Economic recession has led 35 percent of textile merchants to shut down their business and leave the market, and 65 percent of them had to sell off their products on discounts reaching up to 70 percent.
Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Textile and Ready-To-Wear Business Committee Head Mohammad Al-Shihry said textile merchants are facing a difficult time at the moment.
“Landlords have increased the rents by 100 percent in some cases and customers are moving away from the textile market and moving into ready-to-wear attire. Merchants are providing great discounts and I encourage customers to buy textiles as they are being sold at a very cheap prices,” said Al-Shihry.
He added merchants are competing in offering discounts to ensure that customers buy from them. “Discounts have reached 70 percent, especially with men’s textile market due to the high demand of thobes (white garment worn by Arab men). Sales for evening gowns textiles have reached 60 percent. Sales for abaya textiles (black garment worn by Arab women) have reached 50 percent,” said Al-Shihry.
He added recession has hit the textile market by 50 percent. “Stores in shopping centers offer more discounts than shops in open markets during Ramadan. Official authorities should interfere to ensure justice in the market. Many of the textile merchants run small and medium enterprises and have taken loans from banks expecting the profit to reach 50 percent. But with the raised rent prices they are barely able to run their business,” said Al-Shihry.
Textile merchant Abdullah Batarfi said ready-to-wear clothing businesses affected the textile market by 40 percent. “People are buying brands nowadays and textile markets are abandoned. That is why textile merchants are selling off their products under great discounts. 15 percent of textile shops were shut down,” said Batarfi.
Salem Hasan Al-Ammari and Sons Co. Textile Department Head Waleed Al-Ammari said the international economic recession is the reason why the textile market is having difficulty in sales.
“The most sold products are for men more than women recently because there hasn’t been many women occasions. The most sold women product is fabric for abayas. The most bought fabric for abayas is the Japanese fabric which is sold at SR30 to SR50 a meter. The second most popular abaya fabric is the Korean fabric priced at SR9 to SR15 a meter. Then comes the Indonesia, Indian and finally the Pakistani fabric,” said Al-Ammari.
