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Local T-shirts all the rage

SOHEL PARVEZ
It was rather paying tribute than making any business at thebeginning.
Sanzib Purohit and his friends printed and wore some T-shirts to express their love to literary genius Humayun Azad who died in August 2004.
These T-shirts, containing the imprint of Azad's portrait on the chest, carried the inscription -- our shame' on (he top and "our glory' -- at the bottom of the portrait.
Sooner the limited stock of those T-shirts finished as fans of Azad lined up to get one. Enthused, Purohit and his team planned to print more.
This time, they brought more designs as the imprints on T-shirts — portraits and verses of legendary poets like Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Jibananando Das.
Demand soared and Purohit, an activist of Little Magazine Movement, signed up as a small entrepreneur to feed the new wave of patriotic resurgence through T-shirts.
Nowadays these T-shirts not only bear the testimony of liberation war and language movement, but also shade lights on the whistleblowers in the fields of art, culture, literature, science and politics.
But a decade or more ago, the appreciation of the clothing item was limited among a certain consumer class, partly because of relatively high price and replication of western fashion trend by local readymade clothe retailers in Elephant Road area.
The boom in garment industry has helped increase the availability of clothing items like T-shirt at relatively affordable price which has also become a boon for many small initiatives as of Purohit.
When he began his venture at Aziz super market at Shahbag in the capital, the market for the clothing item began expanding much by virtue of enterprising sprit of Nitya Upahar.
Nitya Upahar started its T-shirt business in 2001 with the dream of making a difference to the typical Western or Hollywood centric fashion trend.
Over the years, Nitya Upahar posted a success as the demand for the clothing items increased among the youth, mainly the university students who showed growing interests in such clothes, bearing the testimony of indigenous culture and heritage.
A fairly cheaper price compared to that in other branded retail stores also helped boost the demand.
Now T-shirt is no more a clothing item once available mainly in the trendy jeans or shirt selling stores on Elephant road or some other high-end stores.
"It's a game of creativity and intelligence. We try to bring a renaissance of patriotic spirit by portraying our national heritage through dresses," said Bahar Rahman, owner of Nitya Upahar, the trendsetter.
which now sells around 15,000 pieces of T-shirtamonth.
The emergence of the new fashion trend, as crafted by Nitya Upahar and later by some others, also spurred a steady growth of such fashion houses not only in Aziz super market but also in other parts of the city.
Until 2005, there were only three such fashion stores at Aziz market.
Till date, the number reached around 50, thanks to the leftover of knitwear industry that has helped grow T-shirt-based houses across the country and facilitated income for designers, suppliers, tailors and printers.
While Aziz market fashion stores, flourished by bringing together poetry to art, is also said to have influenced readymade clothes retailers or boutiques, Kay Craft, a boutique, has also put T-shins on display now.
The latest entrants to readymade clothes retailing brands such as Yellow and Westecs also follow the suit.
“Once it was tough to get T-shirts that best fit the average size of people. But the difficulty appears to be over. Many garment owners now show interests to supply the size we need,” said Rahman who now sup-
plies around 10,000 T-shirts to various stores at Aziz market including Nitya Upahar.
Rumman Mahmood, who along with his mate, bet fortunes as T-shirt suppliers to these houses couple of years ago, said the trade has helped them secure self-employment.
“It's basically extra clothes of export-oriented knitwear factories. They sell the leftover after keeping the needed portion for exports," he said.
“It's now one of our main earning sources," Mahmood said, adding that they are now facing competition as the number of suppliers has increased.
Purohit is also facing competition due to a rapid rise in the number of fashion stores or boutiques especially in the Aziz market area. Competition is also there among T-shirt sellers in other markets such as Bangabazar where dominant tendency is replication of designs.
Purohit however said: “We perceive it as a movement rather than just a business. We want to bring oriental culture and heritage to the fore.”
He said sales at his shop Darkak have not increased much although customer traffic
has increased.
“Customers are being dispersed among all the shops. But we are not worried about this. We want to reach the young educated segment of the society," he said, adding that the stores at Aziz market charge relatively lower price to rope in student customers.
Rahman is also not worried about this. “There is a big market for T-shirt and it's growing. What we need to do is to continue showing our creativity and innovation.’
Baki Billah, very fond of T-shirts from Aziz market-based houses, said these stores are lucrative for young folks due to their varied designs and cheap prices than what the branded retail outlets offer.
At the Aziz market shops, the average price of a T-shirt is Tk 160, while its lowest price at a branded retail outlet like Yellow is Tk400.
Billah said, “The business has come out of the shell of the typical west centric fashion trend by focusing more on our own heritage. The products are wonderful in content and designs and give you the feeling of being linked with the soil of your motherland."
sohel@thedai!ystar.net