An interesting article caught my eye today from the WSJ about the increase in costs of leather hides due to an increase demand of luxury leather goods primarily from Far East markets.

It seems that an increase in China’s middle class has forced a higher demand of leather goods pushing up the prices of the raw materials in the US, China and also Brazil.

Couple this with the adverse weather in Australia hitting wool production and the increase of the price of cotton and you get serious implications on every level of the garment industry from high street to high-end.

Interesting times when you consider who is going to take the price increase – the customer or the company. It has to go somewhere..