I watch Sky News in the morning while I am eating my breakfast. Usually a mix of dire natural disasters and British politics. I don't know why I like it but I do. So imagine my surprise when I saw the rather spectacular floral s/s11 collection from Erdem out the corner of my eye this morning as I buttered my toast. (used to illustrated the TV insert)
Apparently the big news today is that the price of cotton in the UK is set to rise by 50% this year - meaning that the clothing inflation level is 4.4% for the year. This is staggeringly high for the UK.
Many crops across Asia have been destroyed by the floods, resulting in cotton prices rising to their highest level for 15 years. With the cheaper goods, that have the tightest margins, being most affected some people are seeing this as the right correction in a market that has been unnaturally skewed.
Ethical fashion may be the beneficiary of this spike. With organic cotton being produced largely in places like Tanzania, Uganda, Egypt, South Africa and Zambia, we may also see some benefit to production on the continent. Not nice, but we'll take it.
