Why the high cost for cotton quilting fabric?
 

I am in Northern Thailand and will be here for several months. I've been fabric shopping in downtown Chiang Mai and I have to tell you, beautiful, fine quality, cotton fabric costs the equivalent of about $2 per yd. I am stunned at the difference in prices from here to the US or Australia or England. Sure, there is shipping involved, but how much can that be on a huge barge with a zillion other containers full of products. And even at $2 per yard, the shops are making a profit here! Now I REALLY don't understand why quilting cotton costs so darn much, l've seen the evidence that it doesn’t have to. Can someone explain this to me? Why do we pay so much for fabric in the US?

Because the stores that sell quilt fabric here have to make a living here. By the time fabric goes from manufacturer to distributor to store there's a whole lot of shipping and other overhead (employees, buildings, electricity, etc, etc) that it has to pay for.

Also, there was a cotton crop shortage a couple of years ago which raised the prices. Once they go up, they never go back down, even when the shortage is over!

Buy lots during your visit!!

I think I would be buying another suitcase for fabric! :D For the same reason gas prices go up at the holidays. Price fixing!

I think we pay much higher prices because we are willing to. I know everyone along the supply chain needs to make a few dollars but at north american prices some are making quite a bit. As long as quilters are will to pay those prices they will stay high.

There are so many different companies that have to make a profit from start to finish. Lots of middle men. Growers, brokers, manufacturers, distributors, warehouses, fabric designers, fabric reps, and shop owners. I grow a few cotton plants in my back yard. I can pick the bolls and have organic cotton for stuffing small projects. Costs me nothing. I can go buy a small bag of organic cotton and it will cost me $10 or more.

Make sure you buy enough....ship it home.

I have often wondered what would happen if every quilter/sewer quit buying fabric for one week to protest the high cost of fabric. Would it make any difference? If we are willing to pay the high cost of fabric, then maybe we should try to do something about it. I refuse to pay $12.99 a yard at the local quilt shop.

Because the labor to produce the cotton quilting products over there is "dirt cheap" ! Sorry, but that's the way I see it!

Jeanette

oh interesting.

aileen

At that price I would be buying bolts of solids at least!

When raw cotton went sky high .. prices went up.. it was also the perfect storm with oil prices ( transportation) . Retailers ad wholesalers learned if you are a buyer at 12.00 per yard why would they ever sell it to you for less! Yes there was some reduction in purchases but the manufactures have now adjusted there quantites in any production run. So now that cotton trading on the commodities market is much lower ,they can make the same profit and sell less.
My advice , buy as much as your luggage allowance will permit.

My thoughts exactly. Would be worth the shipping costs to you!

I think the high prices of fabrics here are why you are seeing so many quilt shops closing. We have one selling out this week.

I'd love to pay just $12.99 a yard! In the UK I paid more than £10 ($16.49) last year and here in France I have seen good fabric at 18€ ($24.62). We don't have the number of fabric stores so I have to rely on shopping online from the States. As for batting, I have yet to find anything other than coarse poly. or very thin cardboard-like poly. here so sadly no prolific quilting for me.

You must be in fabric heaven! As said by some of the others, bring as much home as you can or ship it. Buy for quilting friends, they will appreciate it for sure. Enjoy!

***
*** I am from the South where most of the cotton mills use to be.
*** I even worked for the manufacturer of the textile machinery for the mills.

*** The mills and my plant were closed out by companies shipping/buying
to/from other countries (China, Mexico, Sri Lanka, etc.) that usually pay 10 cents
an hour and usually make inferior products with no Quality Control.

*** Now most of the mills are gone and we are forced to buy from other
countires (we have no other choice).
***
*** The country you are in is one of the few that possibly make a good product.
***
*** Some times the fabric has alien fibers in them and you do not know how they
will work in our patterns.
***
*** Also they are made in factories that have no Pest control, you may be buying
fabric with BUGS, RODENT droppings & diseases, etc. that can potentially harm you.

***

*** Be prepared to WASH any fabrics that you buy overseas.
***

Your question is related to asking why is the same exact fabric sold online in a very big popular store for one price, and our local quilt shops sell it for up to $4 more per yard.
Why does a seller online in a popular site charge $6 to ship one yard of fabric, but another seller will ship free or up to 9 yards for the same cost?
Overhead with middle men, employee pay and benefits, utilities, insurance, shipping, loss prevention, etc. etc.
What does a DVD cost? Roughly $1 to make, add the production costs, employees, etc. etc. and then warehousing, processing, employees, etc of the middleman, and the profits at retailers to pay out these same types of expenses, and the customer pays from $9.95-$33 and up for that $1 initial cost.
Thankfully our local LQS has monthly bag day and at least one fantastic sale a year to bring fabric down to @50% off. I can't go overseas to shop so I will gladly pay what my favorite shops ask for.

Another good reason to wash before using.

Supply and demand! I am amazed at the difference in the prices of fabrics in different regions of the U.S. Cost of living is different in different countries. I don't know about Thailand, but what about money exchanges from 1 country to another. What may be a dollar here, may be like $3 in another country or only like 0.25 in another country. Bottom line, they know we are addicted and will buy it!

My hubby said its because we have laws that the fabric can not be slave labor using children. I rather pay more then have children forced into making it for us to use.

