Sale of second-hand winter wears goes up
By Bushra Makhdoom

ISLAMABAD—As the winter is just around the corner, the sale of winter clothes, particularly of the second-hand wears is going up in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Crowds of people can be seen busy in bargaining and purchasing second-hand winter clothes at different markets and weekly bazaars.
Anticipating well the general public trend, second-hand clothe dealers have set up their stalls days before the arrival of winter as it is the best time to do business.
“The demand for second-hand winter clothes rises as soon the mercury starts diving downward. Therefore, we arrange our stalls well before the start of winter,” Mumtaz Ali, a second-hand clothe dealer at Saddar Rawalpindi said.
Like Mumtaz there are many others who have breathed a sigh of relief as the cold has started to sink its teeth. “Our sales have doubled,” claimed a clothe dealer at one of the booths at Islamabad’s most popular G-9 Weekly Bazaar.
He said the rich and poor, and even the foreigners come to the market and lay their hands on the clothes that are both utilitarian and cheaper. “The poor will get some clothes to wear due to the ‘landa bazaars’”a middle-aged man named Shan said. “The prices of new winter wears areout of our reach. Therefore, we rush to these second-hand clothe stalls where we get quality clothes at affordable rates,” he added.
There is a whole range of winter wear and accessories i.e gloves,woolen hats, mufflers, pullovers, sweat shirts and jackets from velvet and raxin to those of leather available at these stalls. But many customers complained that prices of old wears are also becominghigher. “The second-hand wears are becoming expensive as vendors are increasingtheir prices every year,” said a woman at Raja Bazaar. “They rip you off and grab you,” added another lady.
However, a second-hand clothe dealer said that they were getting these clothes at very high prices from the wholesale dealers in Lahore and Karachi.
“It’s not our fault. We are getting these items at high prices and are forced to sell them accordingly,” he said agreeing that the brunt was however being born by the customers.