Historically, the greatest consumer demand for Pima cotton has been in the U.S. market.
In an interview with Fibre2Fashion Correspondent Cindrella Thawani, Don Cameron apprises that US cotton industry is resilient with the challenges it faces, also believes that China’s cotton reserve is upsetting evenhanded global cotton industry.
Synopsis:
Supima name derived from Pima, and Pima is a kind of American cotton. Founded in 1954, Supima is the promotional organisation of the American Pima cotton growers.
Its key purpose is to encourage the increased consumption of American Pima cotton around the world.
Currently, Don Cameron serves as the Chairman of Supima.
Excerpts:
How do you envisage US cotton industry?
US cotton industry is resilient and always rises to the challenges it faces. Nothing that faces the US cotton industry today will be its demise. Ingenuity, leadership, creativity, research and dogged determination will prevail and allow US cotton industry to adapt and thrive against its most ardent challengers, as has been witnessed over the last several centuries.
Current challenges with water, competitive crops, domestic, global politics and the ever-increasing global population will force the industry to adapt and overcome. The amount of arable land globally is probably not going to grow, and if so, it will come at the potentially catastrophic costs of losing other valuable resources such as rain forests and similar high value real estate in developing nations. Of the current arable land available globally, competition for food crops will only continue to rise.
Cotton industry along with other agricultural crops will continue to need to find ways to move on the efficiency of our advanced farming operations even further to try to keep pace with the continuously growing global demand.
How do you perceive China’s management for cotton reserves that can impact global cotton market view?
Purchases made for China cotton reserve is very troubling as well as exceptionally disruptive to a delicately balanced global cotton industry. Recent purchases and price levels at which cotton was purchased, created a number of problems for the global cotton industry in China and abroad.
Further, absorption of purchases into the reserve has a synthetic effect of reducing supply without actually consuming cotton. Then, when it is released it will have a reverse effect that will negatively affect the cotton prices globally.
Price levels at which the cotton is being purchased are also far above the current world price, thereby artificially supporting Chinese growers with high prices and potentially setting a stage for excess production next year, if the same price supports are planned.
For the domestic spinning industry in China, this is a nightmare, as it makes their products uncompetitive as a result of the higher prices. Even, if a Chinese spinning mill has quota for cotton imports they are faced with a 40 percent duty to import the fiber. However, if the yarn is imported, that is eligible to be imported duty free. This is a challenging situation for the Chinese spinning industry.
What is your overview for the export and import scenario of Pima cotton, worldwide?
Exports of American Pima cotton continue to be very important to the American Pima industry as approximately 95 percent of the U.S. production is exported annually. Majority of exports continue to go to six-seven countries and that will probably continue. There may be some movement among the larger global consumers of ELS cotton. However, the concentration of consumption will probably remain with a smaller focused group of consumers.
Do you think that the model for organic cotton does not really work, owing to the challenges associated with it?
Actual demand for organic has never matched the level of interest by the press or retailers. Consumers prioritize many factors such as brand, styling, color and price ahead of organic when making their buying decision. Moreover, offer of organic Pima cotton in the market have been met with scant interest.
Moreover, please emphasize further concerning issues related to global cotton market?
The biggest challenge to cotton in a global market continues to be perception of the brands and retailers for their consumers and the belief that they will only be shoppers at ever decreasing price points.
This vicious circle came full circle in 2008 and 2009 when marketing departments had pushed expectations for global consumption for cheap product past the breaking point. Moreover, reaction was violent and result was equally impactful with the destruction of demand, jobs and companies. The deflationary price model that apparel and home textiles has been on is simply not sustainable.
Besides, efficiency of scale and volume has run the gamut and apparent advances in manufacturing efficiency have been reached with current technologies. Other costs such as the human cost, energy, infrastructure, investment and capital to name a few are not going to get any cheaper in the foreseeable future.
As such, much of the global cotton industry's future and success rests in the hands of brands and retailers and their ability to again imagine their businesses and to focus again on quality as well as return value of product to make them desirable for ownership rather than a fleeting whimsy of ultra thin margined and over supplied bulk products.
What is your observation for market trend and demand of Pima cotton apparels and where?
Whether it is food or fashion, consumer are paying more attention to quality and where products come from. This is a very strong trend for Pima because we have such a compelling story to tell. Besides, two major apparel markets for Pima cotton are men's shirting and women's premium knits. Pima's inherent strength makes it ideal for men's dress shirts. It is able to withstand the rigors of the non-iron treatments, which can be very damaging to fabric integrity.
On the other hand, Pima softness is driving demand in the women's knit area. It is often compared with silk and cashmere because of its distinctive hand. Superior dye absorption by Pima's fine fibers produces brilliant colors, which are very popular with knits.
How do you see the demand of Pima cotton, globally and in which regions its demand is mushrooming?
Historically, the greatest consumer demand for Pima cotton has been in the U.S. market. Demand there for both apparel and home fashion remains steady. However, in the past decade, we have seen strong and growing demand for Pima cotton products in Europe; specifically in the U.K. Supima licensed retailers such as Marks & Spencer, House of Frasier and John Lewis have developed substantial Supima product offerings.
In Asia, Uniqlo has been responsible for an explosion in Pima demand. There are over 900 stores, which offer consumer Pima apparel throughout the year. It is exciting to see the awareness and demand for Pima grow.
What are your objectives and future scenario for Supima? Please interpret.
Our primary objective is to generate demand for the Pima products made by our textile and retail partners. Both our growers and partners need a healthy demand for Pima, in order for a profitable business.
More and more, generating demand is about engaging directly with the end consumer. Consequently, you will see, we are working more closely than ever with its brands and retail partners to ensure the visibility and success of their Supima products. Their success is how we measure our own.
What is your outlook for Supima, in context to enter into the retail segment? Are there any plans ahead to it?
Involvement in the retail segment is a top priority for us. There is nothing more important than getting our product in front of consumers. It is the only way for them to truly understand Supima's benefits.
Supima accomplishes this through a various activities. Our partnership with Brooks Brothers is a good example. Every spring for the past three years Brooks produces our collection that goes out in catalog form to 500,000 customers. Further, collection is also sold in all of their retail outlets. Moreover, it has been a high profile and very successful collaboration.
Besides, it also sells a men's contemporary knit collection under its own name exclusively at Bloomingdales stores across the U.S. It is a first for any fiber to be sold under it's own brand and it is fortunate to have such a prestigious partner like Bloomingdale's.
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