from melting your mouth matsusaka wagu and fragrant Indian nutmeg to traditional Italian anvy sauce and bespoke English suits we travel the globe to uncover the stories behind some of the world's most expensive items our first stop is Aras Uruguay where some of the world's largest and most valuable amethyst crystals are mined weighing in at 26 tons or about four African elephants worth of Crystal and stone this massive geode costs almost $1 million amethyst isn't particularly rare in fact it's a type of quartz one of the most common minerals on Earth but the geodes that miners laboriously excavate from NES mine in Aras Uruguay can still cost a pretty penny so how much does size matter and what else makes amethyst so [Music] expensive hundreds of years ago amethyst was considered as valuable as rubies and sapphires but in the 1800s massive deposits were discovered in South America tanking its value now Uruguay is one of the most prolific producers of amethyst in the world and this mine is renowned for its massive [Music] [Music] GE mine sits on a wide and ancient basaltic lava flow ideal conditions for amethyst geodes but Excavating amethyst is no easy feet the volcanic rock that surrounds it known as bassal is porous allowing water to seep in miners know how to use this feature to their [Music] advantage miners set off controlled explosions to clear away Rock and blast small fishes in undiscovered [Music] [Music] geodes [Music] miners like R ARA start assessing the amethyst's value before it's even out of the ground as lava calls into rock bubbles of volcanic gas form pockets in the right conditions those Pockets can turn into this amethyst is quartz that it has changed color because of exposure to radioactive material over millions of years the quartz gradually absorbs the radiation that's naturally present in the rock that surrounds it this radiation agitates iron atoms in the quartz which burn off the excess energy in the form of visible light that radioactivity is what makes amethyst purple higher concentrations of iron result in deeper hues [Music] at Las dores miners extract small geodes and chunks of amethyst from an open air mine but it's in the tunnels where the largest and most prized specimens lie and the stakes get higher when dealing with the giant geodes [Music] [Music] e [Music] iron rods work as guides that show the miners where and how to cut the rock around the [Music] geode [Music] [Music] for the raw material is washed and sorted by size and quality [Music] Artisans like Ricardo Martinez take the raw materials and transform them [Music] [Music] he uses various sized diamond discs to find each Stone into his desired size and [Music] [Music] shape small floors can be fixed at this stage but major breaks will significantly reduce the value of larger pieces caros owns L minerals one of AR's largest amethyst exporters and home of its largest amethysts like this 26 ton Colossus it took eight months to process it and move it from the mine to where it stands now finding a buyer for a behemoth like this is no easy feat sometimes they can stand around for years so producers will often work with International retailers that basically act as Brokers between them and potential customers most of lak mineral sales consist of smaller pieces but small doesn't necessarily mean [Music] cheap different combinations of minerals and naturally occurring shapes can also boost the [Music] price [Music] [Music] for [Music] for China brail much while the demand for diamonds plummeted during the pandemic the opposite was true for near gemstones crystals like amethyst have long been associated with metaphysical healing and while there's no scientific evidence to back those claims the industry still grew to be worth more than $1 billion in 2020 that demand is good news for Le and Las Tores where there is plenty of Supply left to be discovered [Music] the fat in this matu Saka wagu is so soft it melts as soon as you touch [Music] it the finest cuts of Matsu Saka wagi have a melting point of 12° C that's 8° less than Corby and while prices for fine diners in Tokyo have never been low for the first time this beef is being sold outside of Japan in Paris where just 100 G sells for $530 these cows are so valuable that in 2002 one fetched 50 million yen over $330,000 at all C to reach that low melting point farmers in matsusaka painstakingly raise these cows and keep them alive longer than their average lifespan with modern and ancient practices so how do you raise the most expensive beef in the world and why is matsusaka wagu so [Music] expensive is a third generation mats Saka wagi Farmer on his farm in t m prefecture you will find only virgin female cows it's the primary requirement for any of the 80 Matsu Saka wagu Farms here in the M pre [Music] facture matsusaka beef has long been praised for its extremely low melting point which is half that of other types of wagu this means that when cooking the fat melts in a shorter [Music] time to reach this intense marbling old generations of farmers like hi hok's dad used to feed cows with [Music] beer although there's no evidence that this practice increases a cow's appetite many associate Matsu sakaki with it the fact that matsusaka has kept a relatively low profile internationally has almost transformed this practice into a legend [Music] hiroi doesn't practice this anymore instead he has perfected the feed and is practicing circular agriculture [Music] the cost of feed is an important factor that drives the prices up to reach that soft marbling Matsu sucker cows need to eat a lot they also need to eat for a much longer time than other cows matsusaka cows are raised for 30 to 32 months 6 months longer than other Japanese black cattle everything adds up over time for hiroi the costs of feeding temperature control air circulation and cleaning the enclosures regularly to avoid flies forers here call this raising period fattening for the first 3 to 4 months cattle eat grass to develop a strong digestive system this is called the belly creation period then comes the finishing period where cattle gradually switch to concentrated feed and rice straw to fatten up h is now experimenting with even longer periods of fattening raising his cattle from 35 up to 40 months but raising cows for such a long time can also be dangerous for hoki as a cow could get sick and die [Music] a cow at the end of its fattening period is a true treasure every year matsusaka cows get auctioned off and one gets crowned queen of matsusaka while the highest ever price for one of these cows was 50 million yen in 2002 this auction has never really seen a low price a aing around 20 million yen events like the auction have also fostered another legend that farmers in matsusaka massage their cows with alcohol this time it is not to improve their appetite but their [Music] [Music] appearance [Music] [Music] it's not just adult cows that cost a lot carves can be very [Music] expensive hioki doesn't raise his cattle from birth at 10 months old car are also sold at auctions throughout Japan hioki spends almost half of his time at work buying carves and he's very [Music] demanding bms2 is the highest marbling grade for Wu in Japan the more intense the marbling the higher the price for customers in Tokyo 100 G of sirloin costs 10,000 Yen but that's still much less than what parisians are paying at Maria Ania where the same cut is sold at €360 the most premium cut tenderloin sells for 5,000 per [Music] kilogram [Music] [Music] [Music] point the Paris restaurant was the first to successfully export matsusaka wagu out of Japan and include it on its menu its most expensive tasting menu costs € 520 matsusaka wagu is heavily regulated to include matsusaka beef on the menu the restaurant had to follow strict rules the Paris restaurant needed to apply for a license which took a year to be accredited to maintain it the restaurant needs to have a high rating on Google Maps and there can't be another restaurant serving Matsu Saka wagu within an 840 M radius as of 2023 hiroi has shipped only three cows to Maria Cana due to this limited Supply the € 520 menu with ethor ranch's premium tenderloin is served to only one table per day this exclusivity is set to get a little bit looser in the last 10 years Japan has been a major importer of us beef importing an average of $1.83 billion a year meanwhile Millions worth of Wu made the opposite Journey as it reached International Fame a decline in tourism after the covid-19 outbreak and a change in consumer Behavior toward cheaper Meats exacerbated this and now Japanese cattle farmers are looking outside the country's borders the export quot for Matsu Saka has jumped from 24 in 2022 to 700 in 2024 of those it's the most Premium Cuts that are exported going to high-end restaurants like Maria G in Paris this is pushing farmers who want to ship abroad to bet on those lucrative but dangerous long fattening [Music] [Music] periods this alien-like red membrane is the spice mace when removed it reveals another spice nutmeg these twins come from a single fruit but mace is five times as expensive and a lot more fragile if it breaks while being separated from the nutmeg it will sell for much less than a whole one and if the fruit is picked even one day late both spices can easily be ruined by Fungus Pickers also have to deal with aggressive pests here in the town of Pachi India Farmers Harvest a special hybrid variety of the Dual spice that means Pachi farmers can sell their mace