The following articles were featured on the IFCP homepage.
Welcome to our Site
Welcome to the Journal of the International Forum for Cotton Promotion's ninth Cotton Promotion Bulletin. Take a few minutes to browse the site through this map in order to familiarize yourself with it.
Supima opens a pop-up store in NYC
In its 54-year history, Supima, the Phoenix-headquartered marketing and promotion company representing U.S. pima cotton growers, has enjoyed award-winning ad campaigns, any number of prestigious co-sponsorships, and even–beginning last year–PREFAB, its own textile trade show here at Gotham Hall. But, as of Friday, March 14, it's been in the international news for another way to take its brand message about superior strength and softness directly to consumers: The Supima pop-up store that opened here at 72 Greene Street in SoHo.
Demand Enhancement Session
The IFCP conducted a session on demand enhancement during a production conference in the Room Lago Azul adjacent to the 65th ICAC Plenary Meeting in Goiânia, Brazil. Participants in the session agreed that there are many techniques that can be employed to promote and raise the profile and consciousness of cotton and cotton products that are relatively inexpensive, and appropriate for most countries.
Working with Higher Education to Promote Cotton
To begin with, imagine this scenario. You have the opportunity to meet with about 50 potential customers from all over the world every year, introduce yourself to them, get to know the way they think, listen to their concerns, and even influence the way they will do business. You have the ability to do that rather simply, and you have the ability to plant the seeds of a mutually productive relationship that can benefit you for years to come. This speech was delivered at Bayer Crop Science's Fibermax 2006, Singapore on June 27, 2006 by Jeffrey Silberman, Executive Director of the IFCP, and Chairperson of the Textile Development and Marketing Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
The IFCP in its Fifth Year Moving Forward
This speech was delivered at the 8th International Cotton Conference, Gdansk, Poland on September 23, 2005 by Dr. Sebahattin Gazanfer, Chairman of the IFCP, and authored by Jeffrey Silberman, Executive Director.
More: View article as printed in the January 2006 issue of Cotton Bangladesh
Polyester, the Nightmare Year
By Marjorie Walker, Tecnon Orbichem. The last twelve months have been a nightmare for polyester producers. High oil prices have coincided with huge polyester filament and staple capacity additions in China as well as bumper cotton crops. Read this article reprinted from the Cotton Outlook 2005 Special Edition distributed at the 64th ICAC Plenary Meeting last September in Liverpool.
The Case for Producer Support for Consumer Promotion
By Woods E. Eastland. A report to the 64th ICAC Plenary Meeting. Mr. Eastland is the President and CEO of Staplcotn and the chairman of the National Cotton Council of America. I know that others have spoken to you before about the good work of the International Forum for Cotton Promotion — or "IFCP" — and about the need to build demand for cotton products at retail. While I will remind you of the background for the IFCP today, the primary focus of my remarks is to explain why I believe so strongly in consumer promotion.
More: Woods Eastland's bio
IFCP Introduces Sponsorship Program
The International Forum for Cotton Promotion (IFCP) has introduced a new sponsorship program called CottonSponsor. The CottonSponsor program provides a new way for individuals and organizations to support the IFCP in its mission to facilitate cotton demand enhancement programs through the exchange of tested cotton promotion strategies. From CI World Report magazine.
More: CI World Report
Cotton Promotion and Demand Growth
By Carlos A. Valderrama. Several factors can influence cotton competitiveness and eventually increase the rate of growth of consumption. Price is one factor. Price competitiveness is related to gains in productivity, to the cost of labor in relation to the competition and to exchange rates. However, if we are to think of price competitiveness of cotton at the world level, it is evident that the only element behind price competitiveness is productivity. Beside prices, other factors that influence consumption patterns are quality and diversity of uses, both related to research and promotion.
More: Carlos A. Valderrama's bio
Technology that Affects Cotton's Market Share
As textile innovations shown at the ITMA machinery show last year begin to appear in the manufacturing sector, cotton's market share will reap the benefits of 'cotton friendly' products and processes that focus on improving efficiency and productivity. Dr. Abdelfattah M. Seyam, College of Textiles, N.C. State University, takes an in-depth look at weaving and preparation systems that are now available, and notes the move to digital interfaces, enabling the manufacture of intricately designed woven fabrics, at the speed of commodity fabrics.
More: Dr. Abdelfattah M. Seyam's bio
How Well Do You Know Your Competition?
In order to compete effectively in the changing global fiber market, it is important to understand how the competition is consolidating.
Commitment and Competence in Cotton
By Jan Wellmann. Education can be a powerful cotton promotion tool, and Jan Wellmann of the Bremen Exchange gives us some insight as to how it's done.
More: Jan Wellmann's bio
Fiber's Shifting Focus
By Virginia S. Borland, Textile World, September 2004. Part one of a two-part series addressing the shifting focus of fiber companies as they deal with change in the textile industry.
The Urgent Need to Promote Cotton Internationally
By Dr. Eugene Brock. World fibre consumption at end use level was estimated to be 52 millions tons in 2002. Cotton fibre share of this market again decreased and now stands at 39.7% (2002). Although cotton consumption increased by 3%, the demand for non-cotton fibres resumed expansion by 6% during this period. This pattern has been taking place since 1987 when cotton's market share was over 50%.
More: Dr. Eugene Brock's bio
Also available in PDF format
Cotton Promotion — Target or the Way to Hit the Target
By Katarzyna Swiecicka. Cotton is pure, natural and healthy raw material. When used in making apparel or in the sector of industrial fabrics, its values are self-evident and doubtless. In spite of the virtues — the producers and processors of cotton live hard times now. One of the reasons of this state of affairs are government subsidies let in many cotton producing countries. For some, it means retaining the growing area or even rising the production, for others its is unfair competition and hindering the possibilities of development. Since many years, the viewpoints of the opponents and advocates of this kind of aid have been clashing on the forum of WTO and ICAC.
More: Katarzyna Swiecicka's bio
Also available in PDF format
Strategic Perspective
By Jeffrey P. Silberman. By focusing your promotion domestically, you manage the scope of that promotion, and you then can control your competitive environment more successfully. Working in a market that you are intimately familiar with and connected to presents strong advantages, including a better understanding of your target consumer that will help you to more easily and effectively influence fiber preferences.
More: Jeffrey P. Silberman's bio
Also available in PDF format