According to Meteoro-logical Office Karachi will continue to remain in the grip of cold wave considerably for a longer period as against the common impression that this city has unpredictable weather conditions. Those who refrain from spending money on warm clothes will have to reconsider their decision if they want to protect themselves from the chilly wind of Quetta in days to come.
They will have to buy warm clothes or order stitching of jackets. A visit to old clothes market should not be out of consideration. The attitude of heedlessness would not pay.
Karachi during the last week of December 2004 experienced the coldest days in ten years. It was preceded and followed by light rains. After the rains Quetta valley and its adjoining areas received snowfall that further chilled Karachi and indicated further fall in the temperature.
Though there was a general complaint of coolness but there was complete washing of tree leaves in the city and settling down of dust which hardly allow fresh air to inhale. There was less number of cold-affected patients visiting doctors and sale of cold and cough syrup did not go up as is usual in Karachi.
People who have taken season's warning seriously have either purchased woolen clothes or have visited old clothes market for shopping. The old clothes market in Nazimabad, Liaquatabad, Mereweather Tower, Kharadar, Kemari, Landhi industrial area and Malir are some of the popular places to visit. Juma, Mangal and Sunday bazars are other spots for the sale of old clothes.
Most of the clothes available are unused. They come into the market each year after clearance sales have failed to sell them or after becoming out of fashion in the American and European markets they remain in stocks and occupy space needed for fresh consignments. The craze for the latest in fashion world is one of the main reasons that unused clothes find market in poor countries as well as in poor residential areas of even the most affluent cities of the industrially advanced countries.
Karachi has the same kind of population mix. The rich do shopping while abroad and purchase enough with names so that little remains to be purchased back home Karachi. They discard their year-old warm clothes as charity. This charity meets the needs of many.
The low-income population can always visit old clothes market and buy good clothes. The established shopkeepers dealing in old clothes are generally honest and brief their customers about the quality of their goods. They are open to bargaining and even for taking back goods sold once and replace it with other clothes.
Tips for buyers of old clothes including inspection of seams, collars and armpit joints are the smell and colour of buttons and movement of zips. In clothes where strings are used to fasten an outfit are necessary to be checked. Dealers and importers of old clothes say that the inspection of these areas will tell whether clothes have been discarded because of running out of fashion or because of overproduction and limited sale at home. The used clothes are generally recognisable.
A visit to these markets show that it is not only a favourite place for shopping by low-income people but a large number of higher income people also visit in search of fashionable dresses. On the one hand the quality of cloth used is good and on the other the fashion that might have disappeared elsewhere still remains in vogue in Karachi and other big cities, supplier of fashion to smaller cities of Pakistan.
Women visiting these markets say that they do not see anything objectionable in buying old garments, as they are neither old nor used, in many cases. Fashion is only how you think about your outfit, your looks and suitability to your physique to particular style of clothes.
They say that mature women prefer to have their own style and select clothes accordingly. During the winter, secondhand woolen clothes are in plenty and in various designs, colours and texture. These are cheap and affordable for low-income people as well.
Shrewd buyers who visit shops selling new clothes in posh commercial areas say that many of them purchase old clothes on cheap rates, clean them and press them before packing them nicely and display with their price tags. Though this is not fair but popular among the garment stores in posh areas.
However, there is a large number of people who cannot afford to buy warm clothes. The market for secondhand garments is one place from where people who can afford to buy a few pairs and give it free of cost to those who cannot afford to buy woolies should think about this kind of charity during this winter.