for $50 per kgam compared to the country's lead producing City Kerala which sells mace for $35 both are still far more expensive than us mace selling at $9 per kilo and while Farmers often don't reap the major profits from what they harvest in Pachi they've successfully cut out all middlemen to gain back control of their spices so what makes their nutmeg and mace so different from the rest and why are they so [Music] expensive it's early morning and cookie is getting ready to harvest the [Music] spices it's monsoon season and afternoons are usually pouring with rain so Kila needs to harvest quickly while nutmeg needs good rain to grow dry mornings like today are perfect for picking gokila is one of four female Pickers who live on the farm and will pick today during peak season there can be 10 Pickers at one time but today it's nearing the end of the season and the yield will be lower they expect to pick 800 to 1,000 fruits they use aluminium and bamboo poles to pick some trees grow up to 50 F feet high so those can only be reached with the taller bamboo poles using these heavy poles while constantly looking up can leave the pickers with neck and shoulder pain the nutmeg and mace grow together inside a yellow fruit on the Marisa fragrance tree once it splits it's ready to be [Music] harvested if they leave it for any longer even one additional day it will quickly gather mold and be considered second class and about half the price so during harvest season Pickers need to check the fruits on the trees every day especially during the rainy season another stressor for cila and the other Pickers are red ants also known as fire ants which nest in these trees in small trees the nests can be easier to detect and manage but when they're higher up the entire Nest can fall on them the purpose of washing is not solely for insects it also helps to extract the mace from the fruit the women first remove the outer yellow fruit shell the fruit shells are cleaned and later sold fresh shells are edible and can be made into jams or jellies dried fruit can be blended with nutmeg powder to be sold as a cheaper alternative they then separate the good from the rotten ones the good fruits are placed in water rinsed and soaked for at least 15 minutes once they have soaked long enough the mace covering will noticeably shrink and become much looser this is the most timeconsuming and delicate stage separating the mace from the nutmeg without damaging it they put their fingers in carefully to grasp the nut then twist slightly and gently and it snaps out they must do it slowly [Music] for [Music] for today it will take these women about 4 hours to finish plucking the mace and Nutmeg which is about 100 fruits per hour the ones that have already fallen to the ground on their own do not need the same careful plucking they're much looser and easier to separate because of the fungus they've developed these will be half the price of the other fungus free fresher nutmegs gokula and the others have successfully cleaned all the flowers without breaking any of them after the nutmeg and mace are separated both spices need to be dried in the open sun if the heat is too intense the nut can crack so after one day Farmers move it to the shade shade drawing also preserves the aroma some Farmers dry the nutmeg and mace in ovens but poach Chief Farmers prefer to dry it in gentler conditions to preserve the structure all the best mace and Nutmeg without any fungi are then placed in separate drums where they can remain in good condition for over a year not all nutmeg and mace are the same the spice is harvested in the West Indies in places like Grenada are lighter in color and have a milder flavor the more costly East Indian nutmeg and mace have a higher oil content which gives the spices a stronger Aroma and flavor these spices from gachi and its main competitor the carilla district both fall under the east Indian category and can sell for double the price of other varieties our m is really thick it is in the shape of a Lotus Bud the shape itself is different since it is very thick it doesn't break very quickly this is Ranjit he's the owner of the nut nutmeg Farm here in the Pachi District most of renjit's profit comes from the mace it makes about five times as much as the nutmeg P's yield is 40% less than the Kerala District but it has an advantage the rains are less intense and less continuous and low risk of fruit spoiling so these are the first class ones so if you cut open it's free from molds and it's has a good aroma and fragrance the spoiled ones will have a very foul smell these ones right now they're costing around 4 80 rupees per kilo uh the polachi nut the nuts that are from Kerala they only costing around 320 rupees while polachi is already an ideal location to grow the spices their high value is not fully the result of where they are grown but rather how ranit and other Farmers have perfected the fruit to grow larger and thicker more than double the size of another mace in India it took Ranjit years to develop a hybrid variety that has given Bachi its competitive Advantage he also has a nursery where they grow hybrid seedlings this has a good one succeeded see oh wait what [Music] happened come this way ranit who Al uses the farming technique of intercropping which means two crops share the soil to improve water retention in both the ideal intercrop for renjit's nutmeg trees are coconut plants because they also provide the right amount of shade but this premium quality was not always recognized or consistent with each Farmer in the region whenever it came time to sell Ranjit and the other Bachi Farmers grew frustrated they were depend dependent on the bigger City's expertise and experience to help them sell their product so runit and the other Farmers came up with a plan they would all follow similar techniques separate the best quality and set the price themselves 2 years ago they formed a cooperative and used similar growing methods collectively they now grow about 500 Acres of nutmeg and mace in the global food industry this is sign ific because local farmers who make some of the world's most expensive Foods typically don't see the profits whether it's other Harvesters here in India who scour ponds for Fox nuts only to make sense for every kilogram harvested or small farmers harvesting green Cardon for hours by hand only to use most of their profits to cover production costs or workers in Bolivia fueling the global quinoa demand who can't afford to eat their own crop the success of the Pachi Cooperative has directly affected the quality of life per farmers and workers here like [Music] Kila [Music] recently they achieved their highest rate for mace selling to an Australian buyer for 3,200 rupees per kilo 14% more than the aggregator rate for the bulach farmers The Cooperative made a big difference they sell to buyers across the globe and recently sold 12 tons of nutmeg and mace to a Dutch company among ourselves as a community we had multiplied the best planting material and now it is literally called the polachi variety but the local Traders from Kerala come they ask for poach M so it is doing very well for us today Captain J and his crew are setting out to catch over 20,000 of something very valuable anies but once the fish come out of the water time is of the essence since these anues stay fresh for only 24 hours everyone must move quickly to set them on ice and head back to the coast where buyers eagerly wait in Julio's hands they'll become even more valuable he will extract all the oil from the fish and make a source that is worth $160 per liter which is four times more expensive than other popular fish sources but the process will take 3 years julan needs to collect the source drop by drop so how do all these little fish get turned into sauce and what makes it so expensive local fishermen head out to sea between April and November after attracting the anes with lights Captain she and his crew use per Nets to catch them the tightly woven Nets are designed to trap the anies without entangling them for because of how large the Nets are fishermen need to be highly experienced to use them effectively to maintain the an's quality and price tag it's crucial that they don't get crushed or damaged in any way the bigger the anvy the more oil it will release which helps result in the most flavorful source to catch the biggest fish possible Captain G combines what he's learned from his father with new technology Echo Sounders not only help locate anues but confirm their exact size and weight [Music] larg aneres sell for between 25 and 30 per crate at Italian fish markets [Music] when it comes to making high quality K alichi the Italian name for Anvi sauce the freshness of the anvy makes all the difference Julio's family has been making K alichi since 1915 this is what most of his mornings look like during anvy season Julio has just received this morning's [Music] catch [Music] once the anes have been cleaned they're placed inside barrels full of salt Julio uses high quality Italian salt from Sicily after 24 hours in the salt the anies are ready to be preserved and pressed the anes app placed inside the small barrels made from Chestnut [Music] Wood when the wood comes into contact with salt it hardens fully sealing the anies inside each Barrel fits about 50 to 60 anies depending on the size of the fish the salt kickstar the release of liquids inside the anies it takes 3 years and about 50 to 60 PBS of fresh anies to produce