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A setting winter may be welcome to many Peshawar residents, on account of bringing relief from a long and sultry summer, but for young men of fashion, as well as for many dress shops, the change in weather implies disappointment. The once busy markets of City Towers and Jawad Towers, along the main University Road, await the appearance of young male customers who frequented the dress shops in swarms during the summer. And it is not exactly cold weather that has tamed their shopping interest – not at least in the strict sense. Apparently, the general taste for light and short outer wear itself is at work.
The main reason that seems responsible for inhibiting the shopping ventures of young gents is the prevalent taste for excessively showy, brightly patterned T-shirts that fill most of the shops in the major costume markets in Peshawar. The craze for shocking-colored shirts, sometimes carrying bizarre patterns and inviting messages, has completely overtaken plain and simple designs in casual wear. There is hardly a dress shop along the main University Road where you can find such a T-shirt – finding even one is getting hard. As a university student (in his 20s) put it, ‘young men, especially teens, like shirts that are tight on their bodies and skimpy so as to allow some exposure for a sexier look.’
Flowery patterns and delicate embroidery, which were heretofore the second sex hegemony, are now the trend in young gents’ shirts. But winter has quite dictatorially checked this trend as the dry and rough cold in Peshawar’s polluted air has given every second citizen over to flu. Putting on these skimpy, showy, and sexy shirts is no use anymore. Now the torso needs to be covered, especially in the afternoon and later. The time to make a sexy display is, for a while, over. But of course, it means heyday for dealers who stock jackets, jerseys, and sweaters.
For one thing, the popularity of jackets, jerseys, and other warmer items fails to emulate that of showy T-shirts mainly because of the price factor – T-shirts being much cheaper than thick wears like jackets and sweaters. Secondly, jackets and sweaters usually last longer and are taken good care of due to their high prices. T-shirts, on the other hand, are only used for a few weeks to a couple of months and then replaced with new ones. Finally, thick wears do not allow that sexy look which comes with a closely-fitting shirt. That is why T-shirt sellers dominate the garment market for young gents in Peshawar. Their sales ebb only in the 5 months, from November to April. To make the most out of their stock, T-shirt sellers in Peshawar have long put their stuff on sale, averaging 150 rupees a piece for most items.
While inflation has also induced a rise in men’s garments, for T-shirt sellers in Peshawar, it is time to plan for the next big summer.
