Blazers: Traders at DITF fear huge losses

In the past several years, blazers were a huge hit among the youths – both male and female – at the annual Dhaka International Trade fair (DITF) as traders made outstanding profits by selling them at either low or high rate. Even though sale of blazers in DITF 2016 was comparatively lower than 2015, business was better again in 2017. This year, however, two weeks of DITF 2018 has passed and the traders are still unhappy with the rate they are selling blazers, with many saying they might face losses like 2016. Last year, there were more than 100 stalls that sold blazers of different kind, they said. But this year that number has come down to around 50. The turnout of buyers is also very low. In DITF, these stalls are mostly set up by seasonal traders. Very few have their own showroom in the city, while the rest of these traders have shops in New Market, Elephant Road, Sadarghat, Keraniganj and areas adjacent to Dhaka. According to the traders, this year they have brought various kinds of blazers, coats and waistcoats, some of which are also known as prince coat, Modi coat or Mujib coat. Most of the stalls are selling mixed polyester, woollen, velvet touch and print blazers. Apart from the locally made blazers, there are those which were imported from china, Thailand and India as well, said the traders. At the beginning of the fair, the minimum rate for blazers was Tk1,500. But within two weeks, the price came down to Tk1200. The highest rate, which was Tk8,500, has also decreased at the same time. There were some selected expensive blazers which were priced as high as Tk12,000. But the sellers have either removed most of them or sold them at much lower prices. On Thursday, the highest rate for blazers on display was Tk4,500. The blazers for children are available between Tk1,050 to Tk1,400. The Mujib and Modi coats were also between Tk1,200 to Tk1,500. Amzad Hossain had come to DITF to buy a blazer after learning from news reports about the dwindling prices of blazers, which are much lower than the city showrooms. Anyone can buy an average but minimum-quality blazer within Tk2,000 here. But, he said, the quality of the blazers found at these prices is very poor. Sales Representative of Alamin Fashion Mohammad Rafique said they were selling every product, except the blazers, at DITF at their new increased rate. He said the blazers were on sale with a 40%-50% discount, but the customers were still dissatisfied. Even, the cold wave this month did not help much with the sale of blazers, said Rasel, manager of Talha Fashion. He said the stalls set up near the DITF entrances were doing much better business than the ones inside the field. “Some of the stalls on the far side of the fair did not even see a customer in the last two days.” Mohammad Rasel of Raihan Fashion said sale of blazers was slower this year but they were still making some profits. “We can only hope that the sale will pick up in the last 10 days like previous years and we will not face losses.” He, however, said the selling rate of woollen and print touch blazers were the highest this year.