Eid rush breathes life into fading industry

While imported shoes have flooded the shoe market in the country and are in high demand, local handmade shoes have still clung to their place in the market.

Although handmade shoes are not produced in large quantities anymore, their production has increased a bit ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, as there are still many left who love to don their feet with local handmade shoes rather than fancy imported ones.

With this in mind, handmade shoe factories in the port city are buzzing as production continues in full swing during Ramadan.

Even though the numbers aren't many, there are still a significant amount of orders, keeping the workers busy ahead of Eid, said factory owners and workers.

This correspondent recently visited a few shoe factories in the Madarbari, Kamal Gate, and Nalapara areas of Chattogram and found makers going on with their busy schedules.

Some are cutting leather, while others are gluing stitched pieces together into a shoe. Another group then put nameplates on the shoes. The remaining group is packaging shoes for delivery.

This is a common scenario at each of those handmade shoe factories.

"Normally, we work 8-9 hours a day. But during Ramadan, we have been working extra hours to ensure delivery of orders," said Mohammed Aziz, a shoemaker at the Sraboni Shoe Factory in Madarbari area of the port city.

 Mohammed Elias, a shoemaker at Shah Amanat shoe factory, said, "Generally, we make 3-4 dozen shoes every day. But during Eid, production rises by 9-10 dozen per day."

However, Elias expressed frustration over their low wages and claimed they still get paid really low compared to other industries.

Traders in this sector said they are struggling to survive as the market is being flooded with imported shoes, mainly from China.

"The golden age of the handmade shoe industry is over. We have not received the expected number of orders this year," said Mohammed Sadek, owner of Tarik Shoe factory.

He, however, said a small group of people are still buying handmade shoes.

According to the Chattogram Khudro Paduka Shilpo Malik Group, currently around 250 handmade shoe factories are operating in the port city.

Businessmen from this sector said the high price of raw materials has put the industry in crisis.

"We urged concerned authorities to decrease tax on the import of raw materials so that the industry would survive," said Moslem Uddin, a member of the Chattogram Khudro Paduka Shilpo Malik Group.