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A few decades ago, tailors used to have large number of customers only during Eid festivals and wedding seasons but now-a-days many tailoring centres have sprung up in every big and small city and even villages have tailoring outlets.

People throng tailoring centres for placing orders for stitching new suits for Eid. According to locals, a tailor during Eid days, charges double or in some cases triple fee of the original price of a single suit. They said that most poor people couldn’t stitch clothes of their children for celebrating Eid festivals.

Saeed Khan, a contractor, told this scribe that an internee tailor was given 30 per cent of the total amount being charged from a costumer. “One tailor can stitch five suits in a day and can earn a handsome amount, which can go up to Rs45,000 on average in this month,” he added.

Mr Khan said that tailors were burdened with huge number of orders from customers. Before Eid, only the will of tailors prevailed, he said.

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Hazrat Jan, a senior tailor master at Peshawar Saddar, said that despite trend of readymade garments, paints-shirt culture and rapidly changing fashion in dressing, people still preferred traditional Shalwar Qameez. He said that traditional dress with no design or patterns was still a popular wear style among people of all age groups.

“There are around 450 tailoring centres in and around Peshawar. About 70 are located at Peshawar Saddar and have employed 14,500 young men,” claimed Mr Jan. He said that most young men attended the tailoring centres after school time. “I have been in this profession for the last 25 years. My father, a daily wager, had brought me to a tailoring centre at Qissa Khawani Bazaar when I was a teenager. For most young people, it is a lucrative job,” he said.

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Mr Jan said that most school going youth attended tailoring centres for learning the skill of stitching clothes and it helped them to fetch a handsome amount and also keep them away from engaging in unhealthy activities.

He said that parents, who could not afford huge fee of their children, often took them to such skill-imparting centres.

Rashid Minhas, 14, who has learnt the skill of tailoring, said that his father was a junior clerk in a government department and couldn’t afford school dues of his three brothers.

He said that his elder brother, a university graduate, had admitted him to a tailoring centre in Khyber Bazaar four years ago where he learnt the art of stitching. He said that previously people used to get stitched clothes only for Eid festivals but now-a-days young people wore several new suits on many occasions.

“I am studying in a private school in 8th grade and also run my small tailoring shop near my home in Kabari Bazaar. I earn enough to support my family. I give equal time to stitching job and my school work. It is better to engage in activity like this than to loiter on the street aimlessly,” said Mr Minhas proudly.

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He said that stitching involved six stages -- shrinking, pressing, cutting, buttoning, sewing and final pressing. He said that tailor charged from Rs1,000 to 1,500 per suit depending on the quality before Eid festival.

Sadeeq Ahmad, another senior tailor master on University Road, said that young students were very sharp in learning the stitching skill as most work was done with electric machines. He said that mastering the art of sewing clothes could take three years.

“I think stitching has almost taken the shape of an industry. If built at a large scale in a professional manner, our youth can have the best job opportunity in local garment making. Even this raw shape of industry draws many young men where they can learn and earn to support their families in a respectable way,” said Mr Ahmad.

Originally published in Dawn, June 21st, 2017