Biome Lifestyle Blog: Eco Design, Ethical Fashion and Green News

The impact of rising cotton prices I have always been very sceptical and concerned by how certain large clothing stores could sell t-shirts at just £2. Of course it’s great for the consumer who can enjoy purchasing a whole new wardrobe for just £20! But as we all know, everything has a price… With every garment made there are associated overheads, which extend far further than just the price of the cotton.

Firstly of course buying the cotton, making the garment, transporting the garment to the UK and beyond, the associated costs with running a store, as well as the huge costs of marketing a brand… Therefore it’s not really surprising that selling a t-shirt for just £2 is astonishing! Of course when you are selling millions of pieces a year, then all the other overheads and costs are divided and become low, but still £2 is absurdly cheap! Surely the only way the maths can work (bear we me here as maths is not my best subject) is for someone, somewhere along the long chain, to be ‘short changed’. In other words, being paid a pittance for their hard work…

Conversely, just because you spend £100 on a t-shirt also does not mean the maker is the one benefitting. The costs are probably going into a marketing budget as well as the stores pockets. It seems whatever the payment (unless the company has a fair trade policy) the maker is usually the one who is the worst off, despite it being their work…

However due to the recent floods in India, cotton prices are on the rise. The floods have destroyed over 4.25 million acres of land, affecting an estimated 25per cent of the cotton crop. In one month, the wholesale price of one pound of cotton increased from $0.1 to $0.83, which is its highest level for 15 years. Allen Terhaar, executive director of Cotton Council International, said: ‘Cotton is 15-20per cent of the textile component of what people are wearing. ‘Consumption worldwide is now exceeding production and prices are going up’.

So, I am interested to know how these huge stores will deal with the rising cotton prices… Of course it will mean that clothes prices will in turn increase, however to prevent clothing prices from spiralling and to keep the consumer happy, what will the stores do? Reduce marketing budgets? Increase redundancies? Or reduce the price they pay the maker even further?? I personally feel the latter is the most likely, as marketing is needed to increase brand awareness and attract customers and staff are of course needed to deal with the increasing footfall.

Perhaps the stores will reduce costs elsewhere such as director’s bonuses or by streamlining the business operations… I just hope that the after effects of this terrible natural disaster do not lead to even further human suffering.

These are merely my personal thoughts. I would love to know what you think. Do you believe clothing retailers will turn to more man-made fibres or alternatively try and squeeze the maker even further, in a bid to keep clothing prices low? Email me or reply with a comment to let me know…

Alex x

Cadbury and the Fairtrade Foundation recently announced plans to achieve Fairtrade certification for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the nation’s top selling chocolate bar, by end of Summer 2009. This groundbreaking move will result in the tripling of sales of cocoa under Fairtrade terms for cocoa farmers in Ghana, both increasing Fairtrade cocoa sales for existing certified farming groups, as well as opening up new opportunities for thousands more farmers to benefit from the Fairtrade system.

Cadbury Chief Executive, Todd Stitzer, says, “This is an historic moment for our company. I am proud that the nation’s favourite chocolate bar will display the FAIRTRADE Mark. I was in Ghana last month and saw how vital it is that businesses support their partners and the communities they live in. We believe that by joining forces with the Fairtrade Foundation, we can further improve living standards and conditions for farmers and farming communities, and create a sustainable supply of high quality cocoa for Cadbury.”

“Cadbury’s commitment is breakthrough news for the farmers in Ghana who are very excited that they will be able to sell more of their cocoa as Fairtrade, bringing greater benefits to their communities,” says Harriet Lamb, Chief Executive of the Fairtrade Foundation. “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to certify Cadbury Dairy Milk, enabling all those who buy it to make a real difference for cocoa farmers with every purchase. This certainly sets a new standard for the mainstream chocolate industry.”

Biome Lifestyle is delighted to hear that Cadburys are finally making moves towards Fairtrade certification! Hopefully many more farmers can now benefit from the Fairtrade policies and practices.

Bestfairtrade.com is a new favourite website of Biome Lifestyle’s! 

The inspirational founder, Leona Mani  created the site to provide an online guide to all aspects of the Fair Trade Industry. As Leona states “The main aim of the site is to act as a relative ‘Private Eye’ for the Fair Trade Industry, not placing our focus on simply being another listings site, but aspiring to engage with consumers through interesting and relevant news broadcasts, instead of bombarding them with relentless sales offers and uninteresting pieces of information.”

The site is packed full of useful and interesting information, from clearly explaining ‘what exactly is Fair Trade’ to a useful round-up of some of the best buys & unmissable Fair Trade products on the market.

Keep up the great work Leona, we will enjoy reading your next updates!