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

Everything is insanely high compared to what it used to be. We have been shopping for new couch and love seat for the family room. Looks like around three thousand dollars is the average lowest price we will be paying.

Thank you so much for the interesting information. I can only be thankful that I have a large stash of fabrics and I am trying to use this up and with the price increasing this will be more tempting as my go to fabrics.

Thank you for that good information. I thought I had a good enough stash, but maybe not.

Fuel has gone up & consumers will feel the effects. Shipping companies add a “fuel surtax” on orders because they won’t absorb the increase. It’s said they’ll remove it when fuel goes down, but ........I was bookkeeper for a lot of years & witnessed this.

I guess I won't be buying more fabrics. Everything has gone up but 'they' say there is no inflation, haha.

Same here. I went shopping for a good quality sofa and OMG, they were so expensive. So, instead, I'm currently recovering my couches. Plus, the newer couches are just not made as well as the old ones, The furniture pieces made before the 70s are better built, have hardwood frames and better springs and straps on the insides.

There is still tons and tons of 'secondhand' fabric for sale online. I watch the stash sale groups and one particular weekly auction site. I get great bargains and have way too much fabric.

I live in Canada. Prices for quilting cotton here have been high a long time. We are charged betweenn$14 ( for plain Kona solids) to $26.95 for Northcott or similar. Fabric is sold here by the meter ( almost 40" so about 4" longer but same width as USA yd.) but it's still a lot more than US residents pay !

Thank you so much for the information, great read. As I am trying to have a small, but ever expanding craft business, these articles lead me to think about stocking up on the fabrics I use regularly. Thank you again for sharing.

When I find a good sale price for something I know I will be using I buy it even though I don't need it at the present time. Prices will go up. I stocked up on Aurifil at the first price increase years ago. I bought a case of neutral colors in bulk for about $2 spool from an online thread company who was clearancing Aurifil out. I'm still using it. I thought it was expensive buying so much then but now I can reach for a $2 spool when I need one instead of the high price one at the store.

Thanks for the heads up!
I am glad I have a huge supply of fabric for quilting. However, I do like to buy fabric for items to make for my wardrobe. I will probably hold off on that for now.

Don't forget all the import terrified. Most fabric is overseas so they have to pass the increase to customer

At a LQS last week she said most fabrics are going to be digital! Thats a bummer...

That is really sad. Part of choosing is to actually feel the fabric for quality as well as seeing the true color.

I think prices of everything is high. But to my adult kids most seem reasonable to them. Their salaries are five times what mine was at their age too. A half a million dollar home? Doesn't shock them one bit.