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BBC Focus on craft industry cotton prices
Listed under: Top Story
Published: Thursday, March 24, 2011
The BBC chose a Birmingham retailer to focus on for its Six and Ten O'Clock News feature.
Liz Holpin of The Cotton Patch, a patchwork, quilting and haberdashery store was interviewed as part of a BBC News local business feature which discussed rising inflation and elevated cotton prices.
The Cotton Patch was featured on both the Six and Ten O'Clock News and discussed the fact that the price of cotton, although stable for quite a few years, rose sharply last year and has now more than doubled in a matter of months. “Consumers will see price increases but we're going to try and minimise the impact on our customers,” Liz told the BBC. “What we want to do is try to buy better and get into other areas to replace that revenue. Ultimately though, some of that price increase will have to be passed on – we can't afford to take lower margins.”
The BBC approached Liz for the feature via her website and gave a fascinating glimpse into the world of quilting during the piece, where viewers were shown a Handi Quilter Avante 18 being used for free motion quilting as well as producing a Bloomberg graph of cotton price fluctuations since 2006. "It gave quilting some great exposure," says Liz. "Many people wouldn't have even known of this machine's existence, and thanks to the piece six million viewers saw it at work. We've also had a huge amount of interest in our store through our website since it was broadcast.
"It's such a positive thing for us as a business, but also as an industry as a whole. We need to pull together in times like this, buy better and be innovative in order to succeed."
The Cotton Patch was featured on both the Six and Ten O'Clock News and discussed the fact that the price of cotton, although stable for quite a few years, rose sharply last year and has now more than doubled in a matter of months. “Consumers will see price increases but we're going to try and minimise the impact on our customers,” Liz told the BBC. “What we want to do is try to buy better and get into other areas to replace that revenue. Ultimately though, some of that price increase will have to be passed on – we can't afford to take lower margins.”
The BBC approached Liz for the feature via her website and gave a fascinating glimpse into the world of quilting during the piece, where viewers were shown a Handi Quilter Avante 18 being used for free motion quilting as well as producing a Bloomberg graph of cotton price fluctuations since 2006. "It gave quilting some great exposure," says Liz. "Many people wouldn't have even known of this machine's existence, and thanks to the piece six million viewers saw it at work. We've also had a huge amount of interest in our store through our website since it was broadcast.
"It's such a positive thing for us as a business, but also as an industry as a whole. We need to pull together in times like this, buy better and be innovative in order to succeed."
