14th December, 2022
By Ola Favour Ihotu
As Christmas draws closer, tailors in parts of Abuja are experiencing a boom and are therefore intensifying efforts to beat the agreed deadlines with their customers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) went round the Mpape area and revealed that tailors in various areas were seen sewing clothes throughout the day and night in order to satisfy their customers.
A tailor in the Mpape area, Mrs Keinde Musa, said she had to make extra efforts to get more hands from her colleagues to help in completing the work to meet up with her customers’ demands.
Another tailor also in Mpape, Mrs Victoria John said she already collected fabric from people that had occasions such as weddings and parties during the Christmas celebration.
He said he had stopped further collection since November so that she could conveniently meet up with the deadline and satisfy her customers.
In the case of Francis John, he said he engaged other fashion designers that had just graduated but had not set up yet to assist him after which he would settle them.
Mrs Abigail Okoh said since fabrics were very expensive now, she advised most of her customers to buy their fabrics so she could finish sewing in a good time.
On her part, however, Mrs Grace Okeke, a ready-to-wear clothes seller, complained that due to increased patronage of tailors and designers, many of her customers had disappeared this season.
She said, “last year by this time, most of my fabrics/ready-to-wear clothes had been sold out to retailers, but now they do not come because of high cost and there is a paucity of money,” she lamented.
Mr Paul Matthew, another tailor, complained of poor patronage this year as against previous years blaming the situation on economic hardship.
He said this had compelled some of them to slash prices even as they bought the fabrics at exorbitant prices, explaining that the measure was taken in order to retain customers.
Mr Muhammad Ali, another tailor said, ”it had been difficult this season, largely due to power failure, coupled with non-availability of petrol to power our generators and work extra time.
“For people like me who use industrial machines, we need constant power but unfortunately there’s no regular supply at a time like this and we can’t get fuel.
“This has led us to serious delays in completing the work as agreed between us and our customers and you know some of them have no patience,” Ali said.
Ali, who called for an improved power supply said this is to ensure that they would not run at a loss. adding, ”because we have to iron finished clothes before handing them to the customers.”