Aminat Abdu, 45, is angry but controlled while in conversation with Solomon Kassa, 40, at Military Tera, Merkato, on the morning of September 1, 2014. Her seven-year-old grand-daughter and Solomon’s colleague, a tailor, are at the centre of their heated discussion.
Aminat’s grandchild has not only outgrown last year’s uniform, but has also just celebrated her seventh birthday – the age at which most children go to grade one from their preparatory classes at Kindergarten (KG). What has brought Aminat to the textile hub in Merkato, Military Tera, is this transition of her grandchild, which means a change in colour in the uniform and obligation for her family. Committing to this duty, she has to replace the older green coloured uniform with a blue- black one – the type for grade one students at Gibson Youth Academy, where her grandchild has been attending her KG classes too.
Solomon is, on the other hand, one of the many tailors scattered here and there at different corners of Military Tera. Solomon speaks on behalf of his colleague, who was not in his workplace due to illness.
Aminat bought three and quarter metres of a fabric made in Indonesia called Tetron 6000 from somewhere in Military Tera and handed it to the tailor to make the fabric ready for school. She claims that she brought her grandchild so that the tailor could make sure that the uniform was a good fit. On Monday morning, she had a green coloured worn uniform with her, which she claims that she brought with her when she handed over the fabric to the now absent tailor.
When she came back on the date of her appointment to pick the tailored uniform up, she found it to be a poor fit. It is even less than that of last year’s, meaning that it does not fit the current size of her granddaughter. The three and a quarter metre Tetron, from which it was agreed to make two trousers, two vests and a skirt has only made the right sized skirt, with the other two types being smaller than the size of the child.
She showed Solomon the size of last year’s uniform, which is bigger than what his colleague has made, despite his knowledge of the former size and the size of the child, who he measured himself.
After taking some minutes, discussing the problem, Solomon and Aminat agreed that the uniform should be remade to fit the child. This, however, has to cost Aminat an additional cost for an extra half metre of fabric.
This has not been the common ground for discussion at Military Tera. It used to be the price of the fabrics used to make the uniforms and the costs to make them ready for school that were the centre of discussion for families.
With the advent of the approaching Ethiopian New Year, when students will go back to school from their summer vacation, most parents like Aminat are busy buying different school commodities for their children – the uniform being the major one.
Changing schools, passing to the next grade and the yearlong wear and tear are among the reasons that families not only go to the textile corner in Merkato, but also retails shops found at different marketplaces in the city, including Kera and Kirkos City Centre.
All the textile shop operators, parents, retailers and distributors at Military Tera agree that the prices of fabrics for uniform are almost no different from last year. The market is also not as much as it was last year for the retailers and tailors, scattered here and there in the Tera.
Depending on the blend of materials used, these fabrics are commonly known as Tetron-6000, which is suitable for trousers, vests and skirts, – Philips, being suitable for skirts and Poplin, majorly, used to make shirts
At the other corner of Military Tera, up on the first floor, on the other hand, Alemayehu Asana is bargaining with Tezera Shegere, owner of Girum Textile, to have the price reduced. They have settled for 120 Br a metre for a white and blue striped fabric used to make shirts. Alemayehu has paid 210 Br for 1.75m of the fabric that is believed to be enough to make two shirts for his four-year-old daughter, who is changing school from Progress Academy, around Asko, to Phase Academy, around Yohannes.
“I’m hoping for a better education for my child,” Aleamyehu told Fortune. “I have also bought two metres of Tetron 6000, at a total cost of 240 Br, to be made into two skirts and I will buy a sweater too.”
The price could vary depending on the types of fabrics, most of which can be made into a uniform, as long as the colour is found to fit the sample – most of which the parent bring to the shops at Merkato.
Irrespective of their colour, which was a determinant of price last year, the most commonly purchased material, an Indonesian polyester fabric named first grade Tetron 6000, costs from 130 Br to 150 Br. This is almost the same range price at which it was sold last year. This price, in fact, was as much as 160 Br for in demand colours, like green and navy blue, last year.
“There were shortages of these colours last year,” recalls Tezera, for whom Military Tera and textiles has been bread and butter for no less the 40 years.
The price of similar fabric can be found at a price ranging from 100 Br to 120 Br if they are Chinese brands. The local Tetron brands made of 65pc cotton and 35pc polyester blend by Almeda Textile Factory can be found at a cheaper price, though.
