Local apparel businesses strive for year-end profits amid lull in pre-winter sales

AMMAN — An estimated 180 fashion brands are currently found in Jordan, said Sultan Allan, representative of the clothing, footwear, fabrics and jewellery sector at the Jordan Chamber of Commerce and president of the Textile, Readymade Clothes and Footwear Syndicate.

“The Kingdom’s export value of apparel products was around JD783 up until July, while it was JD857 during the same period last year,” Allan told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

He pointed out that the local apparel sector comprises of 11,000 establishments and facilities which are located across the country.

The import value of apparel, footwear and textile products during the first nine months of 2023 reached around JD225 million, Allan said, noting that 63,000 people are directly employed by the sector.

“Jordan is home to major fashion brands and businesses which employ a significant amount of the local workforce and this directly impacts the country’s economy,” he stated.

According to Hala Abdulla, owner of a local boutique, “the pre-winter season lacked any potential to make profit”. All retailers are now geared up for winter wear sales, she added.

Tahseen Taha, an employee at a women apparel store, told The Jordan Times that “most of our products are from China and we have been separating the winter from the summer collections lately, in order to be all set to receive customers”.

Comparing this year with 2022, there are many similarities in the sector’s sales ratio, however now retailers and other sector operators are hoping to benefit from the remaining months to increase their year-end profits.