North Korean winter apparel imports have expanded beyond basics to include $690 mink coats, silk-wool blend suits and fashion-forward women’s skirts, with traders using a costlier border route to circumvent strict customs inspections of luxury goods.
A source in China told Daily NK recently that the recent clothing imports include sweaters, cardigans, wool and cashmere knitwear, down jackets made with duck or goose feathers and lightweight puffer coats.
Notably, top-shelf mink coats costing 5,000 Chinese yuan ($690) a piece are also being imported in considerable numbers. Items with mink fur only on the collar and hood (which are still quite expensive) are reportedly in high demand with well-to-do North Koreans.
North Korean traders have also been importing sizable quantities of women’s dresses and skirts in the categories of pleated, pencil and flared.
Pleated skirts are so-called because they have vertical pleats at regular intervals around the waist. Pencil skirts are slim-fitting straight skirts running from the waist to below the knees. Flared skirts curve outward toward the hem in an “A” shape.
North Korean traders familiarize themselves with fashion lingo by browsing famous foreign magazines and shopping websites. They then use that lingo when placing orders and making deals, sometimes to the confusion of Chinese brokers, the source remarked.
Traders use fashion magazine terminology when ordering premium materials
Men’s suits are another fashion item that are frequently imported by North Korean traders, who have been ordering premium materials such as silk and wool blends. When it comes to dress shirts, most shipments focus on classic understated colors such as white and light blue.
In addition to standard apparel, footwear such as men’s and women’s dress shoes and winter work boots and accessories including gloves, scarves and stockings are also being imported to North Korea in large quantities.
Relatedly, North Korean traders are routing apparel and accessories from Hunchun, a city in Jilin province, to Rason, and from there to Pyongyang and other major cities in North Korea.
Considering the heavy traffic between Dandong in Liaoning province and Sinuiju in North Pyongan province, why would North Korean traders use the Hunchun-Rason corridor, where transportation costs run at least twice as high? The reason is that these shipments include large numbers of luxury items that the Chinese customs authorities don’t allow to be shipped into North Korea.
The source explained that North Korean traders prefer the Hunchun-Rason corridor because the Quanhe customs authorities are not as rigorous in their inspections as in Dandong, where officials strictly inspect shipments of goods bound for North Korea.
“The categories of goods shipped into North Korea vary with the season, but imports are likely to remain focused on winter apparel through the end of the month. I suspect that in January we’ll see an uptick in spring attire and electronics—including laptops and desktop computers—that are needed for the new semester,” the source said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
