Clothing, footwear sector to reopen Sunday under strict health measures

AMMAN – The clothing and footwear sector is “very keen” on reopening as of Sunday after more than 45 days of closure, said President of the Textile and Readymade Clothes Syndicate Mounir Deyeh.

Deyeh said that his sector is also “glad that the government has allowed the direct selling of items to the public, as the delivery-only rule posed several problems to a large segment of the sector.”

Last week, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Tarek Hammouri announced that garment and shoe shops are to reopen with the condition of sales through delivery only, but after complaints from the sector, direct sales were allowed.

“Not only do small, traditional shops not have the financial capacity to deliver the clothes, but some of the owners are… not familiar with online platforms to showcase their material,” Deyeh said in a phone interview with The Jordan Times.

He added that “when a shop sells items that cost from JD1-5, how do we expect them to pay more than their profit to deliver the piece?”

With the direct sales door open, the syndicate’s president highlighted that “the safety and health of people and protecting them from the spread of the coronavirus remains the sector’s top priority”.

With the return of commercial activity to the sector, Deyeh affirmed that the syndicate has “completed the required instructions set by the ministry to protect the health and safety of both workers and shoppers, making sure that all shops set to open have adhered to specific health instructions”.

The ministry’s instructions highlighted the importance of sterilising stores, requiring shoppers and workers to wear masks and gloves and prohibiting the use of fitting rooms, said Deyeh.

He pointed out that the syndicate will issue awareness leaflets that state the instructions issued by the epidemiology committee through the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply for the purpose of “continuously making sure that everyone in the sector commits to them”.

The goods, whether clothes, shoes or fabrics currently available in the local market were imported before the markets closed 45 days ago, with Deyeh stressing that “the prices will be appropriate for everyone and will take into account the difficult conditions that everyone is going through due to business interruption because of coronavirus crisis”.

The syndicate’s president also expected that the activity of the clothing and footwear sector, which employs 53,000 workers and 11,800 merchants throughout the Kingdom, “will start to recover after the first week of the holy month has passed”.