Tailors reap usual windfall Eid profits

Stitching men’s traditional shalwar kameez costs Rs800

RAWALPINDI: Tailors in Rawalpindi have started making windfall profits ahead of the Eidul Fitr by increasing their rates.

Most of the tailors in Rawalpindi have started providing their services despite that they have not been exempted from the lockdown orders by the government.

A customer just has to go to the shop, being run behind closed shutters, once. Some are even making bookings over mobile phone. Once the order is ready, it is delivered to the clients at their doorsteps. The popular tailors in different areas have stopped taking any new bookings, contending that they would not be able to deliver them before the festive occasion.

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Meanwhile, for those who do not garner much business usually, the current situation has opened a window of opportunity and they have opened their services for the new customers. However, be it popular ones or not, the dressmakers are charging exorbitant rates for stitching. Several tailors have hired daily-wage employees to meet their target who work round the clock in shifts. They are thus hopeful that it would help them make up for the loss they suffered during a month-long lockdown. During a market survey on Monday, The Express Tribune learnt that the rates for stitching a traditional shalwar kameez or pajama for men and children have gone up to Rs800.

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Similarly, the ladies' tailors are also competing with their gents' counterparts and charging their customers up to Rs900 for a single dress.

In posh areas, the cost of stitching a simple dress without any embroidery or designing work, for both men and women, is up to Rs1,000.

Tailors including Idrees Ahmed and Shaukat Ali told The Express Tribune that their businesses have recommenced after over 40 days. They contended that charging Rs100 extra than normal rates during Eid season was not wrong in any way.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2020.