Some tailors in Bauchi have expressed concern over the low patronage ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Some of the tailors, who spoke on Thursday in a separate interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), described the situation as discouraging.

A tailor, Abiodun Ridwan, said the level of patronage was low compared to the previous season.

He said most families couldn’t afford new dresses for their children owing to the high cost office fabrics and sewing materials.

Ridwan said the trend resulted to a significant increase in the charge for sewing a pair of a dress to about N10,000 as against N5,000 last season.

Another tailor, Daniel Michael, said the situation had forced him to diversify and retail ready-made wedding gowns, to enable him to stay afloat.

“I switched to sewing wedding gowns, and I still have plenty of orders.

“Presently; it’s unlike the festive season that used to be a period for orders in tailoring but people are not ordering new clothes for the Christmas like before,” he said.

He attributed the poor patronage to the current economic challenges in the country.

On exorbitant tailoring charge, Michael said that size and style of a dress determined its price, adding that most customers now have high preferences for ready-made clothes.

He said prices of sewing had skyrocketed as a Duchess and Cashmere were being sold at N2,500 each as against N1,800 and N2,000, respectively.

Corroborating Micheal, Simon Samuel said he had not recorded good sales due low patronage this season.

He said that he now had few customers and planned to close his shop soon.

“Most families are not financially buoyant, therefore, they couldn’t afford new dresses to celebrate the season,” he said.

However, Adenike Rahman said she was enjoying appreciable patronage and made good savings from the trade.

Rahman said that she had closed collecting new works to enable her to deliver to the customers.

“I stopped collecting clothes for sewing from last month, I’m working to ensure that all the dresses are ready before Christmas, ” she said.