just a liter of ranvi sauce making K alichi is a meticulous and timec consuming process but one he thoroughly enjoys [Music] what really brings the salt anies and the barrel together is weighing everything down with a heavy Stone to check if the source is ready Julia will drill directly into the barrels the drips out of the barrel slowly this is when Julio can confirm the quality of the color and aroma [Music] there is no way Julio can speed up the process if he doesn't want to ruin the source it must come out at its own pace drop by drop this makes authentic goat alichi a true investment and the Intensive labor involved in producing such small amounts every year has meant a higher price tag the first batch of anies caught in early spring is transformed into K alichi by December so the source has become a traditional part of celebrating winter holidays [Music] preserving this culture is a responsibility Julio cherishes Catherine spent 13 years training to become a head cutter she's had these tailoring shears her entire career they're designed to effortlessly glide through cloth without being lifted up you have to concentrate cuz if you don't you might just cut into a very expensive piece of cloth using a special Tailor's code Catherine draws chalk outlines to craft bespoke suits for the world's wealthiest clients everybody you can think of in the public eye from Churchill to Fred will have discreetly had their garments made for them in saval on this exclusive Street even ironing is an art form a custom two-piece suit like this one can cost nearly £6,000 and takes 4 months to make that's more than5 times times the price of a readyto wear suit from a high-end brand like Brooks Brothers we traveled to the home of bespoke tailoring to find out what makes these suits so expensive when buying a suit there are three main categories off the rack made to measure and bespoke off the rack Suits come in standard sizes while made to measure Suits start from the same base pattern adjusted for each customer but at bespoke aali on and around several Row in London's Mayfair District Taylor's craft One of a Kind garments completely from scratch the spoke suits are infinitely customizable but they take much longer to produce the process requires close personal interaction with the client on saval row you're not just paying for the suit you're paying for the tailor every tailor like a a hairdresser has a different style a different approach so you just have to find the right one for you Katherine Sergeant became the only female Master tayor working on saval row after opening a shop on the street in 2016 today her shop is located within the so-called Golden Mile of saval row on nearby Brook Street Katherine has worked with many high-profile clients over the years most of whom she's not allowed to mention made a coronation uniforms for a king and I was flown to their country to have the fittings and not all are human we have fitted out their four-legged friend before so yeah a bespoke dog coat with a couple of those to become a member of the saval row bespoke Association tailor must work within a specific area of London offer 2,000 different fabrics and cut each suit from a unique paper pattern even a Tryon is a major event the monthlong suit making process starts with the consultation a chance for the tailor to get to know their client and their needs today her client is Richard stoer a local Finance executive who is looking to buy his very first bespoke suit from saval row I really wanted to treat myself to something that I thought gave me a little bit more gravitus a little bit more standing I'm not going to lie and say that it's a small amount of money but I I see it as a smart investment early on Catherine establishes basic details like the suit type and materials but she also takes time to develop a relationship with each client by asking specific personal questions there's a person at the heart of the creation it's not just the tailor and their interpretation you know you're making something that's really truly bespoke she says the only struggle is managing expectations every man that I make a suit for wants to look like James Bond it shouldn't be like an intimidating experience it should be really like super relaxed and very you know informative during the first meeting she carefully takes the client's measurements with these Catherine crafts the most crucial piece of the bespoke suit the paper pattern patterns are two-dimensional representations of each garment with instructions on how pieces should fit together Catherine keeps every client's pattern on hand for future orders pattern cutting fitting problem solving it's always shapes and dimensions 2D to 3D and I'm kind of like a tailoring nerd in that way Katherine Works meticulously to ensure each piece is drawn to scale but as precise as she is here sometimes the client's size may change during the process you measure somebody and then they come for a fitting and they've changed shape lost weight or gained weight and the measurements Chang but we make the garments and the patterns so we can adapt them for that once she's done sketching she carefully cuts out each shape these are my paper [Applause] sheares every time we do a fitting we take it from 3D to 2D and back again so we're constantly working on the pattern altering the pattern Catherine uses these initial patterns to figure out how much cloth she needs the most commonly used fabric is British wool you can shape it you can stretch it you can shrink it it is a joy to work with she gets most of her Fabrics from storyed London cloth Merchants like Holland and Cherry where the Fabrics are often locally soured a typical jacket made from British wool starts at around £ 4,350 but some materials can boost the price significantly like cashmir or vuna Woolf from Peru that cloth is probably the most expensive cloth in the world and for an Overcoat you would be talking upwards of 20,00 ,000 Catherine says she prefers robust materials because her goal is to create a suit that lasts for decades the next step is striking or marking up the cloth with a sharpened piece of Taylor's chalk with a piece of chalk you get a really nice sharp edge and get a really lovely curve you tend to do those curves freehand Catherine leaves extra cloth on the edges in case she needs to lengthen it it's called The inlay and it remains inside the final suit so the Garment can be altered even years later if needed so a garment that's made by hand by us would hopefully last 10 15 20 years even you know longer than that if people take care of their clothes once the fabric is marked she cuts out the rough shape of the suit on savel row a master cutter is never without their high quality steel scissors my tailoring shears I've had for over 25 years um I've never had them sharpened they' sort of become an extension of you so I really don't want to get any new ones I think they'll probably last me throughout my career the tailoring sheares are designed to Glide so when you cut the cloth you're not actually lifting the sheares up in the air it allows you to really get a nice control a nice straight line over the cloth for me this is the sort of more most relaxing easiest part of the job like just nice just the noise is very satisfying and you know you've sort of accomplished something you've made a pattern and you're now going to see this garment come [Music] together at this stage Catherine hands the this bundle over to her Apprentice Emma Warner working off of Katherine's chalk guidelines Emma does a first pressing of the fabric and arranges the pieces then she uses a thick white thread called basting thread to hand Stitch the cut pieces of cloth together and shape it into a wearable garment I'm going to use the H for the top part because you want to keep the shape in the jacket if it's canvas like this you will have the shape of the bus in the canvas more than if you would do it on the flat so that's why we're using it now but then later we also use it to press the collar because the collar is also around this basted suit is what the client tries on at the first fitting the loose stitching allows Catherine to easily take it apart and make any necessary adjustments to make sure that it's exactly as they want it to be before we go ahead and take it further how's it feel under the arms yes plenty is it comfortable it's not too low can you move around freely I think so yeah this one looks good this one looks a little bit short doesn't it during the first fitting Catherine marks any adjustments on the cloth in chalk using a special tailoring code a straight line would mean shorten or take in and a line with a cross like that would mean let out or lengthen once the client is Happy the Garment is broken down and flattened again Catherine updates the paper pattern to reflect any changes for bespoke suits clients usually come in for two or three fittings during which minute adjustments are made to make sure every measurement is exactly right after weeks of back and forth the suit finally starts to take shape at this stage tailor add wool padding to the shoulders and the collar to give the suit its structure we actually put shape into the Garment at this point so when you try it on next time you'll just see that it's got a little bit more form to it it's not a flat shape once the client and the tailor are happy with the suit it's sent out for finishing in which Artisans attach the lining and Stitch the edges the suit then needs to be pressed