War on Iran is about to make clothes more expensive. Here’s why

Planning to update your wardrobe this summer? Industry insiders have some advice: do it soon.

Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has choked natural gas supplies to the subcontinent, sending power bills rocketing for the factories that stitch together much of what the world wears.

Meanwhile, Iranian drone and missile attacks targeting Gulf airports, Dubai’s in particular, have pushed air freight rates for fast-fashion orders up by as much as 70 per cent, making the route, in the words of one analyst, “far less viable”.

The full pain has yet to reach shoppers. Orders placed months ago at fixed prices mean South Asian manufacturers are currently absorbing much of the higher energy and logistics costs themselves.