KARACHI:
Zafar Ahmed, a college student, sifted through a carton of second-hand woollen caps and selected a black one with “Armani” imprinted on it.
“Brands always make a person cool,” said Ahmed. “This market is a blessing for all those who can’t buy expensive branded clothes.”
Light House is home to one of Karachi’s biggest Lunda Bazaars (second-hand clothes markets). People who can’t afford the real designer clothes make do with cheaper alternatives - faded jackets or used sweaters. The narrow market has it all - zipped jackets, woollen caps, mufflers, gloves, sweaters, pullovers and even blankets. People come to shop from across the city.
Noticing the preferences of their young customers for international brands, this season the shopkeepers have categorised winter wear. Category A has clothes of Next, Gucci, Prada, and Armani, Category B is for Korean brands while the third category, C, is for worn-out clothes. Although the winters in Karachi are not harsh, according to the shopkeepers, the thought of looking “hip” makes people buy warm clothes.
“After Aamir Khan’s film Fanaa, people started wearing mufflers,” said Muhammad Shah, a shopkeeper. His little shop was filled with red and yellow mufflers of football clubs, at Rs50 to Rs100.
A banker had sneaked to the market during his lunch break. “I know many people like myself who buy winter things from here but don’t want to tell anyone that they are wearing second-hand clothes.”
Even shopkeepers in other parts of the city buy large amounts of merchandise from Light House to sell it at their shops at higher prices. Jan Mohammad said that many shopkeepers from Zainab market bought jackets from him. “They don’t tell the customers that the clothes are used,” he said as he showed off a cargo jacket to two young men. “They wash and press the clothes, so what they sell looks completely new.” The prices of jackets at his shop were between Rs200 to Rs1,000. “Zipped and army jackets are in these days,” Mohammad said. “But if they are going to northern areas like Gilgit then they buy woollen ones.”
The clothes are shipped from Dubai in containers, explained Mohammad. From the Karachi Port they are stocked in a warehouse in Shershah from where the shop owners buy them. “Dubai is where all the used clothes from the US, UK, Korea and Germany are collected and then shipped to Karachi.” But the best ones are saved for Sunday Bazaars that are set up in DHA, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Nazimabad and others.
According to Mohammad, people at Sunday Bazaars buy more used clothes even if they can afford new. “For that market we select the cleanest and neatest pieces of the branded clothes,” said a shopkeeper who sets up a stall at Sunday Bazaar in DHA.
Why do people buy used when they can afford new clothes? To answer, he pulled out a beige sweater and said, “This sweater will remain the same even if it is washed ten times. The quality and the fabric will be usable for many years.”
The clothes are not washed before they are sold. The shopkeepers do their best to convince the customers that they disinfected the merchandise before selling it. Naseema came to Light House to buy winter wear for her grand children. She said that she would wash them thoroughly before using. “Who would want their children to wear someone’s discarded clothes and get diseases?” she asked. “But I have no other option. I will make sure that the clothes are properly cleaned.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2011.
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Well this is all good, but i dont feel the need of such woolly clothes in Karachi. :) Although i do see people wearing these sweaters and jackets like its snowing. :s
Good for them.