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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — On Kurdish Clothing Day, tailors in the Kurdistan Region are warning of a decrease in demand for customary Kurdish garb.
Many Kurds do not wear traditional garb on a daily basis, reserving it for special occasions and celebration.
Tailors say demand for Kurdish clothing has notably decreased this year, attributing the fall to the Region’s ongoing financial crisis.
“Demand has decreased by 50 percent. People are waiting for their monthly salaries, and when they get paid, a part of their salary is cut by 21 percent,” Dilshad Khayat, a tailor in Erbil, told Rudaw. “Some people live in rented houses. They can’t buy clothes.”
Prices vary depending on the fabric quality, ranging from 100,000 IQD to 1,000,000 IQD. Many of the fabrics Kurdish clothes are made out of are imported from China.
Despite a brief uptick in demand prior to the holiday, 67-year-old tailor Mullah Mustafa sees the new generation’s decreased interest in Kurdish costumes as evidence of a loss in patriotism.
“Patriotism has decreased among Kurdish youth. This is the reality that we live in, our people wear Kurdish clothes for beauty, not for being patriotic and authentic,” said the tailor.
Despite the local tailor-made clothes, ready-made traditional Kurdish clothes are also imported from China. They are usually designed for children and sold at lower prices.
Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
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