Very realistic and sobering comment from Target on cost inputs. It's not just cotton when most other commodities have gone ballistic. If only the rest of the industry was as good as Target... Unfortunately, the unknown here is not what input costs are doing to COGS -- but rather how competitors and supply chain partners react when those that are not prepared; a) have too much inventory, b) are clearing it irrationally, and c) push back on supply chain partners to make margins whole.
TGT Management
"Cotton is up about 80%, synthetic fibers up about 50. So some pretty hefty cost increases. I would say as that translates into the garment, there's a lot of things that we can do to help mitigate that, whether that's where it's produced or efficiencies within manufacturing and how we're cutting the fabric, using different fabrications, so we're going through the motions of making sure right now that we're designing the best apparel but at the same time with our eye on those cost increases and trying to mitigate that. And then I do think some of that will get passed on in higher retails where they're warranted. We don't want to get to the place where we change the garments so much just to hit a price that they're not appealing and so we'll design them appropriate for what the guest wants and make sure that we charge accordingly."