Italian clothmaker Botto Giuseppe, which supplies luxury brands Giorgio Armani SpA and Max Mara, says it has increased prices on average by 7 to 8 percent in the last year on wool fabric, while high-end Swiss-based sportswear label Mover has put up the retail price of its merino wool t-shirts by 15 percent.
Botto Giuseppe has increased the price of wool flannel fabric used for suits to 19.50 euros per metre compared to 18 euros a year ago, CEO Botto Poala said.
“We won’t go into less expensive wools, we will just have to take a sharper margin and we’ll have to increase the price,” said John Bishop, CEO of the company which has collaborated with Nike on a range of plaid wool sneakers.
The privately-held company declined to give details on how margins will be affected.
Wool has become increasingly popular for use in sportswear due to its temperature regulating properties and a surge in demand for sustainable fabrics, particularly from younger consumers, manufacturers and farmers say.
Fleeces of animals affected by drought are thinner and often tainted by dust, said buyer Andrew Blanch, managing director of Italian textile maker-owned New England Wool.
Clients of Chinese wool mills are also starting to balk at the high prices, leading to a stand-off between buyers and sellers and some bales being left unsold, said Michael Jones, chief executive of Australia’s dominant wool storage and export house, AWH.
Italian clothmaker Reda started to produce woollen sports fabrics after the financial crash of 2008 which saw demand for suits tumble, said CEO Ercole Botto Poala, who is related to the chief executive of Botto Giuseppe.
Wool active wear fabric now makes up 10 percent of the company’s 110 million euro annual turnover and is its fastest-growing product range, he said.
Reda has put up its prices in response to higher wool prices, but declined to say by how much.