Tailors swamped by orders<\/p>\n
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Although there is still a month to go to
\nLebaran, tailors and seamstress are finding themselves already
\nswamped by orders.<\/p>\n
In fact, many of them have been refusing orders for a week
\nbefore Ramadhan started.<\/p>\n
As happens every year and in the run-up to every major
\nreligious holiday, especially this year where Lebaran and
\nChristmas fall in the same month, they must decide on priorities
\nand sometimes have to \"sacrifice\" loyal customers.<\/p>\n
At the Aldiron Plaza in Blok M, South Jakarta, some tailors
\nand seamstress shops were displaying signs saying they were
\ntemporarily not taking any new orders. The shops were only open
\nfor customers wishing to collect their clothes.<\/p>\n
\"I have been refusing new orders since the week before
\nRamadhan,\" said one tailor, Endi, who claimed to be working on
\n432 orders.<\/p>\n
In his 8 years of experience in the business, more orders were
\nnormally received in the run-up to Christmas as compared to
\nLebaran, but as both holidays fell in the same month this year,
\nhe had decided to refuse new orders until early January.<\/p>\n
\"So, now we're doing mostly Lebaran clothes ... it will be
\nimpossible to take in any more new orders and complete them all
\non time,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Still on the same floor, Tarwijaya Tailor, run by Ani, is also
\nrefusing to take any new orders.<\/p>\n
\"I only have six people to work on the orders, while there are
\nstill about 150 pieces that have yet to be touched,\" Ani told The
\nJakarta Post, adding that she had been refusing new orders since
\nlast Monday.<\/p>\n
\"Some of my regular customers were very disappointed when I
\nhad to turn them away, so I told them that I would accept the
\norders but could not guarantee they would be completed on time,\"<\/p>\n
Individual seamstresses are also being swamped by orders. They
\nusually run their businesses from their home with only one or two
\nhelpers.<\/p>\n
\"I'm working on about 125 orders right now. I'm not taking any
\nnew ones,\" said Rustaty, a seamstress in Klender, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, tailors and seamstresses at Senen market in Central
\nJakarta, did nor appear to be as overworked as their counterparts
\nat Aldiron Plaza.<\/p>\n
Most of them said that their tailoring businesses had been in
\nthe doldrums since the May riots in 1998, and had yet to recover
\neven though the charges were more or less the same at around Rp
\n100,000 (US$10.60) for a ladies suit and Rp 150,000 (US$ 15.90)
\nfor a men's suit.<\/p>\n
\"I'm even considering closing down my shop here,\" said one
\nseamstress, Nuraini. \"The rental is getting higher while there
\nare quite a lot of days that I spend here without getting even
\none order,\" she added.<\/p>\n
The same complaint was echoed by Zulafni, who has been running
\nher tailoring business since 1975.<\/p>\n
\"Before the riots, we usually would be rejecting orders by
\nnow. But at the moment, I can assure you that I'd be happy to get
\njust one, even if I have to work over the Lebaran holiday,\"
\nZulafni said.<\/p>\n
At Jatinegara market in East Jakarta, sidewalk seamstresses
\nsaid their businesses had not been affected by any of the
\nupcoming holidays as their orders were mostly for altering or
\nrestyling clothes.<\/p>\n
\"It's been steady so far ... sometimes I get an order and
\nsometimes I don't. But there's nothing unusual about that,\"
\nYusron, a seamstress, commented.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tailors-swamped-by-orders-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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