Pandemic takes away desire for high fashion

6 min readDec 1, 2020

Sales of upscale boutiques dropped by 90 percent compared to last year. Expansion of customer base and policy support will save local artisans and the industry, fashion experts say.

In the course of the most recent couple of months, style architect Fariya Tazin has been moving her business center from selectiveness to more extensive moderateness. The sole design is to endure in the dressing business, with trust in a future that will again offer chances of development.

The 41-year-old, who dispatched her image Polka Drops seven years back, feels she has been tossed into the test to adjust. The customers who might once search for uniqueness are not, at this point prepared to pay for it when they are in the pains of a pandemic.

There are evident purposes for that. Financial log jam has decreased individuals’ pay. Not having enough cash in removal, clients presently don’t wish to spend on extravagance things. Besides, festivities and celebrations have become a relic of past times as social removing is the standard to keep the Covid under control.

Against this background, around 200 style planners in Dhaka, including Fariya, who obliged a specialty client base and buckled down throughout the years to cause an imprint as delegates of the Bangladeshi design industry to have formulated various techniques to endure the emergency.

Yet, one thing they share practically speaking is the energy to advance nearby textures and works of local experts and to assemble brands that customers would lean toward over brands of neighboring nations, predominantly India and Pakistan.

Absolute deals, assessed at about Tk80 crore in 2019, dropped by 90% this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, as indicated by industry insiders. A half year after the countrywide closure, the recuperation is moderate but to pick up force.

Shahrukh Amin, an all around presumed fashioner of brand Almira, said the neighborhood design industry had step by step assumed control over a critical portion of the dress market throughout the most recent decade until the attack of Covid-19.

“As individuals secured themselves, online organizations dependent on imported things flourished though nearby style organizations were found napping,” said Shahrukh, an individual from Fashion Design Council of Bangladesh.

Fariya, who presented western cuts in neighborhood textures, for example, muslin and silk, to make a style of combination, has reduced down her value range and continued delivering things to engage a more extensive gathering of clients.

She began utilizing web-based media to exhibit her plans, a move opposed by upscale planners from dread of theft. To help deals, she likewise presented credit offices for acquisition of more than Tk10,000.

“Without transformation, nobody will have the option to continue her business in the midst of this emergency and it is by all accounts an endless battle,” Fariya said.

With all the inventive methods of proceeding with business, she could recuperate her deals to up to 50 percent contrasted with the pre-pandemic time frame.

All proprietors of upscale brands, in any case, couldn’t make something happen as conclusively as Fariya.

Chaman Chowdhury endured a major hit to her 25-year-old business soon after a fruitful performance design show in the second seven day stretch of March, displaying her Baishakhi (the main day of Bangla new year) and Eid assortment in gamcha, manipuri, jamdani, muslin, khadi and jute.

Eminent individuals like previous guide to the overseer government Geeti Ara Safia Chowdhury, entertainer Shampa Reza and artist Ankhi Alamgir graced the occasion, she said.

Chaman, whose gathering clothing would cost from Tk10,000 to Tk60,000, has consistently accentuated hand paint, handwork and relieving tones to suit the atmosphere in Bangladesh.

“Individuals don’t will in general purchase a costly fashioner wear except if they contact it and feel it,” Chaman stated, adding that her best course of action will be to configuration garments of changed reaches.

Farin Ahmed, proprietor of Altamira, who finished graduation in style planning at a London college and has drawn motivation from universally acclaimed design originator Rina Latif, is presently bringing her entire being to ensure her weavers and craftsmans.

Her marriage wears alone checked up Tk12 lakh in deals in the last wedding season, which has dropped by 80% this year. She is ruminating on redirecting her consideration regarding easygoing cotton wears, cutting down the value reach to Tk 2,000-Tk 5,000.

Prior, a cotton shalwar kamiz from Farin’s closet would cost at least Tk7,000 and a wedding saree Tk1 lakh.

Style devotee Sabera Anwar, proprietor of Panache Hub, a stage for nearby boutiques to feature their items, said she needed to close down her 3,500-square feet store in Banani in the wakeful of lessening deals and mounting pressure for rents.

Panache has worked with upwards of 32 planners and coordinated eight to 10 displays and one style show yearly.

“We opened the store in June [after the shutdown] however no body appeared. Also, the deals in the following month didn’t make the lease,” said Sabera.

She said by their gauge, the client base of the upscale boutiques was about 3.9 lakh in the capital. Panache’s next undertaking is to put together a display in December where around 20 planners will partake.

In the period of dispensable quick design, nearby boutiques seek to start a precedent of value and style that will maintain the way of life of Bangladesh. With that in mind, the public authority’s patronisation is fundamental.

“On the off chance that the business neglects to bounce back, a great many nearby craftsmans will go into blankness,” said Shahrukh Amin, who recommended an unwinding of VAT and expense on garments of neighborhood boutiques and arrangements to debilitate import of things of unfamiliar brands.

Pandemic takes away desire for high fashion

Sales of upscale boutiques dropped by 90 percent compared to last year. Expansion of customer base and policy support will save local artisans and the industry, fashion experts say.

Written by Khelahosche