With the sharp rise in cotton prices in India, Pakistan, and China, the main cotton growers, has affected the garment industry. As a result, popular promotional products made of cotton, a versatile and comfortable fabric, will be affected. In particular will be custom branded cotton T-shirts, which have often been worn by staff members during trade shows.

Although the rise in cotton prices is good news for farmers and the agriculture industry in these countries, the higher cost of raw material has strongly impacted the textile industry as well as businesses that have come to rely on cotton t-shirts and polo shirts as part of their promotional branding.

This phenomenon is not new. Climate problems that affect the growth of cotton have been known since last year. However, only now is the impact registering in the marketplace. In fact, since last year, the price of cotton has increased an astonishing 91%.

The price spike will not be softened by wholesalers, who will pass it on to retailers, who in turn will pass it on to vendors of promotional T-shirts.

What, then, can you do if you’re running a promotional products company or your company buys cotton shirts for your branding?

If your cotton T-shirt is very important, then begin to stock up on them before prices go up even more.

The next best thing to do is to look for alternative fabrics to cotton for your T-shirts.

Finally, your company may have to think of another product to use to carry on with its branding campaign other than their familiar apparel.

In summary, then, although the textile industry and other ancillary, related industries have been hit by this price increase, you can still run an effective promotional campaign by stocking up while you can, by looking for alternative fabrics and by thinking of switching your advertising and branding strategy to another promotional product or corporate gift.