Many choose to get it tailored but this year around, it would seem there has been a decline in the demand for such services, as FMT found out.
Many tailors are claiming that orders for Hari Raya clothes, a traditional “must” for the festivities, are dwindling and they are blaming the GST for the decline.
The tailors said the GST, which was introduced in April 1, 2015, had forced them to increase the price of their services.
Due to the GST implementation, most of the material including fabric and tailor supplies have increased. Hence, some of the tailors have increased their charges for the orders.
Khairizal Aziz, a tailor in Medan Mara said there had been fewer orders for Hari Raya this year compared with last year.
“The tailors are having an ongoing competition with the ready-made clothes out there,” he said, when asked to comment about the situation this Hari Raya.
In order to appeal to the public and gain more customers, Khairizal said he strives to give the best quality to his customers, as the word of mouth is an important way to increase sales. He also gives a discount if they place more orders from him.
Sharing the same problems with Khairizal, Zuti too decided to increase the labour charges for tailoring Hari Raya clothes.
She said she had gained new customers thanks to recommendations from her regular customers, especially when they are satisfied with her service.
Aside from taking orders for Hari Raya, Zuti also produces and sells ready-made clothes to support her income.
However, it is quite hard to compete with the ready-made clothes offered by bigger retailers. Hence, her income is mostly based on new orders that come from the public.
Mas Juwita Abdul Hamid, 34, said she started early with most of her customers placing orders for Hari Raya clothes since the beginning of the year.
“I did not increase the labour charges but I charge my customers based on the design or creative fashion that they requested for their new clothes,” Mas Juwita said.
Aside from design or current fashion trends, and the difficulty in catering to such requests, the other factor which determines the price is the type of fabric or material that the customer wants.
However, breaking that trend are Nor Suhaiza Atan and Zarina Osman, who decided to maintain the cost of sewing Hari Raya clothes despite the increase in the price of material earlier this year.
Both of them prefer to have their regular customers come back to them instead of worrying about their profit.
Furthermore, Hari Raya is not the only time they get some income as people come to them for new clothes during other festive celebrations or for other special occasions too.
Even though tailors are slowly coping with the slowdown in business, it does not change the fact that sales are slowing down compared with the years before GST was implemented.
Getting a couple of customer perspective on the purchase of new clothes, FMT found it was best to start early.
“A piece of baju raya now costs RM140, which is pretty expensive. So, imagine how much it would cost to buy for your children, and your parents,” said Suzanna Mohd Nor, who works as an architect.
Suzanna said she started her preparation for Hari Raya earlier to avoid spending too much money in one go.
Meanwhile, Shahila Amran, a doctor, had on the other hand prepared and bought Hari Raya clothes earlier to avoid long queues in the shopping mall, especially during sales and at the end of Ramadan.
Afiqah Farieza contributed to this article.