SURVEY: COTTON IS STILL KING
NEW YORK — Cotton’s win streak continues.
The natural fiber posted a 59 percent share of the apparel and home furnishings markets in 1996, up from 58 percent in 1995, the 16th consecutive year that cotton has recorded a gain. The data was collected by NPD Group for Cotton Incorporated.
U.S. retail consumption of cotton per capita totaled 22.6 pounds, up from 21.5 pounds in 1995, according to NPD and data from the International Monetary Fund.
In women’s wear, the largest cotton-using segment, market share reached 48.2 percent, up from 47.5 percent from the previous year. Results for key women’s wear categories included shirts, 64.1 percent, up from 62.1 percent; dresses, 34.4 percent, up from 33.5 percent; sweat apparel, 51.5 percent, up from 49.1 percent, and blazers, 20.5 percent, up from 19.2 percent.
“We think the numbers reflect a pickup in business in general and progress by cotton in terms of market share,” said J. Nicholas Hahn, president and chief executive officer of Cotton Inc. “We’ve been forecasting this for some time, so we are not surprised, and expect our share to be even better in ’97 because business is generally better. We are shooting for a 62 percent overall share by the year 2000 and think we can get there.”
To enhance its marketing efforts, Cotton Inc. has announced several personnel moves. Michael Londrigan has been named managing director, U.S. marketing and implementation, a new post. He had served as director of U.S. marketing, and reports to Ira Livingston, senior vice president, U.S. marketing.