Residents of Lebanon face an increasingly grim economic and financial situation, which has delivered a devastating blow to their socio-economic conditions and purchasing power, forcing them to shift their patterns of consumption. These patterns had changed little over the past 30 years, as the national currency was pegged at 1,500 Lebanese pounds to the dollar. Since 2019, its value has tumbled, reached around 100,000 Lebanese pounds to the greenback, with momentous consequences.
The financial collapse has severely impacted the middle and working classes, causing changes in consumption habits across the board. Middle class families fell into poverty overnight as the banks froze depositors’ funds and the purchasing power of their salaries plummeted by 80% or more (the public sector is the largest employer in Lebanon). The luckier ones, working in sectors that pay in “fresh dollars”, have recovered some their purchasing power and the value of their salaries.But many Lebanese, facing skyrocketing prices affecting all aspects of daily life and all sectors, have come up with alternative, more sustainable shopping and consumption habits. For example, there has been a significant decline in the use of paper and stationery, as schools, universities and institutions impose austerity measures due to the high costs of such materials. The average lifespan of clothes has crept up, and the life cycle of many other materials has increased. The culture of buying second-hand goods and bartering has grown, covering everything from cars to electronics and home furniture.
Many Lebanese have started to economise on their electricity consumption, only lighting rooms they actually occupy, in contrast to homes that used to be well-lit throughout. Today, in response to regular power cuts on the state-run electricity network and the spread of private electricity generators, people have begun to count every penny on their electricity bills. Rationalizing consumption, from electricity to wastewater, drinking water and internet usage, means less waste. The culture of hiring domestic workers has also receded.
Another phenomenon that has surged in popularity, both in cities and the countryside, is the spread of solar energy. This both helps bypass expensive private-sector electricity suppliers and provides electricity for longer periods of the day.
The rising cost of imports has also pushed many people to resort to locally manufactured alternatives, as well as spurring interest in home-grown food and demand for local agricultural products. The financial crisis has even produced shifts in the “economy of values”, including food, clothing and entertainment but also morals and daily behaviour, across broad segments of the Lebanese population.
Below, we highlight three professions that have witnessed changes in customer demand, revealing the shifts in Lebanese consumption patterns.
Shoemaker Steps up Skills as Demand Declines
Shoemaker Abu Yasser Hamid, 62 years old, nicknamed “The Honest Magician”, has a shop in Beirut’s Aisha Bakkar district. “My heart and my mind are in the profession of shoemaking,” he says. “I took it up as a permanent profession in 1996 after learning every stage, from beginning to end.”He says his work used to be solely manual, but today there are machines that have made the work of repairing shoes much easier and faster. Abu Yasser broadened his work and began “repairing women’s purses, travel bags, school bags, laptop bags and so on. Everything can be repaired, and my shop has become popular, because I find a solution for every malfunction.”
“Some people have neglected shoes for ten years then decided to reuse them,” he continues. “Before 2019, it was easy to throw away shoes and buy new ones. But today, people are struggling to buy new shoes every month, which is clear from the way they’re making more effort to fix really old shoes, even if they’ve become outdated and aren’t in fashion anymore.”
He confirms that having up-to-date brands is still important to girls and young men, but to people over 40 years, quality is more important. But growing demand for repairs has not shielded his business from its own problems.
“Before 2019, everything was normal, work was going well, and everyone would come to my shop for repairs, but after the financial collapse in Lebanon since the beginning of 2020, things have changed massively,” he says.
Lockdown measures during the coronavirus pandemic impacted his work for a year and a half. Then the dollar exchange rate, 8,000 liras by the end of 2020, surged to 15,000 in 2021, 37,000 in 2022 and finally stabilised at some 100,000 liras to the greenback this year.
“My profession has been hit hard because I buy supplies in hard currency,” Abu Yasser says. “So I’m forced to sell at high prices, as customers don’t have dollars, and want to pay in liras.” He says today he can only charge $5 or less for items or repairs that used to bring in $10. “It’s become difficult to demand huge sums of money from customers so that I can continue working,” he adds.
Abu Yasser explains that demand is now for repairs of locally made or Chinese shoes, while repairs of French shoes, which require imported materials and quality leather, are very expensive, and demand for them is in sharp decline.
A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
Abu Fadl is another shoemaker with a tiny store, measuring just one metre by two, in Beirut’s southern district of Dahiya.“In the past, my customers were all working class, but today, people from the middle class and even the rich come to my shop,” he says. “One customer came in with a pair of shoes he had thrown in the attic. He asked for it to be repaired so he could save money instead of buying new shoes.”
