Cotton Costs Increase Rapidly        
According to the National Council of Cotton, world cotton prices are now about 50% more than last year at this time – from about 60 cents per pound to 90 cents per pound – and will likely increase further in the coming months. With T-shirts the top-selling item in the ad specialty industry, suppliers, already feeling the pressure of the increase, are advising distributors to prepare for costs on apparel to climb in the next few months.    

"By late summer and early fall distributors will start to see across-the-board price increases," says Anthony Corsano, CEO and president of Anvil Knitwear (asi/36350), though he could not say exactly how much costs would increase by. Corsano suggests that distributors order supplies for orders as soon as they can to lock in lower prices where possible.

Gary Adams, vice president of economics and policy analysis for the National Council of Cotton, agrees, saying that distributors, "have to anticipate what their needs are going to be as much as possible so they're not caught short or unaware." Adams says that not only has the price gone up, but as corn and soybeans have become more profitable crops to produce, and regions like India have curbed their exports, the supply of available cotton has gone down. "We are seeing those higher prices moving up the textile processing chain – yarn prices are higher than they were a year ago, and eventually that's going to make its way up to the retail level."

Echoing this sentiment, Garry Hurvitz, president and CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier Ash City (asi/37127), recently sent a letter to customers outlining the current apparel pricing environment and specifically pinpointing cotton as a raw material cost that was increasing. In the letter, Hurvitz wrote, "Specifically impacting our cotton based apparel is the worldwide shortage of this product and with yarns being more difficult to obtain, we are seeing production delays and material cost increases everywhere."    

Delta Apparel Acquires Clothing Manufacturer
Georgia-based supplier Delta Apparel Inc. (asi/49172) has signed a letter of intent to acquire the net assets of The Cotton Exchange, a North Carolina-based manufacturer. The deal, which includes the purchase of inventory and other fixed assets as well as the assumption of certain liabilities, is expected to close by July 15. "We are excited about the acquisition of The Cotton Exchange as it continues our strategy of growing the company's business within the college bookstore market and further strengthens our military and retail channels," said Robert Humphreys, CEO of Delta Apparel. "This business provides us additional U.S. screen print and embroidery capacity, further enhancing our speed to market initiatives."

The Cotton Exchange, which was founded in 1984, will keep its headquarters in Wendell, NC, and all of its current operations will continue. Each of the roughly 300 workers at The Cotton Exchange will be offered employment following the acquisition, according to a statement from Delta Apparel. The Cotton Exchange will operate as a division within M. J. Soffe LLC, which is a subsidiary of Delta Apparel. "We believe The Cotton Exchange's reputation for service and strong relationships with its customers is exactly what Soffe needs to realize its full potential within the college bookstore channel," said Ken Spires, president of M. J. Soffe. "All of us at M. J. Soffe are looking forward to the new relationship with The Cotton Exchange."

Delta Apparel expects The Cotton Exchange to add approximately $25 million in sales to its company. Delta Apparel employs nearly 7,000 people worldwide, supplying its products to both the promotional and retail markets.

The Joe Show: Election Products
In conjunction with the Hot Issue of Counselor this August, Managing Editor Joe Haley has dedicated The Joe Show over the past two months to showing off the hottest products in the ad specialty market. Broken into fun categories, each week he's focused on a different theme – and each of the items will be shown in the August Hot Issue.

In this final Hot Issue episode, Joe asks for your vote and displays some of the newest election products in the market. As 2010 is a big election year, now is the time to gear up. Have local candidates looking for new ways to promote themselves? Check out this episode. 

Click here to see this Hot Products edition of The Joe Show – and to check out all six Hot Issue episodes.

Want more videos? Subscribe now to our YouTube videos.

Cotton Prices On The Rise  
According to the National Council of Cotton, world cotton prices are now about 50% more than last year at this time – from about 60 cents per pound to 90 cents per pound – and will likely increase further in the coming months. With T-shirts the top-selling item in the ad specialty industry, suppliers, already feeling the pressure of the increase, are advising distributors to prepare for costs on apparel to climb in the next few months.

"By late summer and early fall distributors will start to see across-the-board price increases," says Anthony Corsano, CEO and president of Anvil Knitwear (asi/36350), though he could not say exactly how much costs would increase by. Corsano suggests that distributors order supplies for orders as soon as they can to lock in lower prices where possible.

