Midway through Ramadan, as Eid-ul-Fitr draws near, shopping for the festival gains momentum with more and more people visiting markets to buy ready-made clothes instead of buying unstitched clothes that they will get stitched themselves.
Despite the fact that inflation has hit the country hard, the majority of customers, Pakistan Today observed, are interested in getting their hands on readymade stuff rather than tailor-made mainly to save time and avoid the hassle of repeated visits to and fro the tailor for delivering and collecting the dresses.
Mannequins erected inside shops show off trendy new designs in chic air-conditioned, ready-made garment stores. The approaching Eid festival offers them the privilege of sporting the younger generation’s latest fashion buzz.
Today men’s craze is shirts and trousers that fit best, while older folks prefer to go for simple shalwar kameez of different shades in dark and light. Normally boys prefer to wear Shalwaar Kameez/ Kurta for offering Eid prayers and later half of the day till night spend with jeans and shirt.
For women, it is a long frock with preferably choori dar pajama (trousers) or shalwar. All are either bought readymade or made by tailors or seamstresses in the hectic hours ahead of the Eid.
The battle between the readymade and tailor-made clothes has intensified, although tailoring workrooms, mainly for men’s wears, appear losing their foothold.
Many still keep their order books open for Eid delivery.
“I received around 1,500 orders for making clothes during the Eid festival last year. But it appears difficult to get as many orders this year as I have received around 700 orders so far,” said Nazir Ahmed, owner and tailor-master of Ahmed Tailors at G-9 Karachi Company.
“It seems I will have to continue taking orders until August 20,” he said. Things have changed a bit this year, as the Eid is coming far ahead of the winter, the main business season for tailors.
Also inflation has marred the business of tailoring and instead of spending money on tailor made clothes, people prefer to get stitched cloth to avoid repeated visits to tailors.
During the Eid season this year, except for a few branded tailoring houses, most report a slowdown in business due mainly to erosion in people’s purchasing capacity and a rise in the numbers of readymade garment shops and boutiques.
These shops with stylish dresses that bear the testimony of local culture and heritage and the trend of Bollywood (star plus) and the West are now attracting a section of customers in the city areas due to a wide array of options and choices available there.
Sector people said customers, mainly men, now like to buy readymade clothes instead of tailor-made ones to save time and avoid hassles of repeating visits to get the delivery of dresses.
Consumer sentiments over the quality of fabrics and tailoring arts have also cast a dampening effect on the tailoring business, they added.
The result is, tailor-made men’s wears are being showcased for ready sale at the leading tailoring houses.
“We haven’t yet fully shifted our focus to tailoring. As peoples’ interest to readymade clothes is increasing, we are bringing in these dresses more,” said an executive of a branded shop offering stitched Shalwar Kurta at Jinnah Super Market (F7).
He however said the company, the franchisee of a leading manufacturer of readymade men’s wear have recorded around 20 percent rise in orders for tailoring this season.
“Days are coming when people will prefer readymade dresses to tailored ones,” he said, citing the trend in Islamabad.
Another owner of a Readymade Garments said his shop received good response from the customers for both the tailored and readymade clothes. “Sales of readymade clothes in my shop have almost doubled this year,” he said.
But this is not true for many small tailoring shops. Officials at different tailoring houses also said customer’s response to tailored clothes during this season was less than expected. Tailors in the F-7, F-6, Blue Area, Aabpara, Melody, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-10, and I-10 areas echoed the same.
But demand for women’s tailored clothes is still high, as women prefer tailor-made dresses to readymade ones. “It’s the question of proper fitting. Customers may switch to other options if they get properly-fitted dresses at reasonable prices,” said Hadia Aftab, CEO of Hadia G, one of the leading boutiques. “But tailoring shops will run on their own legacy. And those tailors who adopt technology on fine finishing will do well,” she said.
Boutique owners attributed the increase in demand for readymade clothes to a change in people’s lifestyle and tastes.
“During 90s, there were a few readymade clothes retailers in federal Capital, but the number are increasing at a rapid pace now due to change in people’s lifestyle,” they said, adding that eventually people will shift to readymade garments.
They said tailors will remain as speciality shops dedicated to making sherwanis and suits.
But again its all depends upon the customers what suits him/ her- ready made of tailored manufactured?