to make sure it's perfectly crisp and flat for the client it might look like normal ironing but this step is essential to maintaining saval Row's high standards and there are few in the business who can press a garment like George I was taught by a presser with in which he was doing it for 60 years so I suppose you could say that inherited 60 years experience there's no one we haven't pressed for and we we currently press for around about 95% of the industry at the moment as with every other stage of the tailoring the presser pays close attention to detail making sure there's not a single Wrinkle in any of the fabric give the back drape a really nice clean finish and the back of the sleeves of forness are all pressed out really nicely and now we'll concentrate back on the front again and just complete the front by pressing these lapel edges and um making sure we've got a good decent crease down here and a natural roll towards the [Music] end that's pretty much it after months of work Richard returns one last time to try on the final suit and to make sure everything is just as he imagined I think it's interesting on how wearing the suit makes me feel at the moment slightly emboldened you know luxuriant it's an interesting sort of quite emotional experience if I'm honest you can normally tell as soon as they put something on like they just kind of like their posture might be a little bit different looking at something on the body in the mirror for the first time when it's completely finished can be quite daunting but once they've left the building with the garments and they've started wearing them we quite often get good Fe back saying oh my gosh it's really BR brilliant people stopped me and asked me where did I get the suit made Catherine started as an apprentice in 1996 and by 2016 she had made history by becoming the first female head cutter and master tailor on saval row now others are following in her footsteps the saval row bespoke Association says it's added more than 50 apprentices since 2004 and Catherine has noticed more women in this new crop of aspiring master tailor I think gender should not be a barrier to following your passion and your your love for this craft so many women are now becoming tailor and Cutters um so it's it's really really great to see it's something I'm personally very proud of a lot of the customers are still male and the perception I think from a lot of the houses are that Cutters should therefore be male that doesn't matter at all to me and I you know we've proved that it does work and a woman can do this job equally as well as any man if not sometimes [Music] better this massive 50 kg Nile perch is a rare catch for these Ugandan fishes but it's not the fish meat that will make them the most money it's this balloon-like internal organ known as a fish M or a swimbladder dried fish mes can sell for up to $800 a pound but older like this one from a large slate card kroer are valued as high as $4,000 for a single piece fishes sell it to Chinese markets around the world where people eat it for its health benefits and supposed anti-aging properties but the supply chain in China is facing a big problem due to over fishing in Chinese Waters connoisseurs are now looking abroad to places like Uganda for fish more the organ is so prized that smuggling and theft are rampant in the industry so why is fishing for more worth the risk and why is it so expensive poing Hong Food Market in New York City's Chinatown has been selling fish more ever since it first opened in 1980 today it specializes in rare dried Seafood Delicacies Sofia sa runs this shop with her parents she says that these days fishmore is so rare that they have to buy it in bulk as soon as it becomes available usually we request a certain size and certain type of fish Mall because we know what sells the best and um we usually maybe get 50% of what we request because the demand is so high fishmore or swimbladder is an organ that enables fish to control their buoyancy fishmore is traditionally considered one of the four treasures of Cantonese cuisine along with shark fin Abalone and sea cucumber ja xong who has worked for poing Hong for 10 years supervises the dried seafood department he's an expert on the four [Music] treasures the store orders all of its fish Mall from a USDA certified broker who works directly with Traders and Fishers in South East Asia South America and Africa usually when we order fish mall it's um about 30 to 50 lb per case and gener prices are between 4 to 8,000 depending on the quality of the fish Mar they resell it for anywhere from $200 to $800 per pound depending on the type and quality the Chinese bahaba or large yellow kroer was a main source of fishmore for decades but in 1989 the Chinese government designated it a grade 2 State protected species and in 2006 The Intern National Union for conservation of nature also assessed the fish as critically endangered today the majority of fish m is imported from other countries including Uganda where fishing for an invasive species called Nile perch on Lake Victoria has become a lucrative business for locals like Amber Francis it's early morning on Cima ju Island in ginger Amber is packing up his bait and her and preparing his boat to set out out on Lake Victoria he's worked as a Fisher here for the past 10 [Music] years he says Nile perch sold for much cheaper when he first started before there was demand for the bladders the islands in the area around Ginger like kisar are used as a base for the estimated 2,000 or so fishes in the area while ugandans don't typically eat fish more themselves Amber has tried it and loves it yeah we used to eat it and we enjoyed it a lot other people sometime back they used to throw them away not until they came to realize that it's tasty it's good that's when they started to consume it omber says he can make around $4,000 a month selling fish more to Traders depending on the size of his catch each kilo they can buy at 25,000 only a kilo when I get that one which weighs like 10 kg that's 250 which is a lot of money in Uganda but finding the biggest fish requires some special tricks and knowing where to look the weather right now is good for fishing but in 2 to 3 hours after the water will be he focuses on the deep water and he baits his hook works with a live young catfish known locally as enuma if the water is too cold the enumer can die instantly and Nile perch won't go after dead fish each Hook is demarcated with a bottle so he knows which lines belong to him because these fish are so valuable theft is also an issue on the lake unfortunately you go there you find nothing when everything was taken by those things yeah once he's baited his lines he leaves them in the water and returns to the island to rest until evening now we are going to rest for some uh for some time like 3 to 4 hours after we come back and check our hooks what we have put there to see whether there's n patch on it Amber says he typically catches six or seven fish per day usually all weighing under 20 kg the big biggest one he has ever caught was a massive 98 kg I feel good when it pulls me yeah actually I enjoy is like a game to me today he caught only six fish but the biggest one was about 30 kg expected to go to get more more than this yeah actually it's a bad day to me the fishes don't remove the bladders themselves tomorrow Amber will sell his fish directly to the trader who hired him at the local market in [Music] Messi am's boss is hakee magumba who has been working in the fishing industry for about 23 years he previously traded to lapia to buyers in Kenya but he now works with NY per because it's much more profitable cuz I fish because I need fisho fisho is like gold to my side you understand we used to throw it back we us to throw the blood CU it was no sense we wanted that that meat but nowadays money hakeim says he has 22 boats and 30 fishes like Amber working for him once they deliver the fish to him they are weighed sorted and priced based on their size this fish weighs 12 kilos after weighing we are going to cut it and see the bladder which is in it the Bladers must be removed and cleaned by hand we sell it at the 500,000 ugana sharings the rest of the fish doesn't go to waste hakee sells it to the locals in Uganda where it's a a popular delicacy the moall will eventually make its way to Chinese exporters who dry it and ship it to Hong Kong and other locations worldwide hakee is just one of many traders in the area trying to make a living in fish mall with competitors all around him we have like people from Kenya people from TZ their own competitors very many very many aside from the competition team says one of the biggest challenges the fishes in Uganda face is run-ins with local authorities the guys who who who are in business of fish they don't have the license so when you don't have license you are caught with the soldiers crime is also an issue on land according to hakeim he says some of his colleagues have been robbed while transporting their goods to Chinese buyers safy is too much too much most on the loads when you're taking it to the Chinese and getting into the industry is costly not everyone can afford the initial investment of equipment which includes a government licensed boat an engine plus regulation Hooks and bait yeah actually it it requires a lot of capital yeah to uh to deal in uh fishing like me as a fisherman just one boat require like 15 million over fishing has already been detrimental to many