Pahela Baishakh sales crash to a halt for clothing brands
It's all colourful.
A poster with models donning red panjabi and saree pasted at one side of the entrance, as the national flag hangs privately wall and a mannequin displays clothes in other side. In the centre, a guard stands ready to push the door open for you.
Welcome to Kay Kraft, a popular local fashion boutique.
Inside, clothes with motifs and colours are around and sales persons are waiting to greet customers showing off their latest collections, prepared with one eye on the first day of Baishakh, the first month of the Bangla new year.
The largest cultural festival of the country is one of the major sales seasons for fashion houses that use hundreds of thousands of local artisans, weavers and micro businesses in the united states to create traditional dresses like salwar kameez, panjabi and saree.
The festival yields Tk 2,000 crore in sales this past year, according to fashion entrepreneurs. This year, indiscriminate spread of the novel coronavirus and the rising number of deaths linked to the disease are shattering their aspiration to create bounty.
Since Bangladesh reported the maiden cases of coronavirus infection on March 8, panic has spread and apparel sellers have grown to be among the early victims.
Sales dipped by roughly 50 % as shopping malls and stores selling clothes, footwear and electronics got a barren look as the quantity of confirmed cases of coronavirus is increasing each day.
Besides, persons have made a mad dash for your kitchen markets and supermarket to stock foodstuffs, hand sanitisers and other essentials within their preparation to remain home if the capital city or the united states comes under lock down of any form.
Until yesterday, the total number of confirmed cases of infections rose to 27, with two deaths and five recovered.
Globally, the death toll until 5:30pm yesterday stood at 13,049 and 307,341 were detected with the virus, based on the Johns Hopkins University in the US. The virus has spread to 171 countries because the first cases cropped up in China in December.
"Folks are not in a festive mood at all," said Md Monir Hossain, shop manager of Kay Kraft branch at Sobhanbag on Mirpur road, on Saturday.
Until 3.30pm, the showroom received only three customers and logged in Tk 6,000 in sales.
"This is a very low figure. In normal times, we would have received a great number of customers on Fridays and Saturdays than in other days of the week. This time around the situation differs," he said.
Some yards away is located another popular fashion boutique house Anjans and its own sales persons didn't see a single customer until 12.30pm despite opening the doors at 10am.
"We don't know very well what we ought to do now. Clothing sales have been declining and the extent of the slump is increasing daily," said Shaheen Ahmmed, president of the style Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh (FEAB).
Entrepreneurs say most fashion houses have almost completed their preparation targeting Pahela Baishakh prior to the coronavirus hit the country.
Some of them have even bought fabrics and other recycleables to make dresses for Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest sales season for domestic market-oriented businesses.
Baishakh and Eid together generate about Tk 6,000 crore in sales for businesses that use locally weaved fabrics, said Ahmmed, also the proprietor of Anjan's.
Now, the coronavirus crisis is looming over inventory build-ups and has already established ripple effects on the supply chain.
The value of ready stock for Baishakh will be Tk 1,200 crore, according to Ahmmed.
There are more than 1,000 small and medium business that produce clothes with local fabrics, in line with the FIAB, which includes 100 members.
A large number of folks -- weavers, traditional dyers and artisan -- are reliant on the sector. The quantity of people used in the sector is a lot higher.
"We are yet to take any decision on what to do and what never to do. We've faced fluctuations in sales for short intervals during floods and cyclones, but this is an completely new situation that people haven't experienced before and we do not know when it will come to a finish," Ahmmed said.
All fashion houses, however, have windows to sell online.
"But, would people maintain the mood to celebrate the festival? None have the reassurance, not merely in Bangladesh but also across the globe," Ahmmed said.
It remains unclear when the crisis will be over, said Azharul Haque Azad, managing director of Sadakalo, another boutique house.
A large portion of the clothes made for Baishakh festival might remain unsold unless the situation increases soon.
Outfits for the Bangla new year celebration are created with certain motifs in fact it is very difficult to market them during remaining year.
"The concern is, when will this inventory sell out? And this will affect artisans, weavers and others as I'll not make new clothes," Azad added.
Aarong, the country's biggest fashion and lifestyle retail chain, unveiled its Baishakh collections on March 13.
"Daily sales have halved. Customer turnout has dropped drastically," said Mohammad Ashraful Alam, chief operating officer of Aarong.
The fashion retail, a social enterprise of Brac, supports 65,000 artisans, including 600 micro and smaller businesses.
"We will be focusing on so that we can ensure their livelihood. At this time, we are concentrating on raising awareness, ensuring security and safety for customers and sales people to avoid and control the virus," he said.
Ahmmed also offers similar feelings.
"Sales are no longer a major concern for us at the moment. It'll be good for everyone when the problem turns for the better. The crisis will slow the progress of the country," he said, adding that it would be difficult for many to keep to pay salaries to staff if the pandemic prolongs.
Hossain of Kay Kraft, however, is yet to stop. "We are giving additional time to customers. Still, we have time. If the condition can be controlled and the situation improves, sales may bounce back."
