News -> INDReporter MON, FEB 14 10:19AM by Leslie Turk

Spring brings rise in clothing prices

The Associated Press is reporting that a decade of falling clothing prices has come to an end. According to Burt Flickinger III, president of Strategic Resource Group, clothing prices are expected to rise about 10 percent over the next few months and even bigger increases will be felt later in the year. SRG is a leading U.S. retail and consumer goods consulting firm.

Already, notes the AP, Brooks Brothers’ wrinkle-free men’s dress shirts now cost $88, up from $79.50. Levi Strauss & Co., Wrangler jeans maker VF Corp., J.C. Penney Co., Nike and designer shoe seller Steve Madden also plan increases.

Tame inflation and cheap overseas labor helped hold down costs over the past decade, according to the story, and retailers and clothing makers experimented with fabric blends to cut prices during the recession. But labor and raw materials costs in a recovering world economy are putting the squeeze on retailers and manufacturers.

“All of our brands, every single brand, will take some price increases,” Eric Wiseman, chairman and CEO of VF Corp., told Independent Retailer for a story published Monday. VF Corp.’s brands include The North Face, Nautica, Wrangler and Lee. Cotton, which has more than doubled in price in the past year, accounts for half the production cost of jeans, which make up about one-third of VF’s sales.

Read the AP story here.

Articles by this Author:

View all articles by this author

Comments (1)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by The Original Northsidian , February 15, 2011 - 06:05 am

So, is this the beginning of the inflation that the gov't says will not be happening?

You must be logged in to post a comment. Log in using your Facebook account or register if you do not have an account yet.

Atlanta radio station makes fun of Gleason
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
Livingston School Board prez arrested over fatal accident
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
Griffin Scott asking for legal fund help
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
A DIG post about hurricane names
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
GOP needs to do some soul-searching
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
Miss Dot now making poboys in heaven
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
Advocate weighs in on NOLA law enforcement
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
Fox news is killing the GOP!
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."

Most Read

Glenn Stewart convicted

In rendering his ruling, District Judge John Trahan all but called the real estate developer a liar for inconsistencies in his accounts of what prompted him to punch a school teacher unconscious.
Dana Baker resigns from Festival International
Frank’s Casing Crew going public

Frank’s Casing Crew, now doing business as Frank’s International, will make its final appearance on ABiz’s list of the Top 50 Privately Held Companies in Acadiana this year, and once again, it will likely be at the top with more than $1 billion in annual revenues. The 75-year-old company specializing in tubular fabrication and installation services to the oil and gas industry plans to go public this year.
Landry, Pierre playing the blame game

The defeat, or rather highjacking of House Bill 420 in the final days of this year's Legislative Session, say Reps. Vincent Pierre and Terry Landry, is the result of the propaganda spread by one unidentified local media outlet and an unnamed former state Representative, but nothing to do with the original legislation's lack of checks, balances or details.
Shelvin loses cool, fails to disclose conflict

City-Parish Council Chairman Brandon Shelvin heaped steady doses of condescending ire on a Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana executive while failing to reveal his financial ties to a BC/BS rival.

in case you missed it

The One Who Got Away

Abbeville native David Primeaux was a popular professor until his death late last year, and while he was successful at camouflaging a dark past, he couldn’t outlive it.
Fore!

Before District Attorney Mike Harson tees off for a fifth term in office, he should seriously consider what might be coming at him.
The Day Primeaux Died

Now we know why the former pedophile priest committed suicide late last year, and the story behind it is more riveting than his death.
Risky Business

Tehmi Chassion’s failure to recuse himself in the school board’s selection of a group health benefits provider raises ‘serious questions’ on whether he violated state ethics law.
Posthaste VS. DAVID EGAN

He’s a singer. A songwriter. A piano man. A family man. He’s even got his own Wikipedia entry. He’s David Egan. And he knows ancient secrets about the monolithic stones of Stonehenge that he’s not willing to share.