Uniform prices to increase in 2011

[JohnASE]

I posted a little about this on our Facebook page, and I thought people here might like to know.

THE SHORT VERSION

Expect martial art uniform prices to go up in 2011. If you're thinking about getting a new gi soon, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

Cotton price increases are driving up the prices of uniforms. I've talked to other vendors, and it's crazy out there! Most are looking at 30% to 60% increases, but I've heard as high as 100%. I'd guess that most of the bigger percentage increases will be on the lower end of the market, but high end gis should go up as well.

ADDITIONAL INFO

There's a worldwide cotton shortage. As I understand it, the bad economy had led farmers to grow less cotton, then catastrophic floods in 2010 destroyed significant amounts of those crops. Now, everyone is scrambling to get enough cotton. Someone told me that cotton is about 2.5 times what it was last year on the commodities market.

People have talked about switching to synthetics, but I don't see much of that happening. Developing and introducing new products takes time, maybe not as long as it takes to grow more cotton, but it won't be worth it for most companies.

Some companies have already increased prices. Others have announced pending increases. Some might be waiting, but not many companies can afford to lose money for very long. I think everyone will have to raise prices, it's just a question of when and how much. We just received an announcement from Tiger Claw for increases effective February 1st, but we don't have any numbers yet.

I would expect uniform prices to stay high for at least all of 2011. I wouldn't expect new crops to grow and be transformed into uniforms until the end of 2011 at the earliest. Then, who knows what supply and demand will be like, but I'd bet that if prices go down, they won't go down much, at least not right away. I'd guess that it'll be at least a couple years before prices come back down, and I hope I'm not being optimistic.

At ASE, we're raising uniform prices across the board. Prices aren't finalized yet, and I haven't examined suggested retail as closely as wholesale prices, but they're probably up about 30% to 40%. Tokaido might be around there or lower. Tokon is only going up a little. Adidas is definitely going up, but I'm not sure how much yet. We need to confirm some things with the US distributor.

By the way, I expect this to be a worldwide problem. The cotton shortage is worldwide. Most of our sources and our competitors' sources are in Asia. I'm sure all of these factories provide uniforms to other countries. Prices will have to go up everywhere.

So, buy a gi now! Or buy two!

[christoh]

I think i'm alright as I purchased five new gi's this year. I was thinking of getting an Hirota at the end of the year as well however I may have to purchase it sooner than planned.

Thanks for the heads up, John.

- Chris

[BDPulver]

Thanks for the heads up JohnASE.

I need to buy a couple new uniforms but im looking for the elasctic waistband again due to certain health reasons (on my part ) but also that are heavy. I'll just have to keep my eyes open though.

[christoh]

BDPulver, I recommend KO brand gi's, namely the Elegant and Super Kata Gold models. They have elastic waistbands and are heavy gi's.

http://www.koitalia.com/wp/index.php?lang=en

- Chris

[BDPulver]

Thanks christoh, but Some of that site is confusing to me. Probably cause I dont speak Italian (?). It is nice gear though but very hard to know what I'm reading.

[christoh]

I just checked it out and it appears that despite going into the English version of the Italian website; the details of the products are still written in Italian.

The Australian website is here:

http://www.koaustralia.com.au/

It's in English so you can look around and check out the gi's, belts etc. Roberto (the Australian distributor) is a great guy. If you email him he could perhaps give you a price for postage to America (as I can't seem to find any reference to an American seller on the internet) or let you know of an American distributor (if one does exist.)

- Chris

[ninjaman]

I always buy my martial arts gi uniforms from CheapMartialArtsUniforms.com, they are low priced and made of great quality! I love my purchase!

[Wastelander]

I've known about this whole thing since summer of last year, but my new gi is made from hemp so I don't have a problem with the cotton shortage. Cotton was artificially bolstered as a cash crop to push out hemp, anyway, since hemp is a much better textile source but cotton was "the next big thing" back in the 1700's and somehow it stuck.

[MasterPain]

I've known about this whole thing since summer of last year, but my new gi is made from hemp so I don't have a problem with the cotton shortage. Cotton was artificially bolstered as a cash crop to push out hemp, anyway, since hemp is a much better textile source but cotton was "the next big thing" back in the 1700's and somehow it stuck.

It's all William Randolf Hearst's fault.

[JohnASE]

Macho just announced their price increase effective April 1st. I think Tiger Claw's increase was effective February 1st.

I've known about this whole thing since summer of last year, but my new gi is made from hemp so I don't have a problem with the cotton shortage. Cotton was artificially bolstered as a cash crop to push out hemp, anyway, since hemp is a much better textile source but cotton was "the next big thing" back in the 1700's and somehow it stuck.

Interesting. If you don't mind my asking, can I find info on your gi on the web somewhere? I'm not familiar with hemp gis.