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'Worrying drop' in clothes sale since start of year — syndicates

By Maram Kayed - Oct 13,2018 - Last updated at Oct 13,2018

People seen shopping in Amman’s downtown (Photo by Osama Aqarbeh)

AMMAN — The Textile and Readymade Clothes Syndicates have announced an 80 per cent drop in revenues following the results of a field study conducted in September and voiced their worry over the state of the sector.

Moneer Deyeh, the president of the syndicates, said the decrease was “expected”, as sales have been declining since the beginning of 2018.

The Textile and Readymade Clothes Syndicates represent shops selling textiles, clothes and shoes — all of which Deyeh said are “equally suffering”. 

“The drop is affecting the lives of 52,000 citizens involved in the sector, among which are shop owners, workers and distributors,” he indicated.

Shop owners interviewed by The Jordan Times stressed that this is a situation that will be “very hard to get out of”, mainly because they cannot reduce prices, even with this decrease in purchases.

Firas Mallah, the owner of four shops located in various places around Amman, said, “we pay customs on our imports, then transportation fees to get them to Amman from Aqaba, then we put them in storages we pay high prices for, only to sell them in shops with ridiculously high rents, by workers we employ. How can we reduce prices with all these costs?” 

“We used to make a lot in profit when the economy was good, I admit that. Now, we are only trying to bring in as much as we spend, but it’s getting harder and harder every day,” agreed Khaled Kiswani, a shop owner in Sweifieh.

For shoppers, the problem is also theirs, as they said they can no longer pay the same amounts they used to, despite the prices of the merchandise remaining the same.

“I haven’t bought anything new this summer, not because the prices are higher but because there are too many priorities now, everything has hiked, even if clothes haven’t,” said Nowar Ahmed, a translator residing in Amman.

Maha Ali, a mother of two, said: “I see ‘sales up to 50 per cent’ and ‘clearance sale’ signs everywhere, but it doesn’t tempt me because the landlord has raised our rent and everything is so expensive that new clothes are not even to be thought of at the moment.”

For citizens who said they have no problem with prices, it is the issue of quality that stands in their way of
shopping locally. 

“The quality of clothes and shoes is very poor. This is why I bring back clothes for myself and my kids from Dubai when I travel there in the winter and summer breaks. Brands are the same price, but much better quality,” said Majd Zu’bi, a mother of three.

Others have resorted to online shopping, which they call “easier”, “cheaper” and offering “better quality”. 

For Roaa Abu Shreeha, “shopping online saves me time, and the websites have clothes that are unique and of very high quality. I’ve seen similar items here that are twice the price they are online.”

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