Small world. My grandson is going to school in Chiang. Mai. Maybe I can get him to bring me some fabric. LOL Now that would be an interesting purchase.

No one yet has mentioned tariffs (fees paid to import products).

Yes these countries do have cheap labor like china, so most of the time their workers are not getting a fair wage, USA really makes sure the people in their country have good work rights.

My daughter is moving to Chaing Mai on Sunday for one to two years. I'll have to have her go shopping for me!

Having been in Thailand twice I suggest you get out of Chang Mai and into the villages where the cotton workers live. Then you will have a better understanding concerning the difference between cotton material locally grown and manufactured there and what is grown and manufactured in Australia, the US and Europe.

I agree! I usually buy with a coupon at hancocks or connecting threads or I dont buy fabric. I cant pay those prices at the quilt stores.

I've barely bought any fabric for 3 years. I have a nice stash of cotton mens shirts and most of any future quilt making will be al la Bonnie Hunter scrappy style.

The work and living conditions in other countries are appalling. My now ex-husband was crazy about Oriental carpets. I loved the beauty and appreciated the intricate work that went into hand knotting them, but couldn't get over the shadowing of child slave labor of production. Tiny hands make better knots. I didn't even want to buy them. The carpets went with him.
On another thread someone posted about a new line of manufactured in USA fabrics available at JoAnns. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction.
I wash All fabrics that come into the house. I've seen warehouses in NYC. I don't need any passenger critters. All it would take is one egg.

but other than the supposed "made in USA" fabric at Joann's, there is no fabric made in the US anyway. So more than likely it's all being made with cheap labor (maybe not kids but still cheap).

I think that the point is that NONE of the fabric we are buying currently in our stores is "grown and manufactured in Australia, the US and Europe". It's all coming from the Far East. So, why the huge difference in prices?

My opinion...because they can. Profit.

I see that Connecting Threads is having their wide backs for roughly $8.something a yard. I calculated that to be $3.56/yard of 43" fabric. That is really more like what the prices should be. People do reach their price point and then they won't pay it anymore, or they will cut way down on their purchases or search and find the product elsewhere.

i truly truly believe that a book, accessible to a wide reading audience concerning the political economy of textiles is desperately needed.

i think you might have compelled me to finally stop my pure research project and just write.

aileen

Buy lot's and ship it home, then buy more and fill your suitcase, enjoy!

I just finished a flannel quilt for DSIL - at £14.00/$23 a metre (39")................

The problem is the distributor or middle man. He is the one people here say "you have to know a man to know a man that knows a man that has what you want". Then he greases his pockets. Business is always better when you can go around the middle man.

Everytime I go to our fabric store (Fabricland) I am amazed at how expensive it is getting to be. We still have some at $12.00 to $14.00 a meter but we are seeing lots at $22 - 24.00 a meter in Canada & a meter is only 3 inches more than a yard. If things don't improve it is going to stop some crafters from quilting. Fabricland does have regular 1/2 price sales & that is the ONLY time I shop there now. Just another note, the price of spray 505 is $25.98 for the small can here. I recently found it at Walmart for $14.98 so explain the difference !
As I said thank goodness for 1/2 price sales !! Could part of the reason be that quilting has made such a huge come back in the world of crafting???? When there's a huge demand for things I'm sure it drives prices nowhere but UP..............

I am sorry that so many US quilt stores are going out of business because they cannot make enough to justify staying open. However I have to look out for my budget too. Therefore I will not pay quilt store prices for fabric because I have a large stash that I use as much as possible, only purchasing what I really NEED to go with what I have. I have a friend who does not use her scraps so she gives them to me. I pick up "freebies" at our local quilt guild meetings and I watch garage sales and thrift stores for good useable fabrics. We really don't have to pay outrageous prices for fabric. It is available to us for much less. When we decide we are no longer going to pay such prices, shops will go out of business but the price of fabric will have to come down. Even Walmart prices have gone up on fabrics. it's the old law of supply and demand. My daughter called yesterday and said their local quilt shop is closing and another about 140 miles away is closing. One 50 miles away is for sale and has been for several years. I simply can't afford to support them.

I refuse to pay $10.99+ per yard, no matter how much I like the fabric. It's just not in my budget.

If you can buy one bolt for $2.00 a yard that would be $20.00. Buy the same bolt here @ $13.00, that would be $130.00. Yea I would be shipping some home too. Can I give you my list? Have fun and enjoy.

I understand nice quilt shops charging $12 a yard for the good stuff, but what I don't understand is JoAnn's selling lesser brands for the same price! All their "designer" cotton is $12 or more. Some of the latest ones they have put out are $14.99! More than at the LQS... I guess they figure everyone will wait til it's on sale or they have a coupon, but still... why so high a starting price at a JOANNS?

(Speaking of JoAnn's, their Keepsake Calicos are 50% off this week, plus with a coupon you can get another 15% off your total sale. President's Day sale!)

An extra suitcase costs another $100. Why don't you WEAR IT? In Peru, men make skirts for their girlfriends/wives. One woman had 19 skirts, and she wore them all. They put about five of them on the same waistband so that they are easier to put on and take off. When they go to the bathroom, they loosen all the waistbands and simply step out of them for a while. :D

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