Why Is Cotton So Expensive?

From wearablesmag.com:

The high cost of cotton has been a critical factor in the rising price of apparel. Cotton’s cost began to soar in the latter half of 2010, when demand in emerging markets and first-world countries began to grow as the recession slowly relaxed its grip. This intensified appetite for cotton, however,came at a time when supplies
were low – particularly in China, where its voracious desire for cotton was stoked by a significant domestic shortfall.
In the previous three growing seasons, harvests had declined worldwide, a situation created in part by farmers who opted to plant crops that were, at the time, more lucrative. Plus, supplies were diminished when bad weather cut into yields
in major cotton-producing countries like the United States and Pakistan, contributing to a several-million-bale worldwide shortage. The situation was
exacerbated when India, the world’s second-largest cottonexporter, limited exports of the crop in an effort to chill the price domestically.
Market speculation in cotton futures also stoked prices to
artificially high levels. In cases where cotton was at hand, the apparel production process was curtailed by labor, energy and social-compliance issues.
Says David Bebon, CEO of shirt manufacturer DBEBZ Apparel, “It was a perfect storm, and it happened to occur in 2010.”