fish species around the world a large kroer in Mexico's Gulf of California called the Toto ARA is now in danger of extinction due to the fish more trade but this fish often dubbed the cocaine of the sea is still illegally trafficked into China in April 2023 US Customs seized $2.7 Million worth of totoaba fish M hidden in a shipment of frozen fish fets in Arizona even so demand for fish more is not slowing down on a weekday morning at poing Hong the aisles are as busy as ever with customers scouring the shelves for dried Seafood products as soon as they open while fishmore is more popular among the older Generations sopia says younger people have started incorporating it into their diets as well I feel that nowadays a lot of younger people are eating fish M because it reminds them of dishes that they have in the past and it's a little bit um of nostalgia also they want to embrace their culture and we learn the dishes that um that are really traditional and that rare $4,000 fish M they have on hand it's so special to poing Hong that it's not even for sale we keep it uh just as a [Music] Keepsake this m massive trudon candle will set you back $660 Sylvia uses this contraption to make sure each of the five Wicks is perfectly straight As She fills the glass container with specially formulated [Music] wax that's why Christine will spend the 2 and 1/2 hours it takes to straighten 3,000 Wicks on these smaller candles by hand and while these cost less than the five Wick candle at $52 each they're still more than three times the price of a $17 Yankee Candle of similar [Music] size every step of the process at to's Candle factory in Normandy France has been honed over 350 years to create candles that burn evenly smoke free and don't sputter so what made these candles good enough enough for Marie Antoinette and why are they so expensive goes back to 1643 and back then its product served an essential purpose book you could find the bright white clean burning candles everywhere from the churches of Paris to Marie Antoinette's Chambers in vers the basics of candle making is simple pour melted wax into a glass with a wig but a luxury candle must take those base components and Elevate [Music] them many cheaper candles use a base of petroleum based paraffin wax while luxury Brands tend to opt for natural waxes up until 2018 trudon used Blends featuring beeswax in its [Music] Candles now the company uses some paraffin wax but relies on vegetable oil for most of its [Music] candles wax melts overnight and fragrances are added in the morning right before pouring T's most popular scented candle is filled by machine but its highest end offerings like this $660 great size candle are filled by hand Sylvia lur glues five large wigs to the bottom of the jar with a squeeze of silicon and when the wick are dry in goes the [Music] wax as the wax dries it constricts leaving space around the edges and deformities that require a second pour it takes hours to dry completely but there's really only one way to [Music] know but before syv can complete the second pole it's time to pinch the wigs and same goes for the small versions Christine tugs and straightens each [Music] WI crooked or wilted wigs can affect the evenness of the bur and not all Wicks are created equal the lab optimizes Wick sizes based on the chemical formulas of the different scents but not all of tron's offerings are meant to be burned even when they do have wigs has worked at TR for three years but she has more than a decade of experience making wax busts the bust collection is unique to ton it's a collaboration with the French national museum Council which provided the first molds but even if they'll never see a flame these wax sculptures are still created with the same attention to detail as tron's more traditional offerings but the mold only does part of the [Music] work [Music] she can also add [Music] material and if there is a hole too big to fill or some other major [Music] floor the busts are made from paraffin wax sometimes with a little added support a taper candle to hold everything in place one of the final steps is lightly melting the foot of the bust on a hot plate to flatten it [Music] [Music] Natalie is working on improving tron's wax formulas even further here candles burn in all Factory Chambers or all day long she periodically evaluates their scent and tests how well they [Music] burn evaluating the smell of new candles is the most subjective part of her job [Music] she notes her feedback and works with the company's various development teams to perfect the form the lab is also responsible for quality control it's this attention to detail that sets luxury candles apart the global luxury candle Market is expected to be worth more than a billion dollars by 2030 [Music] [Music] see [Music] this gray fulvous fungus has infected this ear of corn and it's deliberate infected corn can sell for 40 times more than non- moldy ones its official name is WLA but for years American farmers called this infection the devil's corn and corn SMUD is it relentlessly destroyed crops and farming equipment meanwhile the fungus has been a local delicacy in Mexico since the time of the [Music] Aztecs now that even Michelin star restaurants in the US are serving it the fungus has been elevated with names like black gold and Mexican truffle its export price has doubled in the last 3 years going from $15 in 2020 to selling for just over $40 a pound today so is infecting corn crops paying off for Mexican farmers and what exactly makes weat Lao so expensive these days we co is most commonly served in quadas [Music] locals like Lorena have been eating for years what fine diners in the US are just now starting to enjoy and this new audience has created a business opportunity for Mexican Farmers like Emilio and his sonto even though wheat L is a disease it's technically rotting the corn it's still crucial to harvest it before it becomes too rotten the best time to find this local favorite is during Mexico's rainy season since the heavy Wind and Rain causes wounds in the corn the fungus can infect weed goe only affects unpollinated and damaged corn when the fungus first forms out of the corn kernels it starts out a yellowish white color before turning gray with a smooth texture this is the ideal color and texture for customers as the wheat laoe continues to swell and form into Galls it turns black and eventually bursts open to release a black powder it takes 2 to 4 weeks for the infection to take hold and for the gals to form this means Farmers must carefully monitor crops to harvest weat at the exact right time and maximize its brief shelf life while this demand once outpaced the supply things have changed ever since Farmers found a way to infect crops year round partnering with Scientists to isolate the fungus and inject it directly into the [Music] corn changes in temperature can also render the injection liquid useless so workers must handle it with [Music] care [Music] [Music] for however if the liquid gets too cold or freezes that can also kill the fungi so balance is key eddieberto and his father also take measures to protect themselves before entering the corner cor Fields they wear long sleeves since the prickly hairs on the cornstalks can cause rashes the most mature plants are injected first before they can pollinate each other but injecting the corn is an art and it doesn't always go perfectly for despite how delicate the injection method is it still has a significantly higher success rate than waiting for wheat luche to form naturally without Refrigeration weed La Coe only stays fresh for one or 2 days and any changes in temperature or humidity can cause it to become increasingly dry so sending a less mature white gray wheat L to the market is essential for Emilio and erberto if they want to make a profit while some producers now process wheat loo to be canned which extends its shelf life and in some instances lowers its price fresh weat Lao is still the most popular choice since that's what customers prefer smaller producers also don't always have the resources to preserve their wheat L via canning instead they typically sell directly to vendors at wholesale markets here at the santarita market in Gua depending on the supply we go sells for 20 PES to 50 pesos a kilo many of the buyers here are local vendors who cook and sell traditional dishes outside but also high-end restaurants who serve wheat La go in a variety of ways although wheat L has been a local favorite for centuries now the international color world has only just begun to admire it us Farmers considered the fungus a major agricultural problem with studies from as early as the late 1800s looking into how to eradicate the fungus now Michelin St restaurants like aito in San Francisco are starting to add the fungus to their $295 tasting menu but for chefs outside of Mexico getting fresh wheat lco is a big Challenge and part of why the price jumps so much once it crosses the Border in the US imported from Mexico has more than doubled in cost going from $ 155 to $20 a pound in 2020 to around $40 a pound today despite the costs and limited shelf life many people particularly chefs are eager to get their hands on the Mexican truffle most of this demand is supplied by the wheat L that is manually infected by humans thanks to Martinez Guera and other scientists Mexico now produces 1,500 tons of wheat laoe a year most of this Supply comes from much bigger Farms than OS meanwhile naturally grown we is