Give us a break, say women vendors

Business

By MEMO HAUKE
THE sale of PNG-design clothes with the red, black and gold colours at the Ela Beach craft market is failing to attract customers, vendor Julie Rope says.
Pore, who sells meri blouses, said the women vendors there were concerned because shops owned by Asians were selling the same designs.
“My business partner Elly Raymond and I are not happy with the outcome because of the competition we have with the Asian shops also producing the same PNG-design clothes,” she said.
She said between 2012 and 2014 before the Asians arrived, the business was good for them. “Most of our items we sell at Ela Beach run out before the Independence Day celebration,” she said.
“Many tourists and local people used to buy our item. But now with just a day away from Independence Day, we are not making enough money to reimburse what we spent to buy the materials.
“The materials are bought from the shops and the sewing and screen printings are done by ourselves.”
She told The National that they usually spend time making sure the sewing quality was good so that customers could wear the clothes for a long time.