Originally Posted by MaryAnnMc

While I agree that much of the reason for the high cost of fabric in Europe, Australia & the US is overhead and wage costs, there is something else driving up the prices of not just fabric, but everything else, too (Been to the grocery store? You know what I'm talking about!). Since the economic collapse of 2008, the US has been printing dollars. This was intended to stimulate the economy, but as a consequence has devalued the dollar. Each dollar now buys less, and will continue to buy less as we are still printing several billion dollars of fiat money every month. Other western nations have been forced to react in similar fashion. As the US dollar is worth less, their exports become more expensive compared to American exports. It's very complicated, but the Federal Reserve's manipulation of the money supply is a large part of why prices are going up all over the place. Don't look for prices to fall in any category. Inflation will at some point kick in, and it will only get worse when it does.