Originally Posted by e4
If prices go up 25-50 cents a year, then it is not the price of cotton alone. It may be cost of manufacturing or they may be using "price of cotton" as an excuse to raise prices whatever they want.
You're right, it's not just the cost of cotton. There are a couple of other major factors. One is the price of fuel. The other is the fact that the Chinese, who manufacture almost all of the greige goods (the base, unbleached, unprinted fabric stocks) have been artificially holding down the prices on those for years while they cornered the market and forced everyone else out. Now that they indeed have the market pretty much to themselves, they are raising the prices on these goods dramatically and continuously. Apparently, the people who work in their mills are no longer willing to work at slave labor rates. :mrgreen: