<i>Waning winter chills hopes of quilt makers</i>

Photo: STAR

Light chill in the air, gentle sunlight in the afternoon and the thin layer of fog at dusk are the evident signs that winter has finally set in.
Mercury may be dipping down but the bedding stores are just warming up as city dwellers have started visiting the stores for quilts and blankets.
Bedding storeowners at Nilkhet city corporation market, the largest market for quilts and mattresses in the city, however say they are witnessing a downslide in business.
“We had been sitting idle the whole month of November and until mid December. Finally we received some orders. Within two days my co-workers and myself finished sewing 15 quilts,” said Mohammad Mizan, a quilt maker working at Bengal Bedding Store.
“I remember around 10 years ago we used to get orders for quilts from mid October. Gradually our working season is getting squeezed into hardly one month,” added Mizan.
Meteorologists say the tremendous population density, mushrooming buildings, too much energy burning and too many vehicles are gradually warming up the city.
But winter is not getting shortened in the city as many assume, Met officials say. Nature simply cannot manifest its wintry features in this concrete jungle. Just 15 kilometres away from the city feelings of winter and all its flavours can be witnessed.
For quilt makers of the city this account simply translates into fewer work orders, reduced earning every year and changing profession.
Mohammad Hazrat Ali, a quilt maker of New Firoza Bedding Store at Nilkhet, said, “Nowadays storeowners are using automated machines to prepare cotton, which increased our working speed. But our working period has shrunk to only around a month.”
“During peak season I used to make at least 5 quilts a day. Now it has come down to two on average. We have to think of alternative profession in the future if we want to survive,” he added. Ali earns Tk 80 to 90 per quilt, which is not enough.
Due to sluggish business the number of automated machines at Nilkhet bedding market has come down to three from eight a few years back.
Another traditional feature of the winter, the calls of the quilt makers known as Dhunuri, who go from door to door to make and mend quilts, blankets and mattresses is also becoming rare.
Amir Hossain, a Dhunuri at Rupnagar, Mirpur said, “Winter used to be our best season. We walked around the streets in different areas and sewed at least two to three quilts a day.”
“We used to spend winter period making quilts and the rest of the year making pillows and mattresses. Now we sit almost idle during our best income season,” added Ali, who usually earns around Tk 120 per quilt, is now preparing to change his profession.
Ali mentioned that a quilt takes about three hours to make by hand. The only apparatus they use is an ektara that looks like a bow and a needle.
Mohammad Muslim, another worker of Bengal Bedding at Nilkhet, said: “Traditional quilt is no longer the first choice of consumers because a big market of readymade light woollen blankets and comforters are gradually growing in the city.”
“People are opting for these items because the weather is never cold enough for traditional cotton quilts,” he added. “Moreover, woollen blankets and comforters are washable.”
There are around 30 stores at Nilkhet. Prices of quilt at Nilkhet depend on size, quality and quantity of cotton and other materials used in it.
Bedding stores mostly uses karpas cotton and recycled leftover cotton from the yarn factories. The price of a double size quilt made of karpas cotton starts from Tk 400 while of pure cotton from Tk 800. There are some special qualities with satin covering priced at Tk 1,500. These are mostly ordered as gifts for newlywed couples these days.
Price of cotton used for making quilts, mattresses and pillows has also increased. In the market one kg karpas cotton costs about Tk 180, which was around Tk 150 a year ago.
Bad days for the quilt makers, however, are a blessing for mushrooming hawker population selling low-cost blankets on the footpaths of New Market, Baitul Mukarram and other places.
It is not just the low-income group, the middle class and upper middle class are also opting for light blankets sold in the streets, prices of which range between Tk 200 and 1500.