adminA survey by Chronicle Business yesterday revealed that a number of tailoring shops were inundated with parents who were looking for school uniforms for their children.
The situation at major shops that sell uniforms like Enbee and Ali shop was just the same as there were winding queues of parents who wanted to buy uniforms.
Felly Tailors managing director Ms Enjura Sozinyu said there was pressure and they were working round the clock to clear the backlog.
“We have been overwhelmed by the demand of school uniforms that we have since stopped accepting orders from individual customers. I have been given a number of contracts by most high schools in the province and I am happy that at least I have managed to complete one set of blazers,” she said.
She said most of her orders were coming from boarding schools and private colleges.
“We are receiving orders from boarding schools and a few private colleges. We have been able to meet the demand but due to some challenges beyond our control we may fail to meet deadlines. We have a problem of power cuts and there is nothing we can do once power is off, all our machines use electricity,” she said.
She said most parents preferred independent tailors because of their flexibility.
“We are preferred these days due to our flexibility. We normally do what the customer wants and our relationship with the customers is great. Our prices are also affordable if not fairly cheap,” she said.
She said their prices ranged between $10 and $30 depending on the quality wanted.
An official from Enbee Schoolwear who refused to be named confirmed that business was brisk and attributed it to the opening of schools.
“Our business always experiences a boom at this time of the year because of the school pupils. All students are starting new classes and we capitalise on that as they will be looking for new uniforms. Most of our customers are parents with children starting Form One, Grade One and those that are starting Advanced Level. We also cash in on those who are changing schools,” she said.
Ali and Company managing director Mr Mohammed Ali said they had to sometimes lock the doors as they were overwhelmed by the number of customers.
“At one moment especially on Tuesday, we had to close the shop to allow easy movement in the shop as many parents were buying various schoolwear for their children. This is the time we make more orders than we usually do. It is our rainy season, literally meaning that is when we enjoy being in business,” he said.
Online Reporter