Sudden drop in temperature in the capital gave the people a feel of the winter season and made them rush to the warm clothes markets, pushing the prices and sales of the clothes up in all the city markets on Monday.
The buyers at Badruddoja Super Market, a hub of fancy clothing which trickles down from export-oriented garment industries to all the local market, saw mostly teenagers and youths coming to buy sweater, pullover, jacket, jeans and woolen T-shirts.
Ritu, coming from Dhaka University, said she came to the market to buy some fashionable warm clothes.
She prefers buying from the Badruddoja market because the dresses come from export-oriented garment factories, which are quality products but cheap.
Shopkeeper Selim on Monday said there was high demand of winter clothes and customers of all classes are rushing to the market because of the cold weather.
Rehan said most of the shops in the market opposite the Dhaka College were full of ladies wear and recommended buying male wears from New Market and Banga Bazar.
He said these markets, selling clothes from stock lot or left-over products of garment industries, were reasonable in price and affordable for the middle class people.
Sales of locally produced winter clothes were also high in other parts of the country.
‘We have had a very good season this year,’ said Moniruzzaman, owner of a local garment industry in Keraniganj across the river Buriganga.
He said most of their dealers from outside the capital had already taken away huge number of winter garments.
‘It has, however, become tough to compete with low-priced Chinese garments flooding the market,’ Moniruzazaman observed.
With the cold weather intensifying in other parts of the country, sales of winter clothes on the footpaths in different towns and cities of the country also gained momentum.
Our correspondent in northern districts said winter started there few days back and the market was experiencing regular rush of buyers.
Second-hand warm cloths are also in demand as many poor cannot afford the new ones, reports from the districts said.