The handloom items may also get a boost this week when two more similar fairs will begin ahead of Eid shopping spree.

The month-long fairs began at Shilpakala Academy, Textiles Emporium at Karwan Bazar and T&T ground at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on October 16. Two other fairs will begin at Shyamoli and Kalabagan ground this week to exhibit a wide variety of handloom products.

Organisers at the Shilpakala Academy fair said after the devastating floods that hit the traditional textiles sector severely, the exhibition may help weavers and factory owners recover the losses.

There are 125 stalls representing different kinds of products in the fair, they said.

"If we can sell the products more, it will help mitigate the losses due to the recent floods," said Golam Mowla, a retailer and exporter of Jamdani sari and proprietor of Shahnaj Jamdani Weaving Factory at Rupganj in Narayanganj.

He said the lowest price of a Jamdani sari is Tk 1,200 and the highest is between Tk 25,000 and 30,000.

Traditional handloom products such as Tangail sari, khaddar of Comilla, blanket of Bogra, some items of tribal handloom and Benarasi sari of Mirpur are being sold at the show.

The major items for the male are punjabi and fatua of Comilla.

Mahbub Alam of Priyanka Benaraasi from the Benarasi hub of Mirpur expects good sale from the show at Shilpakala Academy. "We already have come across a good number of inquisitive and prospective customers," he said.

He said the sales will pick up from the first week of November when the people will start getting Eid bonus and salaries.

Mahbub appreciated the idea of organising handloom fairs simultaneously at different places in Dhaka, saying the organisers and buyers will benefit from the shows in view of large population in the capital and increasing traffic jam that restricts shoppers to roam around city markets to find best choices.

But Golam Mowla has a different idea. He said the handloom products should be displayed at the annual export fair.

The fairs should be arranged in spacious areas and the organisers have to give the buyers a wide range of choices by presenting all kinds of handloom items in a single fair.

Sabiha, a buyer, said she would buy a fatua and a Jamdani sari for her parents after getting her salary at the end of October.