Here is a little about Qatar’s ‘thobe economics’
Have you ever wondered how much money Qataris spend on their traditional thobes?
The thobe is a traditional uniform that men wear in the Arab world. The term and design of thobes differ from one region/country to another.
As the economy keeps crashing, I feel people are becoming much more aware about how much they spend on their thobes.
Qatari men and children usually visit the tailor for a new thobe once every six months. Of course, this does not include those special thobes you buy for attending a wedding or during Eid celebrations.
Thobes are tailored twice a year for two main reasons.
First, a thobe can easily get worn out. Qatar is hot and humid for most part of the year, so people shower often and wear more than one thobe a day.
The second reason is that kids grow up really quickly and teenagers can go through so many body shifts enroute to adulthood. Even adults who gain and lose weight find it compulsory to tailor new thobes every 6 months.
The thobe also represents an economic discourse. It has so many factors that contribute to the productivity of our lifestyles.
I consider myself as an example of an average consumer. I spend upto QR5,000 a year on thobes. I pay QR2,500 to tailor up to six thobes and sirwals each - sirwals are the long pants that we wear under the thobe).
Some of you might consider this amount to be too much. But in reality, it is a reasonable price especially as it is a specific tailored product, specifically made for the customer.
Another important function for traditional thobes is to help with the time factor. I am literally not required to use my brain cells or waste time in the morning thinking of what I need to wear. Every morning, a thobe is simply waiting for me to be worn. However, the question of what to wear definitely consumes time when we travel outside the Arab world.
The only downside I find for traditional thobes is that it can easily get stain marks from food (which I'm known for) and dirt.
Finally, for those who think the prices are unreasonable, I only spoke about the thobes and not about the traditional and modern headgears, cufflinks and sandals. That is a separate article in itself. More on that later.
What are your thoughts regarding the thobe?
Daaa AlRumaihi,
Lungis are economically viable and you can purchase as many as you want in a year for a fraction of your thobe's cost.
Fun part is when a person wearing thobe cannot speak Arabic and knows only Bangali,Malayallam etc.
If you got money, spend as much as you can on thobes or any other dress. Your money, your decision.
Not sure why the need to waste so much money?. Bought 6 decent quality Thobes from Saudi for 300QR.
I used to wear a thobe in private for my Cuban Shotputter - she found it "stimulating" :O)
5k a year for clothes that one wears regularly is not extravagant... You're getting 12 regularly used dresses for the 5k and I feel that is reasonable; there are tacky and tasteless t-shirts going for 500 rials in any of the fashion outlets so 5k for a year's supply of classy looking custom tailored thobes is perfectly acceptable...I personally would love to wear a sexy black thobe but the arabs/locals might mistake me to be Arab and speak to me in Arabic and then laugh when they realize my Arabic language fluency is intermediate at best :-)
To each his own.. The thobe is a great way of keeping part of the culture alive
The Thobe , the best Dress , which i feel to wear always , easy and comfortable at all the TImes :)