"Al-Bala" markets in the Syrian north ... the refuge of the people in light of the high cost of living

Omar Youssef-Idlib

The trade in second-hand clothes, or what is called “bale” clothes, has become very popular in the north of Syria, and its markets have become widespread in light of the difficult living conditions faced by the people due to the deterioration of the value of the Syrian currency, in addition to the conditions of war and bombing.

With the onset of winter in Idlib, northern Syria, Amjad Al-Khudair heads to the used clothing market in Sarmada city in Idlib countryside in order to buy winter coats at a reasonable price for his limited income like thousands of residents of opposition areas in northern Syria, where it became difficult for the head of the family to buy clothes Expensive.

Amjad (38 years) works in the field of building and decoration in one of the workshops, and receives a monthly amount ranging between 60 thousand and 80 thousand Syrian pounds (the equivalent of $ 100), and confirms that this amount is barely enough for a week and a few days, despite the state of austerity in which his family lives here In Idlib.

Amjad chooses a coat for his five-year-old son from a store, and inspects him for fear of a problem in it, so the seller tells him that most of the used coats are guaranteed and closer to the new, assuring him that the coat is of European origin and of high quality.

Amjad says that he has been buying clothes from the bale market for four years now, because it has more than doubled its price compared to ready-to-wear clothes, as well as its quality in terms of fabric and detail.

He adds in his talk to Al-Jazeera Net that he bought three winter coats for his children for an amount not exceeding ten thousand Syrian pounds (about $ 11), and if he chooses to buy new ready-made clothes from one of the markets, he will pay more than twice the amount, indicating the poor quality of the clothes and their poor quality.

As the people of Idlib, the displaced people from Homs and Damascus suffer from the high cost of living and the difficulty in obtaining a livelihood, as the displaced family heads to the bale market in search of their lost clothes at cheap prices.

Um Adnan, 54, is displaced from Homs countryside to Idlib, searching in the bale market for winter sweaters for her seven-year-old grandchild, and she tells Al-Jazeera Net that her son assigned her the task of buying clothes for his son after his wife's death by bombing their town about two years ago.

The grandmother, Um Adnan, believes that the prices of the bale fit the income of her son, who works as a taxi driver in one of the buses that transport passengers in northern Syria, adding that the new clothes are very expensive and do not suit your money.

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By virtue of Idlib's geographical location, especially the northern cities, it has become a thriving commercial center for goods coming from Turkey, and perhaps the most prominent of these goods is bale clothes, as most of them arrive from Europe through specialized dealers and are sold in kilograms.

Abdel-Aziz Al-Muhammad, who works in the trade of bale clothes, tells Al-Jazeera Net that European bale clothes shipments enter from Turkey to Syria via the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing bordering Idlib, where merchants buy those shipments at a wholesale price, and the price of the bag is estimated at a weight of 250 kilograms at about $ 100, and contains The bag contains approximately 300 pieces of clothing.

And Muhammad adds that the bale is divided into two parts, the first is the new unused clothes, and the second section is the second-hand clothes, which are the cheapest and most popular by the people at the selling seasons.

And Muhammad asserts that the bale clothes are not what many people think are old and worn out, "there are European brands and high quality and a large portion of them were not worn by their owners except once or twice as shoes as an example, and we are keen to wash clothes so that they look clean and tidy to customers."

The clothing seller points out that most of the ready-made garment factories in northern Syria have stopped working, which has contributed to the activity of bale trade, as very few of these factories still make clothes locally and at a very high cost, which raises the prices of new clothes.