered Kaufman's wonderful Holiday Flourish 4 Christmas line last December, before the maker's price increase on January 1st. The goods did not come until May. Any of our customers that ordered from us early enough to get their order filled from that first shipment, got the 2010 prices. By the time we reordered from Kaufman, they had raised the prices 75 cents / yard and then we had to pass that along.
Doing it this way does leave prices in a bit of a jumble, though, as various fabrics from the same collection will have different prices, depending on when the goods came in. Some stores might not like to have it that way, because it would tend to make customers ask why the red costs more than the blue.
In the same vein, some of the manufacturers that we buy from, raise prices on all their prints (new and old) at the same time. Others set the price for a collection, and do not change it (unless it gets reprinted). Only the new collections come out with higher prices.
For instance: we ordered Kaufman's wonderful Holiday Flourish 4 Christmas line last December, before the maker's price increase on January 1st. The goods did not come until May. Any of our customers that ordered from us early enough to get their order filled from that first shipment, got the 2010 prices. By the time we reordered from Kaufman, they had raised the prices 75 cents / yard and then we had to pass that along.
Doing it this way does leave prices in a bit of a jumble, though, as various fabrics from the same collection will have different prices, depending on when the goods came in. Some stores might not like to have it that way, because it would tend to make customers ask why the red costs more than the blue.
In the same vein, some of the manufacturers that we buy from, raise prices on all their prints (new and old) at the same time. Others set the price for a collection, and do not change it (unless it gets reprinted). Only the new collections come out with higher prices.
10-28-2011, 09:20 PM
#16
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Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: in Idaho
Posts: 545
Our shops here did not raise the price, it is still about $10 a yard, but there are lots of good sales going on, so I never pay full price for anything. We are loosing a LQS sadly, and I have taken advantage of the sale there, but have spent too much. As for prices going down, I think it will depend on supply and demand. But my guess is no.
10-29-2011, 06:10 AM
#17
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,276
Originally Posted by QuiltnNan
in the same vein, i'm sure those same shops raised the prices on all of their fabrics, not just the ones they recently purchased, when the price went up
Are we just lucky around here?
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