getting rarer and rarer the rise of hybrid crops as well as pesticides has made it significantly harder for the fungus to take hold natur today the prices are actually going down while injected crops have made it easier for large- scale producers to meet the international demand they've also made the corn more accessible to locals and created a more competitive market for it takes up to 5,000 kg of these flowers to make just 1 kilo of Bulgarian rose oil it's worth it because luxury Brands will pay top dollar to put the oil in their perfumes a single kilogram of oil can sell for $15,000 it add a little J sequa and it's true it's so complex to describe this it is citrusy it is Foody it is green it's quite magical and though demand is high there's still a problem Harvesters have only a few weeks all year to gather about 450 tons of roses to satisfy the luxury perfume Industries demand so why do Brands like Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton clamor for their share of Bulgarian rose oil and why is it so expensive the sun rises over this Farm in Bulgaria's Rose Valley but in this Serene landscape Harvesters like vegan have been rushing since 5 a.m. to collect as many roses as they can they only have a few weeks until the rose is Wilt and become unusable and a limited Supply means a higher price tag uh the more flowers harvested in the morning hours the better because that's when the petals have the highest oil concentration Bulgarian roses also known as damask roses have a particularly low oil content compared to other Rose varieties so it's vital to extract as much oil as possible once there are enough bags of roses to fill a truckload they're delivered to The Distillery to extract the highest concentration of rose oil the petals must be distilled immediately after harvesting the longer produces weight the less potent and therefore less valuable their oil becomes aggr product employs about 120 people during the brief harvesting season and says it spends an average of $88,000 per kilo of oil on labor but that kilo can be sold for more than 1.5 times that amount see it's only very few here because as soon as they have a little truck load we have the truck just behind us there uh they are taken to the factory right away so this is very important especially in Bulgaria they're very good at that that's Kristoff lamier he's a master perfumer who's created scents for Brands like Ralph luren and Tom Ford he's at The Distillery today on a Consulting visit they take those bags and we can see that little Tru going to the factory and they're going to be extracted right away because it does make a difference if you wait one or two days Etc once the Roses arrive at The Distillery workers must move quickly they weigh the petals and pour them into the distillation vat thousands of soft pink petals are mixed with water and boiled down to this colorless [Music] sludge every part of this process is controlled the steam is exactly 105° C and the pressure at 5.5 bar [Music] gauge aggr product says these measurements optimize the quality of its rose oil and the consistency makes its product more reliable the mixture flows through several distillation apparatuses before the oil can finally be separated from the water for a single kg of rose oil producers need to harvest and process as much as 5,000 kg of Bulgarian rose petals you see this bowl right here this is what you get if you harvest this during a whole season from three rows you get just this bottle 1 kilo is this so four of those goes in here well Bulgarian rose oil is sought after by established luxury fragrance houses such as Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton as well as newer shops like gloss Madan the rose is a rose is a rose unless of course it's a Bulgarian Rose so we've smelled a lot of different roses and I'm actually wasn't a fan of too many different Rose fragrances before I felt like they smelled like my grandmother or um and so when we smelled this it actually smelled like as if you had a bouquet of roses and it smelled like a fresh fresh Rose so here we are so this is the production that just happened it's straight from the factory in this row bottle this is so potent this is I find always magical when it's really fresh so some of it is a bit offensive like stringent or almost aggressive because it's so fresh and then in the the older one the Aged one it's like a nice wine tremendous tremendous difference yeah Bo hopefully because that's what we tell everybody after the oil has been aged for at least 3 months it can finally be incorporated into perfumes kuen says the unique scent profile of Bulgarian rose oil makes it worthy of its high price point we pay between 10 to15 ,000 um for kilo for Bulgarian rose oil and that's the pure Bulgarian rose oil undiluted I feel it's definitely worth the price it's extremely unique Studies have found more than 300 compounds in damasque rose oil making it more complex than other varieties the damasque rose or rosad damina originated in the Middle East where its oil has been extracted since the 7th century around 400 years ago the farmers began cultivating these roses in what's now known as Bulgaria's Rose Valley and this is one particular thing about this Valley is that it's cold and wet if you look at other Rose regions in the world some are cold but dry uh some are not as high as here so this is very particular of this Tero here in Bulgaria and gives this richness of the oil the cooler spring temperatures prevent the rose petals from forming a protective wax and the humidity allows higher oil saturation in the Rose this year the season was delayed a couple of weeks because of unexpected rainfall and colder than usual temperatures ironically humidity and cool temperatures are two of the factors that make Bulgarian roses stand out from others then there's the [Music] soil plus the Daman Rose has all these spicy and fruity notes so they are very well preserved around here and this is one reason why we like this Bulgarian Rose there is no sign of Bulgarian Rose oil's Global demand slowing down the rose oil Market is estimated to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 6.8% between 2019 and 2025 organic rose oil like that produced by aggr product is the fastest growing [Music] segment but the scent is what will keep perfumers like Kristoff coming back for more I don't know I said already it's one of those NES you put it in almost anything it makes it nicer we had a joke with some other perfumers uh we know we have one or two Rose qualities we know just put that just put a little bit just a little bit and Clack it gives a it Sparkle or or um body uh to a fragrance so it's it's really nice carving this bracing is the most crucial step in building a CF Martin company acoustic guitar but you won't even see it on the finished product this x-shaped pattern of wood under the hood is what gives Martin guitars their signature sound it'll CA cost you at least $2800 for Martin's most iconic americanmade model the D28 but that's nothing compared to the priciest guitar Martin sells a limited edition dreadnut that goes for $15,000 and on the secondary Market the instruments sell for even more some of the oldest in Martin's collection are estimated to be worth nearly half a million dollars this is our pre-war d45 this guitar sold for around $240 when it was new and now it's worth six figures well into six figures and while it's reputation among celebrities contributes to the Brand's popularity musicians say there's a one-of-a-kind sound a Martin acoustic guitar [Music] makes so what exactly makes these guitars sound different and is that why they're so [Music] expensive my goal is to make a million dooll Martin haven't done it yet Chris Martin IV is the sixth generation of his family to run the company his namesake Christian Frederick Martin founded the company in 1833 I work at a company that makes the best of its kind I work at a company that makes the real thing we're not making a commodity we're not making a copy of a Martin guitar we're still making the original Martin guitar Martin employs about 1100 people across its two factories in Nazareth Pennsylvania and navajoa Mexico the crafts people in Nazareth work on the high-end models and Custom Designs it all starts with selecting the right wood guitars and other instruments use what are called Town woods these have special prop properties that vibrate and transmit the ideal sound for musical instruments typically Spruce is used for the tops and bottoms Rosewood for the sides and maple or mahogany for the neck but Martin uses a wide variety of woods for its instruments these tone Woods are responsible for the Clear bell-like Tone that musicians like Craig Thatcher say is a key difference in Martin's acoustic guitars every guitar has their own voice particularly acoustic guitars and there is a Martin tone a Martin voice that you can distinguish when they're hearing it on the radio hearing on records hearing it being played on movie soundtracks the Martin guitar really stands out that tone it's a full and Rich vibrant sound with deep and full bases a really great mid-range nice high-end that cuts through the tops and bottoms are not one piece but actually a panel that has been kep carefully sliced in half and opened like a book then glued together at the edges this book matching helps create a perfectly symmetrical pattern these pieces are then checked for quality in a process known as candling candling is a light that