Vocal for local: Traders turn to Puthiyamputhur garment industry to meet festival demand
MADURAI: The readymade garment-making industry, which is the mainstay of the local economy at Puthiyamputhur, a village in Ottapidaram taluk of Thoothukudi district, is no exception to COVID lockdown attack. But, Deepavali has brought some cheer into the industry as traders unable to go up north started looking for deals here.
Business is gradually getting better with Deepavali round the corner, said T Manohar, president, Clothes and Readymade Garment Traders Association, Puthiyamputhur.
Unlike previous years, production suffered a decline by about 20 to 25 per cent owing to issues concerning shrinkage of manual labour force and lack of transportation during lock down. Unprecedentedly, production warmed up just 20 days ahead of this festival season.
With not even a handful of days left for Deepavali, garment makers have been going through a busy week, Manohar told
DT Next. Unusually, several garment makers did not come up with new models this year since the level of uncertainty could not be measured.
He said conventional items such as churidar, gown and midis were made as usual. Since mass gatherings on occasions of wedding and religious festivals were disallowed, the garment makers had been waiting until the last minute ahead of the festival to market the manufactured garments relying on people, especially government servants, he said.
Garment making in Puthiyamputhur is not confined to the festival season. But, COVID dashed our hopes this year, D Vinoth of Amman Kovil Street, Puthiyamputhur said.
Though COVID sounded an alarm earlier, the situation triggered a spurt in demand for face masks and it helped turn around the fortunes of stakeholders relying on this industry. The other positive development was that stocks maintained earlier have been cleared.
It was a sigh of relief for this labour intensive industry when public transport resumed a month ago to mobilize the workforce.
As for J Patchaiperumal, manufacturer cum trader, garment stores relied much on Puthiyamputhur garments this year as many could not reach out to northern cities such as Surat and Mumbai, where they make bulk purchases at wholesale price. Normally, stocks would be ready three months before Deepavali, but since dress makers focused their attention on tailoring face masks, capitalising on its high demand, there’s a delay in finishing up things, he added.