Designer brands and shops in the UK are reeling from the COVID crisis which has hampered imports of garments and materials from south Asia.

As per an Eastern Eye report, the pandemic in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has decimated factories which make shalwar kameez, saris and kurtas that stores in the UK rely on.

It has also affected customers, who are often making more shopping trips to find the ideal outfit for weddings and religious festivals. Mani Kohli, Founder, Khubsoorat Collection, said it will be difficult for the industry to recover in the next couple of years.

The wedding season is set to peak this summer with the government announcing on June 21 that the limit on the number of people who can attend ceremonies in England is scrapped. It could be a lifeline for clothes stores, which reopened in May after lockdown rules eased. sible if they are being made. Shop workers selling south Asian outfits in Whitechapel, east London are still trying to shift stock from 2019 and last year.

One store owner said they only have five new shalwar kameez, but hope to get more around Eid in late July.

Another said all its garments are imported from Pakistan and due to the lockdown, most of the stock of petticoats, trousers and tops are older designs. It is a similar situation in Leicester, which is regarded as the capital of south Asian textile manufacturing. Its local authority is working hard to support garment traders and workers while coping with the challenges of the COVID pandemic and the inevitable disruption that it has brought to global supply chains.