Hyderabad: Pandemic, night curfew hit cloth traders & tailors hard

Charminar: Cloth merchants and tailors, who generally work overtime and remain in much demand during the month of Ramzan, are bearing the brunt of the night curfew imposed to curb the spread of Covid.

The holy month of Ramzan marks an end with the celebration of Eid which is all about greetings, wishes, new clothes and sheerkurma. Eid brings along joy and lots of profits for the clothes merchants, traders and tailors, as almost everyone buys new clothes.

At times many families buy dresses right at the beginning of Ramzan and hand it over to tailors. Until 2019, during Ramzan tailors shops would run late in the night and the stores would be piled up with orders.

While men indulge in purchasing materials for kurta, pyjama, safari, shirts and trousers, women and children shop for suits, frocks and dresses for stitching.

According to Hyderabad Wholesale Art Silks Cloth Merchants' Association president Govind Agarwal, each year the textile industry makes crores of turnover, but even this Ramzan the pandemic has pushed the traders to the brink. "Currently, we have only 40-45 per cent business, and if luck remains in our favour and no lockdown is imposed the business might pick up to 70 per cent, as the last 10 days of Ramzan are the business days."

"The association comprises 340 members who procure stock from traders in Mumbai, Gujarat, and Varanasi, but they anticipated the scenario and refrained from stocking up, as these States are already observing the second wave for the last one month and no new variety has arrived," added Agarwal.

"Before Ramzan, several retailers, including from districts used to purchase materials worth lakhs of rupees, but this year few retailers have visited, as the State is observing night curfew and retailers are procuring less compared to previous seasons fearing a lockdown again in the worst condition," said Agarwal.

During Ramzan, the tailors used to be a busy lot working overtime as demand for dresses remained high. "Many tailors used to employ dozens of workers in Ramzan, but this year the number of workers is less, since the night curfew was announced they seem for imposing again lockdown they went to their native place," said Khaja Pasha, proprietor of Modesto Men's Tailors.

Last year was the lockdown and when compared to previous years there is a huge difference in the tailor market. The tailors are receiving fewer orders for stitching. The market is down to 40 per cent.

S K Jani, a women's tailor working for 30 years, used to earn around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 during the Ramzan season, but this year he is struggling to earn money even to survive. "Most of the people have avoided stitching the clothes as they seem if ordered for stitching and lockdown announced it would be a problem," he said.

Meanwhile, the prospects of women who were hoping to make some money during this Ramzan in different parts of the city. As those who were engaged in the textile and clothing industry at different levels are also amongst the worst affected.

Shaheen Begum, who does zari works, said that during Ramzan she would get busy as the orders would pour in and she would be able to earn some extra money for her family. But this year she did not receive many orders.

Similarly, the women tailor Khaleda, said that she used to work in a store for stitching dress material and during Ramzan she used to stitch daily around 3-4 suits and earn around Rs 10,000 in Ramzan, but now there are fewer orders and she could not earn good money.