The green, light blue, black and blue black colours of grade A Tetron 6000 can be purchased for 52.5Br from Almeda’s outlet in Merkato, located around an area known as Yebego Adragot Hall. The price of other types of fabrics also stands at a similar range with last year, except for marginal additions in some cases. The price of a fabric known as Polplin, which is used for making shirts and was 35 Br in 2012 and 2013, also remains the same at most of the retail offices in Military Tera.
Retailers in Military Terra claim that they only make a 15 Br to 20 Br profit from a metre of uniform fabric. Usually, the small retailers buy merchandise by the rolling yard, known locally as Taka, with swaths of fabric usually measuring 22.85m rolled around a wooden stick.
One Taka of Tetron 6000 from Indonesia, could be purchased from the distributors at a price as low as 75 Br, according to Tezera. This could be sold at a price of 90 Br if resold in Taka.
“There is no constant price in Merkato,” he told Fortune. “It may decline or rise from distributor to distributor, as well as from retailer to retailer. It may also depend on the bargaining powers of the buyer.”
The most common type of the fabric that has dominated Military Tera is the Tetron 6000 brand – both the Indonesian and the Chinese versions.
In addition to purchasing these fabrics for trousers, skirts and shirts and paying for the retailers, who make the fabrics ready for school, parents also rummage their pockets for the purchase of readymade uniforms, mostly shirts and sweaters.
Aminat has spent 180 Br on a sweater and as much as 170 Br for each of the three shirts she bought for her grandchild, while Alamayehu has settled with a tailor at 60 Br to make the two shirts for his daughter out of the 1.75m Tetron he purchased from Tezera, but has to move around Merkato for the purchase of a sweater. His plan is just to get one for the time being and buy an additional one sometime in the middle of the year.
“Since I have changed to a school that charges a higher fee than the previous one, my costs have significantly increased,” he says. “My budget is getting scanty with the New Year celebration cost still awaiting me.”
Nonetheless, at the most common destination of parents looking for sweaters in Merkato, the price of readymade sweaters and shirts has remained almost the same with that of last year. Edget, which made an average increase of 10-20 Br last year has made a five to 10 Br increase this year.
“There are readymade standard sweaters, which are sold at a price range of 100 Br to 170 Br, depending on their size,” Ahmed Amin, manager of Edget Factory, told Fortune. Due to the purchasing habits of parents after the New Year celebration, the market is uneven at this time, according to Ahmed. Sweaters can be purchased at a price range of 80 to 160 Br, he says.
On Monday and Tuesday, when Fortune visited Edget’s shop at Merkato, the number of parents picking sweaters and shirts of their choice was considerable, though.
Edget makes the sweaters using acrylic fabrics it receives from the Sygin Dima Textile Factory and KK Plc, while the shirts are imported readymade, mainly from China, according to Ahmed. Following the arrest of the owner of KK Plc, Ketema Kebeda, for allegations of acts of corruption by prosecutors of the Ethiopian Revenue & Customs Authority (ERCA), there have been problems of supply from the Company, which has resulted in the temporary interruption of production, according to Ahmed. The problem with the acrylic supply has been resolved now, though.
“We had planned to produce the shirts this year,” he says. “Due to finance and some problems, we have postponed the plan until next year.”
However, the construction of a garment factory for the production of the shirts in the Labu area is finalised, according to Ahmed.
“We are conducting a study to import the machineries,” he told Fortune.
Besides the relatively constant price of fabrics for school uniforms, Merkato, which is becoming a mall based market due to the vast construction of shopping centres constructed and under construction, looked relatively calmer than its usual chaos. The magnitude of trade in the fabrics of uniform, as well as the number of parents getting to the textile shops has decreased compared to that of the previous year, according to most of the retail operators and tailors Fortune talked to on September 1 and 2, 2014.
“The number of parents asking for uniform fabrics has declined this year,” says a young salesperson at Mihret Geresu Textiles, in Military Tera. “We are yet to sell the fabrics from our store from last year.”
Agreeing with most of the retailers on the decreasing trend in the market, Tezera, who has gone through all the stages in the textile business – from freely working with a tailor to learn the skills and a marginally salaried tailor to a tailor with a rented Singer, followed by owning his own Singer and currently a medium sized textile shop – speculates the reason.
“The marketplace for different items are no longer concentrated at Merkato,” he says. “You can find textile sellers at Kirkos, as well as Saris. This is on top of the challenges facing visitors due to the ongoing construction projects in Merkato, which is aggravated by parking problems.”
Alemayehu, who bought a sweater for his daughter from Edget at a cost of 100 Br, which has raised the total expense for the uniform up to 670 Br, including the payment for a tailor, will have to come back to Merkato on another day.
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