shines through the wood and back in the old days they used to use a regular candle and do it like that but now they upgraded it thank God D has been with Martin for 21 years and she has spent the last nine working in the candling Department looking for any imperfections before they progress any further down the assembly line what we do is we grade the wood it goes from 2 to 8 and then what we do is we candle to look for any sap Pockets or pitch Pockets or knots or anything like that like d many of the workers in Martin's Factory have been with the company for a long time Rodney tashner Who currently runs the laser cutter has been working the line for 33 years we are running a 400 W laser machine here cut out all the tops sides backs most of all pretty much all flat stock that's run on here the next step is a most crucial to Martin's signature sound the bracing bracing refers to a hidden pattern of wood glued under the top of the guitar for structural support all acoustic guitars require bracing but designing effective bracing is complicated because the guitar's top is the most important factor of its sound it's crucial to not burden it with too much wood one of the things when you're looking at an acoustic guitar you want it to be structurally sound but you also want it to sound good because if we brace this too heavy you know the Top's not going to vibrate freely and if if we don't brace the top strong enough it could just implode on itself in the 1840s Christian Frederick Martin invented this x pattern which provides plenty of structural Integrity without sacrificing tone the design was so successful that almost all steel string acoustic guitars made today use the pattern and you know what's that old saying if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery we are very flattered because we are very imitated a crafts person will glue the pieces onto the surface with fish glue and use this machine to hold everything in place while it dries these thin pieces of wood are positioned and then carved into the right shape based on each guitar model after I take the guitar I'll shape down all the braces to a certain size and sand them down and round them out uh every model has its own needs they're all very different and we do have to memorize a quite a bit of them there's about like 50 different patterns that I have to memorize um it I started back in September and it took me about four months 5 months before I could really start doing these myself uh there is a lot of training that goes into it the sides of the guitar are separate pieces of Rosewood which are steam pressed into this curved shape and glued together to form the rim a perforated ribbon of Spanish Cedar is ATT attached around the edges for additional support using clothes pins the ribbon adds surface area that will assist with attaching the top and bottom as much as we do on the outside we try to clean up all the glue inside and make sure all of the ribbons where it should be and you know braces are fit nice and snug in their pockets aluminium casting is used to attach the top and bottom to the rim and hold everything together while it dries next next either this machine or a crafts person cuts a channel around the edge of the guitar a process called freezing to make space for The Binding strip the body is sanded and sprayed with fillers sealers toners and stains to protect the wood and it's left to hang dry in a curing room at a high temperature until the finishing has hardened though many steps of the process are still done by hand Martin has started to incorporate robotics into its assembly line some of which were built and designed in-house in its Machining Department this giant robotic arm for example suctions onto the wood and is programmed to buff each body at very specific pressures the necks of the guitars go through their own parallel production process first they're cut separately into identical base pieces then they're sanded down into shape by hand each model requires a different neck shape so craft people use these metal gauges to keep all the shapes consistent then the fingerboard Frets and nut are added at stations down the line but before a guitar can be glued together a technician will perform a preit to ensure everything aligns perfectly Steve Miller has worked for Martin for 26 years and for him it's a family tradition yeah we have a lot of family might I could sit here and go my uncle my aunts my sister works here um I had a grandfather that worked here um yeah we go back way back since 1833 so once assembled the guitar goes into this machine called a plague which simulates the tension of the strings and makes computerized adjustments to the frets to ensure the guitar is perfectly intonated and playable but the final and most crucial step is to string up the guitar and play it only a human being like Matt Hotchkiss is suitable for this task this is my first job in the factory yes I um I was looking I've been a musician for about uh eight nine years now um I went to school for music uh came out and then I started working here and just inspecting guitars has been a dream so it's been great my grandfather had a old 76 d35 that i' I've been playing since I was very young um and it was important to me to work here when I graduated college just so it lived on through my family and through me Matthew will make sure everything looks perfect before stringing the guitar tuning it and glowing on the pit guard it does take a steady hand to make sure you get it right um but we do use a little bit of a marking to make sure we also look for um any any type of defects within the guitar like any dents or anything that has happened throughout the process and last but not least you will test it [Music] out and place it in the case for the customer Martin's guitars have evolved significantly over the 200 years of the company's existence just take a look and listen to this model from 1834 the oldest guitar in its collection you can see it's very different from what we build now there's a heavy violin influence it has Maple back and sides that figurine body shape the company invented the iconic extra- large dreadn style guitar named after a World War I Battleship Martin saw a surge in demand for its guitars during the covid-19 pandemic with many people stuck at home looking for something to do it's seen about 20 to 30% growth per year over the last 2 years so Co created a guitar boom it it wasn't a boom that was good for everyone in the music industry it was good for you if you made something that you could play at home or home recording it was not good if you made giant Stadium PA system but the popularity of a IC guitars also means more trees being cut down so Martin says it's made a big push towards sustainability they're called rare exotic Timbers for a reason because they're becoming more rare and more exotic so we not only have to be more judicious in how we use these traditional Woods we absolutely positively have to look for Alternatives while mten guitars may be expensive price isn't the only consideration for dedicated guitarists when you put the money into a guitar you expect it to really respond it becomes it it's almost like it's a part of you it really it's an extension of the artist and why would you not want to have the best that you possibly can afford and though high-end guitars tend to age like wines increasing in value and quality over time Chris says players shouldn't buy Martins as just a monetary investment having a Martin guitar that you can play is more fun than looking at your 401k account and if at the end of the day your old Martin guitar was worth more than your 401k account bonus a single strand of cotton is barely visible but when woven into a sheet Egyptian cotton can cost over $900 it's synonymous with luxury but what you're buying might not be Egyptian cotton at all the cotton Egypt Association estimated that 90% of products labeled Egyptian cotton in 2016 were inauthentic and 8 years later the problem hasn't gone away so what is real Egyptian cotton and why is it so expensive the process of producing real Egyptian cotton often starts here in the Nile River delta though cotton is grown throughout Egypt the highest quality cotton comes from these fertile Plains these Puffs called bowls are technically a fruit because they have seeds but the real value lies in the hundreds of thousands of fibers each Bowl contains grows two of the highest quality varieties of Egyptian cotton Giza 92 and [Music] 45 in Egypt workers pick the highest quality cotton by hand it's slower than harvesting by machine but the cotton Egypt Association says hand picking keeps the fibers intact Pickers Harvest 15 to 20 kilos per day but what makes this cotton unique can barely be seen with the naked eye it's what's known as extra long staple cotton most of the world's cotton comes from the plant gasum hutum also known as Upland cotton it's so cheap and abundant that it even makes up 75% of paper money in the US but extra long staple cotton or El is a unique species called gipi barbad Deni which accounts for only an estimated 2.5 to 4% of Global Production compared to Upland the fibers called Staples are longer and stronger when spun together El produces softer more dur durble thread and finer Fabrics but unprocessed Egyptian El can cost two to three times more than Upland cotton despite that you can find Egyptian cotton on countless labels but experts say the numbers don't add up Egypt produces less than 1% of the world's