Whether you are buying or selling design these days hold onto your hats! Things could be about to get crazy. Last month, Dick Gentry of Wesco Fabrics foreshadowed what is to come with this great post on his blog, Gentry Connects. If you’re not a subscriber- become one. He always has insightful comments, really understands fabrics and the fabric market; plus I love his musical suggestions sprinkled into his posts! I ‘ve added a couple of my own comments and spottings at the end of the post.

On January 28, 2025 Gentry Connects post said:

I’ve never witnessed anything like the price hikes of the past few months. We have received multiple price hikes monthly from suppliers in the last six months. Holding prices for a 6 month catalog becomes a near impossible task. It has been totally nuts! Why is it happening now?

We will see a bump in prices this year from everything from barbecued ribs and coffee to clothing. Manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers must raise prices because of escalating commodities, or raw materials. Commodities like corn, cotton, wheat, coffee, sugar, and cocoa surged last year as severe weather crippled many crops, while increased domestic demand from China and India continue to explode. We are faced with the perfect storm of supply and demand.

COTTON futures skyrocketed 92% in 2010, thanks to floods in Pakistan and heavy rains in China that damaged crops. MAN-MADE FIBERS like polyester have jumped in price. Growing worldwide demand has impacted textile commodity prices. Currency issues and speculators have adversely affected markets as well.

SILK pattern “Wes Eternal City.”

SILK pattern “Wes Life Experience.”

I have an unabashed love of silk fabrics and have sourced from Indian companies for years. In the past year we have been hit with large silk price increases. India sources the majority of their silk yarns from China. They have seen a doubling of yarn prices in 2010! Increased domestic demand for silk in China and India has helped drive up prices. During our visit to Heimtex in Frankfurt we talked with many suppliers about the volatile situation. Though we still bought beautiful silks for our future Fall 2011 line we were shocked at many of the prices! We have to carefully edit our selections as never before! Many Indian suppliers are now creating new constructions of silk mixed with polyester, linen, and cotton for more affordable price points.

An important factor affecting textile commodity pricing is the growth of domestic demand in China and India. These are gigantic markets and just a few upward demand clicks influencing pricing pressure.

China is the world’s second largest luxury market after Japan and will be number one very shortly. Years ago shopping in Paris we would see throngs of Japanese tourists flooding Chanel and Gucci boutiques. Today you see Chinese travelers buying like crazy in those high-end stores!

We all wish for the simpler times of the past. Obviously it is a much more complicated and interconnected world today. I remember once visiting weavers in Bago, Burma, and marveled at how they worked their ancient hand looms. Even they are paying more for their yarns.

Our mission for the past 65 years remains the same at Wesco Fabrics. We constantly strive to provide interior designers beautiful fabrics and window coverings that excite their customers. Our passion for excellence is steadfast. Thank you for all your interest and support!

As gas prices are about to hit $4.00 a gallon in Chicago, I find myself spotting more and more products affected by the ” commodity chaos” Dick talked about. Leaving Paris the end of January we saw LONG VAT lines of Chinese and Japanese tourists with bags of luxury goods in the Air France terminal, a testament to the growth of these markets.

On the fiber front, Cashmere prices are set to soar after a harsh winter in Mongolia wiped out a quarter of the country’s wool producing goats. Experts say the lack of supply and increased demand could drive up prices by as much as 40 percent.

Fragrances are not immune to this either. The bad news is that natural aphrodisiacs commonly used in fragrances, are facing shortages. In economic terms, this lays bare the fragility of supply chains in a globalised market. Fragrance brands are absorbing the costs for now, but if commodity prices remain high they will have no choice but to pass these on to the consumer. This 5.9 billion global industry relies on a complex network of suppliers from every continent to provide the myriad spices and essential oils that go into the perfume used in fine fragrances and household products. In recent years, freak conditions have disrupted this volatile ecology and sent prices soaring.

“Like fine wines, fine fragrances use natural ingredients affected by microclimates in local growing regions and perfumers are used to sudden change changes in these conditions,” says Lisa Hipgrave, director of the International Fragrance Association UK. “However, there have never been this many strange weather conditions simultaneously causing shortages all over the world.”

UPDATE:

In doing some fashion research, I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal that echos Dick’s sentiments. If fashion designers are already revamping collections because of prices you know that interior collections are not far behind. I hope jobbers and manufacturers do not trim updates, stylings and collections any more than they have. Just when we though we were coming out of the woods- the industry could crawl back under it’s rock. Hmm.. High Point could be interesting.

