Design tips for promotional T-shirts : Promotional Apparel

By Michael Cornnell

THE COST OF COTTON

One of the biggest issues within the promotional industry this year has been the much higher price of cotton. Anthony Corsano, president and CEO of Anvil Knitwear, New York, New York, shared some of his thoughts on what can be expected from cotton prices in 2011 and beyond.

Promo Marketing: Do you see more cost increases in the future?

Anthony Corsano: “That’s a difficult question to answer because I’m not sure where exactly all the manufacturers like ourselves bought cotton, but I would say that for the most part, we’re either okay where prices are, or in my mind, worst-case scenario we would need another 5 percent if cotton doesn’t come down from where it is today.

“Cotton, if you follow it, trades somewhat quarterly, and I think that whatever one would buy in cotton as yarn in the first three quarters of 2011 is pretty much locked down right now in the $1.40, $1.50 range. So I think we’re pretty much locked in for those quarters. I don’t think there’s going to be much change based on the 2010 harvest representing those purchases of the first three quarters of 2011. The 2011 harvest, which will occur in October, sets prices for the fourth quarter, and then the three quarters of 2012. That seems to be trading less than what’s trading now. So people will have to get their arms around potentially a slight increase, although I’m not sure that’s going to take place. Again, that would be a byproduct of where people have bought those first three quarters of 2011, and then we’ll have to see where the fourth quarter ends and the 2012 price levels out. There’s a possibility that if that was to come down a great deal, you might even see some kind of decrease.”

PM: Are these price increases permanent?

AC: “The talk in the industry is that we won’t see cotton trading ever again in the 50-60 cent range, that unless there was horrible worldwide economic conditions, it’s probably going to trade in the dollar range. I would say if it stays in the dollar range, [we’re] probably at prices that are appropriate.”

We've all seen them. Shirts with huge, thick screenprints, weighing down a shirt that looks like it's cut to fit a refrigerator box. Tees with gaudy, neon designs that would have been embarrassing in 1983. Decorations so poor that not only is the logo unintelligible, to look at it is to stare at the very heart of Comic-Sans, white-text-on-yellow-background madness.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 All Next »

0 Comments

View Comments

Michael Cornnell Author's page

From Decoration to Dollars