KA RACHI: The second-hand clothing markets or lunda bazaars in the city are stocking up on warm clothing, quilts and blankets ahead of winter, but there is yet some time before the shopping crowd throngs the shops for woollies.

Abdul Mateen at the Lighthouse Market on M.A. Jinnah Road told Dawn that the crowd they were seeing at the moment was only 20 per cent of the usual winter shopping crowds. `Winter actually arrives after it rains here. That`s when the cold winds blow in Karachi and customers come here looking for warm clothes and blankets,` he says.

`The 20 per cent customers that we are seeing right now are the people heading out to colder places such as Murree, Kashmir or anywhere upnorth,` the shop owner pointed out.

And right on cue, out of the corner of your eye, you spot a mother helping her young children, a daughter and son, try on woollen and fur jumpsuits. The children`s father shares that he has been posted to Punjab where the weather is far colder than Karachi. The little daughter is happy to have found a pink fur jumpsuit that fits her perfectly and the mother seems glad.

Shayan, at another shop selling coats and jackets, says that many times they have also come upon coats f rom abroad with their tags still intact.

`They are absolutely new so we sell those for Rs1,500 each. The old ones, meanwhile we sell for Rs800 or so,` he says.

He adds that the big clothing stores abroad get rid of their unsold stock every season, and the discarded things reach here in bulk inside containers. `The clothes come from America, Canada and the UK,` he adds.

`Since they are not locally stitched, they are also of a far better quality and last longer,` he points out.

The same goes for quilts and blankets.

`Everything we sell here is already washedand disinfected. But for their own peace of mind, customers also have them dry-cleaned or washed themselves. And everything looks f resh and new.

It is because they are made for foreign markets and happen to be of superior quality,` says Anwar Khan, at a stall selling second hand quilts and blankets.

Another favourite every year in winter is the second-hand jackets. Most of them are green or khaki, black, brown or beige in colour. But this year you also see bright colours such as blue, yellow and red. There are bomber jackets, insulated down coats, parka and duffel coats with or without hoods.

These days you see them selling like hot cakes off carts and the back of small pickup trucks.

Some are second-hand, some army surplus but all cheap and quality stuf f.

`First of all you don`t even get to see insulated coats, parkas here. And even if you do, they will not be anything that you can buy for Rs300 to Rs700. Their prices start from Rs6,000. And those expensive locally-made jackets wear out in two years. But the old ones last forever,` says a customer sifting through the heaps of jackets on a cart near Empress Market.