Materials Girls: Designers Trim Hemlines, Costs

Runway Fashions Get Revamped as Cotton, Wool, Leather and Silk Prices Rise

When dreaming up her fall collection, designer Nanette Lepore says she imagined herself floating on a cloud in a celestial fantasy. Then fabric prices brought her crashing back to earth.

Ms. Lepore and some other designers are removing bows, switching to less-expensive fabrics and changing linings among other steps because commodity prices are increasing so quickly. These materials costs are most acutely affecting the tier of luxury designers just below the high-end brands.

READ MORE

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I have Oscars on the brain so why not another look at Oscar’s design inspiration. Michael Smith, designer to the stars and White House is this year’s Oscar Greenroom designer. Arch Digest gave a sneak peek of what the presenters can expect as the relax before going on stage. Smith channeled Old Hollywood for his design inspired by mogul Jack Warner’s libary in his legendary 1940′s Beverly Hills home. Furnishing partners include Baker, Cowtan and Tout and Phillip Jefferies.

Courtesy AD

I wonder how it will stack up to past year’s rooms? One of my favs was Carleton Varney’s 2008 room inspired by DD’s sketches for the Beverly Hills Hotel and her design for Arrowhead Springs Resort.

Courtesy AD

Arrowhead Springs Entrance

Classic DD

Who doesn’t love red carpet entrance.

Dining room at Beverly Hills Hotel splendid in pink and green.

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It’s Oscar weekend and I will have a bottle of bubbly chilling while I check out the red carpet arrivals and cheer on my favorite Oscar contenders. To heck with Best Actor /Actress or Picture. Here are my picks for Oscar winning rooms from movies for people who like design….

I loved, loved, loved everything about Marie Antoinette. My god it is Versailles already!

Or Brideshead Revisited…

I still gasp a little when I see the winter palace in Dr. Zhivago….

The Great Gatsby…

For some mod inspiration- Love the Doris Day +Rock Hudson movies like Pillow Talk …

Remember the oh- so- chic automated bachelor pad?

Leo Di Caprio looked dashing in this Aviator living room

Didn’t you just love Diane Keaton’s house in the Hamptons in Something’s Gotta Give…

I am carrying around this clipping of the living room in It’s Complicated as inspiration for a my family room redo.

But my all time favorite movie design muse is Rosalind Russell’s Auntie Mame. How many times did they makeover the staircase? This film could be a CEU class in decorative arts!

What movies have tripped your trigger that you would recommend for design pros or design aficionados?

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Karim Rashid has partnered with Velux for a new yet- to- be named collection of blackout skylight shades. These are not your everyday drab shades. The collection includes four unique patterns, each in two different colors. Customers can choose from vibrant pink and acid yellow or more subtle designs of black and white. Inspiration from digital technology on the one hand and floral motifs on the other, adds a modern yet poetic look to the collection. The new patterns bring an abstracted ‘digital nature’ into the home. Four of the designs have decorative metallic details creating a vivid texture. The blinds are not only art on the window but the shades in the new line are energy efficient, generating a 33% decrease in heat loss when closed.

“I want people to see a blind not as a genuine standard product but as a small piece of decorated art that adds beauty and even determines the style of the interior decoration.”

Wow that’s music to my ears! The window covering industry needs to hire him as a spokes person.

Running with the “digital” theme the collection seems to have taken, Velux is crowdsourcing the names of each of the patterns. The competition runs online this month and asks anyone to propose a name for the patterns which can be viewed and voted on by others. At the contest’s close, the most highly voted entries will become the official names of each of the blinds.

Teaming up with one of the design world’s most prolific designers demonstrates a new design approach in the VELUX Group.

“Choosing to work with Karim Rashid came from the recognition that if you want to be innovative, you have to experiment and demonstrate courage in the design process. So working together with internationally acknowledged designers like the ‘King of Colors’ represents a new experience at the VELUX Group. Usually our products serve the purpose of being discrete, but the new designs by Karim Rashid attract attention and add another feature besides quality and value for money to our products.”

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ABC News has launched a Made in America project and is looking for companies in the home furnishings industry to participate. Announced at the end of January, the project will see ABC purchase a home and outfit it entirely with goods made in America. ABC News says it started the project to highlight the idea that using goods made in this country could stimulate the economy and create jobs. In announcing the challenge , Diane Sawyer noted that if each American spent an extra $3.33, on U.S. goods, it would create 10,000 new jobs. We can all use a new project, plus I love the spotlight on our industry. Companies wanting to participate contact Ellen Gefen

Click HERE for the video about the Project.

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