CAIRO – Egyptian clothes stores will begin their summer clearance sales on August 8. After the January 25 Revolution this season is totally different, particularly with the advent of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan due to begin on August 1. The summer clearance sales are deemed by traders as a means to boost their business after a "rough season", which was hit hard by a slump due to downtown protests and lack of security, analysts say. Earlier this month, major designer brand retailers launched unprecedented discounts. Those who can afford luxury garments can simply go for an evening stroll in the metropolitan stores that carry famous designer names like Zara, Daniel Hechter, Marks & Spencer and Esprit. Low-income brackets may have recourse to Wekalet El-Balah, a downtown shopping district, to satisfy their buying desire! "An early start aims at speedy clearance sales in the wake of the current slump," said Yehia Zananery, the head of the Textiles and Ready-made Garments Association. "Traders plan to offer discounts of up to 50 per cent to get rid of stock," Zananery said. Due to protests in Tahrir Square, sales of downtown stores were hit most severely, bringing sales down to less than 25 per cent this summer compared to the same season last year, according to Zananery. Many retail stores in the vicinity of Tahrir Square have been in the doldrums since January 25. Some shops hardly cover their overheads; a situation that is expected to affect their earnings, Zananery said. "The Chamber has called on the Ministry of Finance to take this fact into account when taxing these stores. Many downtown clothes stores have cut their labour force and output capacity," Zananery stated. Analysts warn about a further decline of economic growth due to lack of security in the Egyptian street. In June, Minister of Solidarity and Social Justice Goud Abdel-Khaleq said the country's gross domestic product growth (GDP) was expected to fall to less than one per cent in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Rumour has it that some locally manufactured garments cause skin cancer. Zananery dismissed such allegations, pointing out that producers "use high-quality dyes". Egypt's clothes exports reached $185.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the General Authority for Export and Import Supervision. Due to falling demand, the country's imports of ready-made garments plummeted by 70 per cent to LE131 million ($22 million) in the first five months of 2011 from LE651 million in the same period of the previous year. A rumour like this could push the market to a complete standstill. "These are lies. There are no carcinogenic dyes in Egyptian clothes," Zananery said, adding that some goods entered the country illegally. Erfan el-Deraa, a chemist and member of Egypt's Textiles and Ready-made Garments Association, said all dyes used in locally produced garments were imported from Germany, Switzerland and South Korea. "All colours and dyes used in Egyptian clothes have Eco-Tex Standard 100 certification," el-Deraa said. Eco-Tex Standard 100, developed in 1992, is a global testing and certification system for screening harmful substances in textile consumer products. The system bans carcinogenic and allergenic dyes, extractable heavy metals, flame retardants and chlorinated aromatic compounds. Rising prices have also added insult to injury, a shop owner said. "Most people find it hard to make ends meet. Clothes come second after food in these hard times, "said Mahmoud Loutfy, an owner of a garment store in Bab El-Louk in the Tahrir Square neighborhood. Inflation in the most populous Arab country of 85 million people hit 11.8 per cent in June, according to the State-run Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). Inflation reached a record high of 23.6 per cent peak in August 2008, according to CAPMAS. "People fear that thugs may attack them while they go shopping. The police must show their presence so that people feel safe to shop," Loutfy added.
