"Tell your customers that prices are going to increase? Are you mad? You should do it without warning them, it’s much simpler! Your prices are low, no one will notice!".
That is more or less the response given by everyone in the industry with whom we have discussed rising prices. And yet, once again, we would rather tell you the truth than present you with a fait accompli. We will not be the only ones, and we would rather not hide anything from you!
Emmanuel, Thomas and Samy
Why will our prices increase in 2022?
There are things we would prefer to see remain unchanged. There are also things over which we unfortunately have little control. This year, our prices will have to increase, and here are the reasons why.
Fair pricing: a founding value at Hast
Since the creation of the Hast brand nearly 10 years ago, fair pricing has been a founding value of our company. By keeping our costs under control as much as possible, we have been able to offer you honest, accessible prices over the years. Our margins are kept low compared with those of the traditional fashion industry, so that we can always maintain the excellent value for money that defines our positioning.
Year after year, the entirely justified rise in wages in our workshops had been offset by increased volumes. In 2022, for the first time, we will have to increase our prices. This is not about increasing our margins, but about keeping pace with rising costs linked in particular to the health crisis. For several weeks, we have received dozens and dozens of emails from our workshops announcing sudden increases. In keeping with our commitment to transparency, we feel it is important to inform our customers in advance and explain the concrete reasons for these necessary increases, so that we can maintain the same level of exacting standards.
Why this increase?
The health crisis linked to Covid-19, among other things, has put more than one industry to the test. And the fashion industry is certainly no exception – quite the opposite. The many slowdowns, lockdowns, resumptions and successive production stoppages have had a number of direct and indirect consequences, including two main ones directly affecting rising prices in the textile sector: the freight crisis and the resulting increase in raw material prices.
The sea freight crisis and its consequences for road transport
The freight crisis (the cost of transporting goods) observed recently is linked to logistical difficulties following the various waves of Covid-19. Containers and ships became scarce because the different lockdowns, occurring at different times and in different places, created a fundamental organisational imbalance. Many containers were thus left empty in ports that had come to a standstill, leaving other maritime areas with high demand waiting. The regular disruptions were extremely complex to manage logistically. This was compounded by the disruption to global maritime traffic caused by the Ever Given container ship, which ran aground in the Suez Canal on 23 March 2021 for several months. This crisis resulted in sea freight costs increasing three- to sixfold. Facing particularly sharp inflation since the start of the health crisis, road transport has not been spared either, as it is experiencing the same disruptions linked to the health crisis: increased demand, rising fuel costs, wage negotiations…
Although our manufacturing is mainly carried out within the European Union, raw materials come from all over the world (Egyptian cotton, Australian merino wool, etc.), and the rise in global demand has had repercussions across all markets. Many brands have turned to European workshops to produce their collections, reducing available capacity and increasing the costs charged by our long-standing suppliers.
Email from a workshop dated 15.11.21
The significant increase in raw material prices
According to the business magazine Capital, in an article published in November 2021, the respective costs of cotton and wool increased drastically in just one year, by 43% and 47% respectively. Several reasons, related or unrelated to the Covid-19 crisis, explain these increases. As mentioned earlier, the freight crisis is one of the main causes of rising costs. But other factors also come into play, particularly in the case of cotton.
An important point to consider in the context of rising cotton prices is the impact of the strong recovery in demand after months of harvest and production stoppages. This recovery inevitably puts pressure on production chains, which cannot always meet this new demand, adding to the delays caused by repeated production stoppages. Strong demand is also explained by a rise in the price of a barrel of oil, leading to higher prices for petroleum-based synthetic textiles such as polyester. Many brands are therefore turning to other materials – such as cotton (which is a good thing). Finally, two other major crises must be added to this: the climate crisis and the political crisis surrounding the Uyghur issue. The climate crisis has caused numerous unusual weather events, making cotton production less prolific than in past decades. At the same time, the fight for human rights concerning the forced labour of the Uyghur community in China has moved the international community and prompted many brands to refuse cotton from the Xinjiang region (also a good thing). These various factors have placed the sector under considerable pressure, leading to substantial price increases.
Two recent emails from our suppliers
Other raw materials are facing similar pressures, with poor harvests followed by spectacular returns to levels of demand equal to or even higher than those before the crisis began. Wool, linen, cotton: no material is escaping the rise. The same applies to wood, metal, aluminium, etc... and this is affecting the entire production chain.
It is therefore these cumulative increases in the cost of raw materials and transport that make a price rise necessary, which we had managed to contain until now. As we said at the outset, we have chosen to let you know in good time so that you can still benefit from 2021 prices for a few more weeks. We will then continue to do everything we can to offer you excellent value for money, with no compromise!
During the first weeks of 2022, we will offer existing stock of clothing. The Le Goût du Sel collection and the permanent pieces already produced and stocked will not be affected by the increases under any circumstances. These will apply to restocks and collections currently in development, for the reasons discussed above. Rest assured, our prices will increase reasonably and we guarantee that we will retain the excellent value for money that defines us!
We have chosen to talk about it just before the sale period, without wishing to encourage you to buy, to let you know that it will still be an opportunity to benefit from our current prices. There will be no discount, but there will be no increase either.
Thank you for reading!
