Tailors swamped by orders

Tailors swamped by orders

Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Although there is still a month to go to
Lebaran, tailors and seamstress are finding themselves already
swamped by orders.

In fact, many of them have been refusing orders for a week
before Ramadhan started.

As happens every year and in the run-up to every major
religious holiday, especially this year where Lebaran and
Christmas fall in the same month, they must decide on priorities
and sometimes have to "sacrifice" loyal customers.

At the Aldiron Plaza in Blok M, South Jakarta, some tailors
and seamstress shops were displaying signs saying they were
temporarily not taking any new orders. The shops were only open
for customers wishing to collect their clothes.

"I have been refusing new orders since the week before
Ramadhan," said one tailor, Endi, who claimed to be working on
432 orders.

In his 8 years of experience in the business, more orders were
normally received in the run-up to Christmas as compared to
Lebaran, but as both holidays fell in the same month this year,
he had decided to refuse new orders until early January.

"So, now we're doing mostly Lebaran clothes ... it will be
impossible to take in any more new orders and complete them all
on time," he said.

Still on the same floor, Tarwijaya Tailor, run by Ani, is also
refusing to take any new orders.

"I only have six people to work on the orders, while there are
still about 150 pieces that have yet to be touched," Ani told The
Jakarta Post, adding that she had been refusing new orders since
last Monday.

"Some of my regular customers were very disappointed when I
had to turn them away, so I told them that I would accept the
orders but could not guarantee they would be completed on time,"

Individual seamstresses are also being swamped by orders. They
usually run their businesses from their home with only one or two
helpers.

"I'm working on about 125 orders right now. I'm not taking any
new ones," said Rustaty, a seamstress in Klender, East Jakarta.

Meanwhile, tailors and seamstresses at Senen market in Central
Jakarta, did nor appear to be as overworked as their counterparts
at Aldiron Plaza.

Most of them said that their tailoring businesses had been in
the doldrums since the May riots in 1998, and had yet to recover
even though the charges were more or less the same at around Rp
100,000 (US$10.60) for a ladies suit and Rp 150,000 (US$ 15.90)
for a men's suit.

"I'm even considering closing down my shop here," said one
seamstress, Nuraini. "The rental is getting higher while there
are quite a lot of days that I spend here without getting even
one order," she added.

The same complaint was echoed by Zulafni, who has been running
her tailoring business since 1975.

"Before the riots, we usually would be rejecting orders by
now. But at the moment, I can assure you that I'd be happy to get
just one, even if I have to work over the Lebaran holiday,"
Zulafni said.

At Jatinegara market in East Jakarta, sidewalk seamstresses
said their businesses had not been affected by any of the
upcoming holidays as their orders were mostly for altering or
restyling clothes.

"It's been steady so far ... sometimes I get an order and
sometimes I don't. But there's nothing unusual about that,"
Yusron, a seamstress, commented.