Gary Adams, vice president of economics and policy analysis for the National Council of Cotton, agrees, saying that distributors, "have to anticipate what their needs are going to be as much as possible so they're not caught short or unaware." Adams says that not only has the price gone up, but as corn and soybeans have become more profitable crops to produce, and regions like India have curbed their exports, the supply of available cotton has gone down. "We are seeing those higher prices moving up the textile processing chain – yarn prices are higher than they were a year ago, and eventually that's going to make its way up to the retail level."

Echoing this sentiment, Garry Hurvitz, president and CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier Ash City (asi/37127), recently sent a letter to customers outlining the current apparel pricing environment and specifically pinpointing cotton as a raw material cost that was increasing. In the letter, Hurvitz wrote, "Specifically impacting our cotton based apparel is the worldwide shortage of this product and with yarns being more difficult to obtain, we are seeing production delays and material cost increases everywhere."

Tuesday Morning Radio Show Live On The Air
Every y morning from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET, a team of ASI editors debate the most important topics facing the industry. We also, of course, offer our own off-beat look at the market. This morning, we gave a sneak preview into the education and social scene at next week's ASI Show Chicago and provided insights into the top traits of great salespeople. Plus, listeners called in to the show looking for advice on how to generate increased traffic to their clients' trade show booths.

If you missed the show, a recording is now available at www.asicentral.com/radio. And, don't forget to join us for our next broadcast – live from The ASI Show in Chicago – on Tuesday, July 13. Log on to www.asicentral.com/radio at 10:30 a.m. ET to listen to the radio show, and give us a call at 215-953-4979 to hear your voice on the air.

Nominations Open For 2010 Counselor Power 50
Counselor is now compiling its Power 50 list for 2010 – our recognition of the industry's most powerful individuals – and we're looking for feedback from you. Click here to see the list of last year's Power 50 and let us know whether you think the members are more or less influential today than they were a year ago.

Plus, this is also the place to nominate new people who you think should be on the 2010 Power 50 list. Scroll to the bottom of the survey to submit new candidates for the Counselor Power 50 list. Please write their name and company in the space provided.

Click here to take the survey and make new nominations.

ASICentral: Top 100 Markets For Ad Specialty Sales
A recent exclusive Counselor study unveiled the best cities for ad specialty distributors to do business in right now. For the interactive online version, we decided to extend the list to the largest 100 markets and give them not only a rank, but a grade too.

Want to know where the best – and worst – cities are for ad specialty sales? Click here.

Got questions, comments or any type of feedback regarding anything ASICentral, don't hesitate to contact us at feedback@asicentral.com. Also, follow ASICentral at: .

ASI Online Learning Center
Did you know you can take self-paced, on-demand courses at ASI Education's Online Learning Center? This is the newest and most convenient way for distributors, decorators and suppliers to get educated. In our newest course for distributors, "Break Into These Five Hot Apparel Markets," we'll unveil five markets that are buying lots of decorated apparel (think: education, high-tech companies, government entities and more), the types of apparel they buy and how to make the pitch and close the sale.

Click here to learn why you should be selling apparel to online schools. (Hint: It's a $300 million market.) This is just one of the markets you'll learn how to sell to in this course.  Click here to take the course.

In the News
iPROMOTEu (asi/232119) has announced that 16 distributors affiliated with the company in June 2010. The new affiliates have a combined estimated annual sales volume of approximately $4.5 million. The industry distributors and former salespeople that joined iPROMOTEu include Mike Aldish of PromoServe Inc. in Raleigh, NC; Jodi Babcock of Sign Here Inc. in Rochester, MN; Gail Bush of Condor Solutions in Palm Harbor, FL; Luis Campillo of AE Promotions in Coral Gables, FL; Linda Davis of 21st Century Promotional Ideas in Las Vegas, NV; David Evans of Evans Promotions LLC in Pleasant Grove, UT; Andrei Nelson of Jus N Tyme in Chicago, IL; Maureen Prima of Kalvell Printing LLC in Toms River, NJ; Sheena Ribaudo of Resource One Inc. in Freeport, FL; Gerald Simmons of Custom Products of Integrity LLC in Gulfport, MS; Dianne Southwell of Plaudits! Inc. in Ocoee, FL; and Lori Wilson of Clear Blue Ink in Austin, TX.

Newton Manufacturing (asi/283300) has announced plans to expand further into California by working with Keeler Advertising (asi/239900) to continue to develop its current office in Tustin.

Prime Line (asi/79530) has announced that it will be the official vase sponsor of The ASI Show Chicago on July 13-15. It will feature its Flexi-Vases in the registration areas and in the new product showcase area.

Showdown Displays (asi/87188) held its second annual meeting of its multi-line representatives to focus on continued growth of the business in all territories.