Bengali New Year or Pohela Boishakh is just round the corner!
However, the fashion retailers and boutique houses are not very optimistic this time around. The outbreak of Coronavirus in the country has taken the sheen off; otherwise a very hectic time of the year when people buy new clothes for family members and dear ones, this year it is very different.
With the Government enforced lockdown which has been extended till 25 April now, stores that once did roaring business selling apparels are closed and the brands and retailers are struggling to find buyers of the inventories, worth over millions of Taka that they have stockpiled anticipating a roaring business this Pohela Boishakh.
Products made for Boishakh have unique designs which are not in demand later. The products just started to reach showrooms when the outbreak hit and everything came to a standstill, lamented Shaheen Ahmed of Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh.
The scene is no different in Deshi Dosh, a store that sells fashions products of 10 different brands including Anjan’s and Kay Kraft.
Reportedly, the store has been making products worth nearly Taka 25 million since February for Pohela Boishakh and Eid, which are unfortunately now stuck at their store.
Now that the Government has extended the countrywide shutdown further and the number of COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh on the rise, the fashion retailers are apprehending significant business loss.
