Cutting your cloth: Adapting to rising prices

New York – Fashion designer Derek Lam is separating himself from the crowd amid widespread discussion about rising cotton prices.

Industry experts, such as Tom Murry, CEO of Calvin Klein, predict that clothing prices will rise by 10% this year. Lam is going against the grain by embracing new fabric blends being produced by mills and using these new materials to directly inform his design decisions.

‘As prices for pure raw materials become more and more expensive – cotton, cashmere, merino wool, and silk prices have risen dramatically in the last two years – many of the mills have responded by mixing less precious yarns into the compositions,’ Lam’s show notes for autumn/winter 2011 read.

For more examples of fashion designers refusing to accept the status quo, see LS:N Global’s Inform story with Aitor Throup.