Clothing prices are set to edge up in coming months as rising costs for labor and materials force the hand of retailers, an Associated Press report said on Monday.
Citing Burt Flickinger III, the president of research firm Strategic Resource Group, the report noted that clothing prices could increase by about 10 percent in the next several months, with the biggest price hikes in the fall and winter.
Skyrocketing prices for raw materials, such as cotton and other synthetic fabrics, are the main culprit in the pricier clothes arriving at stores soon.
While the prices for synthetics have grown by half in the past year, cotton prices have doubled to hit all-time highs.
Cotton has recently hovered near $2 a pound: March futures for the commodity settled at $1.8997 this weekend amid rising demand from China and diminished supplies due to rains and flooding in Australia and Pakistan, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, the climb in clothing prices should be tame compared to the monumental rise in cotton prices.
“Clothing prices will not double because of doubling cotton prices. Marketing margins are going to have to be squeezed, somewhat,” Terry Townsend, executive director of the International Cotton Advisory Committee, told the Journal.
Retailers set to bump up their prices include Hanesbrands Inc. (which owns Hanes and Champion), Jones Group Inc. (which owns Anne Klein and Nine West), and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., the newspaper noted.
Other stores that could follow the trend include J.C. Penney Company Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co., AP reported.
But some retailers were cautious over their price hikes, careful not to scare off customers but hoping to ease them into the realities of the clothing sector.
“Until we get to the [autumn] ... we won’t know whether the end consumer understands and accepts what will be an overall increase for most product categories,” Roger Farah, president of Polo Ralph Lauren, told the Financial Times.
Citing Burt Flickinger III, the president of research firm Strategic Resource Group, the report noted that clothing prices could increase by about 10 percent in the next several months, with the biggest price hikes in the fall and winter.
Skyrocketing prices for raw materials, such as cotton and other synthetic fabrics, are the main culprit in the pricier clothes arriving at stores soon.
While the prices for synthetics have grown by half in the past year, cotton prices have doubled to hit all-time highs.
Cotton has recently hovered near $2 a pound: March futures for the commodity settled at $1.8997 this weekend amid rising demand from China and diminished supplies due to rains and flooding in Australia and Pakistan, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, the climb in clothing prices should be tame compared to the monumental rise in cotton prices.
“Clothing prices will not double because of doubling cotton prices. Marketing margins are going to have to be squeezed, somewhat,” Terry Townsend, executive director of the International Cotton Advisory Committee, told the Journal.
Retailers set to bump up their prices include Hanesbrands Inc. (which owns Hanes and Champion), Jones Group Inc. (which owns Anne Klein and Nine West), and Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., the newspaper noted.
Other stores that could follow the trend include J.C. Penney Company Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co., AP reported.
But some retailers were cautious over their price hikes, careful not to scare off customers but hoping to ease them into the realities of the clothing sector.
“Until we get to the [autumn] ... we won’t know whether the end consumer understands and accepts what will be an overall increase for most product categories,” Roger Farah, president of Polo Ralph Lauren, told the Financial Times.
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