Fabric prices rising
 

Scott Fortunoff is one of the VPs for Jaftex, which owns Henry Glass, Blank Quilting, Studio E, and several other fabric names. He wrote 2 blog posts recently, predicting that fabric prices (and pretty much everything else) will be going up soon. I found his posts interesting and informative, so I thought I'd share for others who are interested. Makes me glad I have a healthy stash.

https://scottfortunoff.com/it-all-st...-greige-goods/
https://scottfortunoff.com/commodity-insanity/

Hi Peckish. This is good information. Thanks so much for sharing. I don't have a big stash so will be ramping up now while prices are still low. I too see signs of inflation hitting. It had to come at some point. Just my luck that it is probably going to hit right before i retire. Sigh.

Interesting!

One other thing that is bringing the price of fabric up is the transition to digital prints. The digital prints we have in the store are going for $14 per yard, where Moda is still $12. $2 per yd more!

First off I work in a LQS and although not privy to the whole sale prices per se, my boss has shared how much freight per yard has risen. It is not uncommon for freight costs to be 60 to 70 cents per yard depending on the distributor.

Thanks for the articles Peckish. The spike in prices in 2010 was due to devastating floods in Pakistan and it looks like another poor crop in 2020 is affecting world production as well. Looking at the future of cotton here in the US is a predicted +5% reduction in cotton acreage in addition to the poorer crop output. We do live in a global market. Believe me I know as a now retired dairy farmer we have lived in a world dairy market for years.

I am so glad I have a very healthy fabric collection!

Now is the time to scour fabric sales online and in shop.

Over all prices will go up if and when the minimum wages go up here. With this comes inflation all the time. Add this to bad crops and floods where fabrics are produced you have the perfect storm. My goal is not to buy any fabrics but to work from my stash, which is rather large. I hope I don't panic buy but I have been known to. So time will tell.

I have such a hard time resisting all the newest fat quarter bundles that seem to find me lol. :)
I spend waaay too much on fabric.

The digital prints, are they the ones that look like photographs? I have seen some panels that loke like a photo and I don't really care for them much.

Digital prints are simply fabric printed with inkjet technology, much like the printer you use at home. The dye is delivered by nozzles. Very customizable but required equipment investment. The equipment is expensive.

Traditional print fabric is made similar to silk screening - metal sheets with holes to allow dye/ink to go through, squeegee'd on. Multiple screens are needed to produce multi-colored designs. Lower cost equipment but not as on-demand, plus the screens can wear out.

Found a good blog post that discusses it