Abu Fadl believes that old, worn-out or out-of-fashion shoes are now becoming acceptable for use again. The 70-year-old refuses to reveal his full name, but he shares his long experience in the trade. “I’ve been working in this profession for 50 years and I deal with all classes,” he says.
Abu Fadl says that repairing women’s handbags has become more popular since the crisis, especially as prices of new handbags have skyrocketed. The resort to repairs also means less waste is produced by the clothing sector. Despite this, he adds: “In the past, this profession could support a large family, but today it’s no longer enough for one person.”
“The demand for shoe repair work has increased, but there’s no benefit from the revenue, because I spend it on raw materials and [private sector] electricity bills, as there’s no electricity from the state.”
Second-Hand Markets Help Clothe the Poor
The story began when Omar Itani donated some clothes to a waiter. They didn’t fit, so the waiter threw them away. Itani then started collecting used clothes from neighbours and friends, traveling around Lebanon by bus with another friend to sell them in public squares. This was the seed of an idea: the FabricAID Foundation. Itani developed the project throughout 2016, officially founded it in 2017, and legally registered it in the trade registry in 2018.FabricAID’s Marketing Director, Loulia Halwani, describes the organisation as a social enterprise. It collects clothes, sorts, washes and irons them, and then sells them again at nominal prices on the second-hand market. Halwani, 29, believes the prices it offers are affordable for poor and even very poor Lebanese, with some items going for as little as 50 cents.
The group also runs “Souk Okaz”, a market that opened in 2020 after the financial crisis. It targets middle class Lebanese reeling from the blow to their salaries and purchasing power. “The middle class used to be able to afford international brands, but now they can’t, as salaries can barely cover food and drink,” said Halwani.
“The market’s goal is to give people a dignified shopping experience that includes aesthetics and pleasure, where someone can choose the clothes that suit them, go into the fitting room, be helped by the staff, feel that they’ve chosen clothes they like, pay with dignity, and then leave with a bag with a nice design and go home,” she said.
“The main goal is to allow people to have a shopping experience at reasonable, low prices, which is a very different thing from giving clothes away for free.”
FabricAID’s value lies in the fact it is providing solutions not just across Lebanon but also beyond. It has launched branches in Egypt and Jordan, where Halwani says there are 77 million people who cannot afford new clothes. “Our project is sustainable and secures its running costs from several sources, through networking with international companies, in order to take the costs off the shoulders of citizens with limited incomes,” she said.
The project even finds a use for worn-out garments, recycling fabric from them to make bags, purses and other items. The organisation now has 100 sewing machines. “We opened a sewing school in Lebanon and began training. The goal of the school will be to teach people how to sew new clothes from old clothes,” Halwani said.
Waste Not, Want Not
Janet Khadra, born in 1971, is a resident of Ain El Remmaneh in Beirut. She opened a tailor’s workshop four years ago and has witnessed a transformation in Lebanese consumers’ living conditions, consumption patterns and purchasing power since the pound was floated against the dollar in 2019.“In the past, my work was less complicated. Most customers just wanted me to shorten trousers or a dress, or change zippers and buttons. Today, I fix the same piece of clothing several times, and try to repair the damage again each time. Sometimes they’re damaged in more than one place,” she says.
“My work has become more difficult. Sometimes I repair leather clothes, or I change the cuffs of shirts and or jacket collars. Sometimes I add fabric to patch clothes up and make them wearable again.”
Her work is no longer limited to sewing. “It’s as if a piece of clothing has been made again… the work has become more difficult and people have less money,” she says.
Janet also believes that poorer Lebanese have even started going without repairs as they can no longer afford to pay a tailor. “In the past, even the poor would go to my shop and ask me for some repairs.”
Many people have begun to “roll the bottom of their trousers up at the feet to avoid having to shorten them,” she says. “Lots of people have begun mending their clothes at home. People have gone back to mending family clothes at home, stitching buttons with a needle and thread. There are lots clothing fixes now that are… unconventional.”
Janet believes that the middle classes have started “repairing clothes that would previously have been thrown away.” Those who can still afford repairs today are the people who used to be well-off. “The poor don’t even come into my shop anymore unless I repair their clothes for free,” she said.
While the Lebanese crisis has given rise to some more sustainable and environmentally friendly consumption behaviour, the country’s environmental crises have also been exacerbated by unsustainable behavior, including the high rate of logging to get fuel for heating and cooking. This has affected many governorates, especially in northern Lebanon. There has also been an increase in fishing and hunting, as government systems to control such activities have collapsed.
November 2023