Reference no: EM13867398

Goose down is used in a wide variety of products, including jackets, bedding, and pillows.) In recent years, the cost of down has been increasing. For example, in October 2010, Lands' End, a retailer of clothing and bedding items, was paying about $13 for a pound of down in China. By October 2012, that price per pound had risen to about $23 per pound'. The costs of other types and grades of down have increased similarly. The cost of down has increased because of a few reasons. First of all, China is one of the major producers of down in the world. China's wealth has been increasing. As a result, more families are moving from farms to urban areas thereby reducing the number of families who are farming. In addition, dietary preferences around the world are changing to more meat and fish over geese and ducks, decreasing the potential revenue from raising geese. On the demand side, the demand for down is increasing. The increasing popular-ity of down jackets from a fashion standpoint is driving most of the increase in demand for down. In prior decades, down was just used for specialized winter sports apparel for skiing and climbing. Now down is used in popular, general fashions. Some companies are developing synthetic substitutes for down as they try to coun-teract the increasing costs of the down. In the meantime, companies such as Lands' End, North Face, and other garment manufacturers are raising the price of their products to counteract the inrrpaqinn cnst of rinwn