Interview with Mr Jesse Curlee

I can probably only give you a perspective from the USA in regard to the global cotton industry and in particular to USA Pima. I would say the cotton industry is facing more difficulties in the USA than in anytime in my 30 years in this industry. Demand is weak and prices are weaker….especially for Extra-Long Staple cotton. Growers have more profitable alternatives than cotton.

Supima activities in regard to promotion/marketing have increased greatly in the past three years. We have continued with our own trade show in New York. It is named the Premium Fabric Show (PREFAB) and has been held bi-annually at Gotham Hall in New York. This is an opportunity for Supima licensees to showcase their yarns, fabrics and finished textile goods to brands/designer/retailers from the USA and worldwide. Supima has also sponsored a fashion show for the past two years during the January PREFAB show. We also opened a retail “Pop Up” store in the Soho section of New York in the spring of 2008. This created a lot of publicity within the industry and was an opportunity to showcase some of our licensee’s products. Lots of other promotional/marketing projects have been undertaken during this time and more are planned for the future.

This is a major concern of mine because prices will have to increase in order for American growers to produce this special cotton.

American Pima cotton production declined almost 50% last year and will decline at least another 20-25% this year. In 2007/08 the USA produced a crop of 851,000 bales, while the 2008/09 crop declined to 431,000 bales. We are expecting a crop of approximately 350,000 for 2009/10. At the same time, our two primary competitors…Egypt and China have also seen similar production declines. The reason; prices are just not attractive to the growers for this special cotton. Also, recession that occurred in 2008 has drastically reduced demand for higher priced cotton fibers.

Organic cotton is something lots of brands/retailers talk about but at least in ELS cottons they are not willing to pay the extra cost. At least this is what we have seen. USA growers will not grow this cotton without a forward contract and there just is not much current demand.

Supima is working or under contract with a company that has been able to extract the DNA from raw fiber, yarns and even finished textiles and determine if it is a barbadense or a hirsutum. This company is doing “fiber typing” now and expects to soon be able to identify which ELS cotton is used in a product. We see this as a way to verify that a textile product is in fact “Supima” and not manufactured with a blend of upland cotton or some other cheaper ELS cotton.

I would forecast a slow recovery in the ELS industry. People are not going to give up on luxury cotton goods, so the ELS industry will recover. We are already seeing some slight increases in demand, but it will be slow and may not get back to strong demand for more than a year. The question is will growers of ELS cotton still be interested in growing this cotton after two seasons of low prices.

I don’t really see any benefit to our industry, as the consumer does not know about this being the International Year of Natural Fibers nor do they probably care. It is a nice slogan and PR campaign, but it does not help in regard to demand.

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