The Future of Cotton

One of the biggest things that will influence consumer fashion trends this year is the rising price of cotton. With the many recent droughts, forest fires, and the high rising temperatures of Texas and in the US overall, cotton prices have surged upward within the past recent years. In 2012, shoppers will begin to notice a price increase in their cotton shirts, pants, day dresses, denim, undergarments, etc. 

Cotton Council International Promotional Ad

  

According to CBS News, one solution to the problem is for manufacturers to mark up their prices. This becomes a difficult challenge for retail chains that sell low cost and fast trends fashion like Forever 21 and H&M. When their target consumers are budget shoppers, price mark ups pose a real threat to driving away their customers. 

H & M Organic Cotton Ad Campaigns

Stylesight news predicts that consumers will buy more clothing with blended fabric contents. Some popular fibers used to blend with cotton are Polyester, Nylon, Viscose, and Linen blends because they look and feel like cotton.








Denim manufactures especially have research the many cotton blends alternatives that will actually increase performance and reduce the price of denim. Some popular denim blends include TENCEL® lyocell, recycled polyester, recycled cotton, standard polyester, polyurethane, and Lycra® T400 elastane.

Denim look from Frida Gustavsson Blog

 On an interesting note, I recently read a Wall Street Journal article, “Chinese Take Cotton to Hoarding,” by Carolyn Cui. Cui reports a Chinese farmer hoarding a stockpile of cotton in his home, waiting for cotton price to continue rising, hoping to sell them for more money to make up for the rising cost of fertilizer and labor. These farmers heard news that the world was running short of cotton, simply because the demand for it is so high in China, the world’s largest producer of cotton. 

Farmer Yu Feng Hoarding His Stockpile of around 7,700 pounds of Cotton

 

As the climate effects of global warming becomes more drastic, not only is the price of cotton rising, but also many other natural and regenerated fibers, like silk, wool, and flax, are seeing a price increase. So what is the future of natural fibers?

According to Stylesight, scientists and manufacturers have been researching innovative and renewable resources for future textiles. One of which is bamboo regenerated fibers, which have become popular in the past few years. Others are milk, coffee, coconut, corn, and wood. These resources are still in their infancy and are relatively high priced, but with today growing technology, consumers will soon see these in stores.

Some Renewable Resources Featured on Stylesight

German biochemist/ designer Anke Domaske and her new fashion line created from milk

Check our this video of designer Anke Domaske photo shoot for her new milk clothing line campaign where she explains more about the process of turning milk into a textile.