cotton so there isn't enough Egyptian cotton grown to actually make all the products that claim to use it in 2016 Target and Walmart pulled Egyptian cotton sheets after concluding their supplier well spun had sold them fake ones Target said Wells spun hadn't used real Egyptian cotton for nearly 2 years today many sellers online say a product uses Egyptian cotton when it might not contain any at all like this $25 sheet set from Amazon which is labeled luxury Egyptian sheets but uses microfiber Fabric or this sheet from Walmart the Title claims it's 100% Egyptian cotton but the description says it's 100% polyester after Business Insider reached out to Walmart the company removed that product page and shared this statement Walmart's Online Marketplace does allow customers to report products but that puts the responsibility onto the consumer to educate themselves on how to spot fakes manufacturers that work with the real thing carefully trace their cotton throughout the complex supply chain and picking all of this cotton is just the start of turning a seed into a finished product workers gin the cotton to separate the seeds from the fibers and remove any debris then they pack it together in bales that weigh almost 500 lb one bale can produce over 200 pairs of jeans but when workers pull cotton free from a bale it's a mess at this Factory a series of machines clean card and align each fluffy fiber the cotton is then coiled into a thick strand called a sver a series of Rovers stretch the sver thinner and thinner before winding it together [Music] the final yarn looks wispy but is stronger than cotton from the [Music] Bale [Music] while the harvesting is done by hand most of the spinning and weaving is done mechanically giant Looms rapidly weed thousands of strands into a wide variety of fabrics workers carefully observe each step and reach in to repair any [Music] brakes [Music] the extra long stable we use it for bedding and also we use it for some items for the babies merchandisers like Vivan Nabil work with clients to turn fabric into finished [Music] products Vivian uses different varieties of Egyptian cotton depend depending on the product the difference in the fiber length and the color of the cotton itself 95 it's more creamy than Giza 92 which is more whiter Giza 92 and 86 have a longer staple length than Giza 95 they're also generally more expensive Vivian sends many of the beding products produced here to companies in Europe she says her most expensive sheets cost between $600 and $800 even from less expensive retailers Egyptian cotton sheets regularly cost over $200 but the reputation and high prices have attracted countless imitations The Cotton Egypt Association runs an accreditation process that allows approved companies to use its logo but the system isn't perfect well spun the company pulled from the shelves in 2016 also used the logo today parts of the cotton industry use DNA testing to improve traceability but experts say testing isn't widespread enough Paper Trails are still used to track cotton throughout the increasingly complex supply chain knockoffs have the potential to harm Egypt's cotton industry as does competition from El cotton grown elsewhere such as is pumac cotton from the United States but khed Ali the general manager for nature Tex says his concerns lie elsewhere the big challenge is two things first climate change maybe badly affect our ability to farm the cotton second the availability of the water cotton need more water so if it's not available anymore it will make a limitation for our capability to farm more cotton and produce more cotton that concern is shared by Farmers [Music] like this could make Egyptian cotton and cotton grown around the world more expensive in the future so if you want to buy Egyptian cotton what steps can you take first look at the price if a set of sheets claims to be 100% Egyptian cotton but only costs $25 it's likely not the real deal additionally look for the cotton Egypt Association logo and trademark and read product description descriptions carefully to find out if a product really contains El or just Egyptian quality cotton these workers are looking for any defects in the fabric of this hot air balloon because once it's in the air a tear could be catastrophic that's why they put the fabric through this stress test but it's not just the balloon that needs thorough quality control a leak in the burner or a fault in the basket assembly can be just as dangerous like a puzzle these pieces must be aligned perfectly once complete this hot air balloon will sell for as much as €50,000 so how does over 1,000 kg of fabric and wood float through the sky and why are these balloons so expensive ever since the first manned hot air balloon flight in 1783 people have been captivated by the experience it offers today's manufacturers like ultramagic balloons in Catalonia Spain preserve this Simplicity while modernizing it it all starts with the envelope hot air balloons are aircraft so manufacturers must carefully follow Reg regulation set by governmental Aviation agencies down to the fabric the balloon is made of ultra magic uses specialized balloon grade polyester and nylon Fabrics coated in Silicon for their heat resistant antifungal and durable properties workers like monik murator inspect the fabric and subject it to stress tests ensuring that it's tear resistant and durable [Music] workers cut elongated strips of fabric called G which will be sewn into the final round balloon envelope standard gorss are cut by hand whereas the most complex shapes and design elements are done with a laser cutting machine just cutting the envelope pieces can take a [Music] [Music] week gono has been working as a seamstress at Ultram magic for 37 years she's one of 20 she sews the GW together over pieces of load tape these are durable seat belt-like strips that help carry the weight of the hot air balloon and prevent strain on the fabric gono's experience searing the balloons Mak her invaluable Adriana yadu an engineer at ultr Magic and one of the daughters of the founder says sewing is the skill that has the biggest effect on quality the most difficult part in the process is suing the envelope and it's basically because the fabric is very difficult to work with and it takes 2 years or seem stressed to build a complete hotter Balloon by herself the envelope alone accounts for 50% of the cost and the larger the balloon the more fabric required so the more expensive it is envelopes for the smallest three person balloons can take 2 weeks to make with the final balloon cost at €30,000 but Ultram Magic's largest balloon envelopes require up to 2 months of work they can hold 29 people and cost €50,000 Custom Design requests will bump the price up higher while Consuelo constructs the envelope Engineers work on another essential component the burner system smaller balloons require two burners while larger ones need four ultramagic subcontracts its burner designs but assembles the parts inhouse most hot air balloons use liquid propane which travels through superheated coils that vaporize it a pilot light ignites the gas and the flame heats the air inside the balloon this hot air is lighter than the cold rare outside the balloon lifting it Engineers carefully wrap the coils in a spiral and connect it to the fuel tank they test for gas Leakes by spraying soapy water water lighting the burner and inspecting for any bubbles they also check for any debris that may hinder the burner's functionality just as with the envelope any defects here could risk the burner failing and the balloon falling from the sky meanwhile somewhere Austin and his team hand weave the baskets that passengers will ride in samel has been weaving for Ultra magic for 16 years he says building a basket requires careful [Music] [Music] teamwork Ultra magic constructs its baskets out of ran it's not an aesthetic choice but a practical one ran is not only flexible and durable it absorbs any shock from a bumpy Landing protecting the passengers inside these cables are woven into the wicker basket and are eventually connected to the envelope helping to support the weight of the basket according to Ultram magic the retan materials as well as the time it takes to construct the baskets properly account for 30% of a balloon's cost when the sewing engineering and weaving departments have finally completed their work the puzzle pieces of the hot air balloon are ready to be put together the basket is connected to a metal frame that also supports the burner system steel cables are connected to the envelope through carabinas joining all the elements of the hot air balloon then it's time to inspect the balloon a team inflates the 7.3 M envelope to check for leaks they inspect every inch of rope cable and fabric for any defects that may have been missed in production if everything's up to par the basket is flipped upright the burners are lit and the balloon is ready to fly ultramagic is seeing demand rise especially in countries with increasing tourism the company sells its hot air balloons to individual buyers as well as companies looking to offer commercial balloon rids it's a team of almost 70 making about 100 hot air balloons a year but the company says meeting the growing demand is challenging it takes time to train its employees in such Niche skill sets so expanding too quickly can come at the expense of quality even as the global hot air balloon Market is expected to well balloon to $ 11.5 billion by 2027
