Welcome Colony, a resettlement colony known for the communal tension that rears its ugly head here once in a while, is in fact a jean making factory. In the bylanes of this colony, there are over 300 shops that sell jeans, largely with fake logos, and an equal number of units that make them. Every brand and every style, from tights to six-pocket jeans, are on display in this locality at an average retail price of Rs 250. Lee and Pepe rub shoulders with local brands, Rado and Killer. Entire families are involved in the cutting, stitching and packaging of jeans. And then they sell it in market, primarily in Gandhinagar and Karol Bagh. The rest is picked up by dealers from outside Delhi and the profit goes into the coffers of the residents of Welcome Colony.

``Any brand and any type of jeans that is available anywhere can be made here,'' says Shabab Ahmed. ``We go by the trends in the market and the requirement of our clients. The material going out of this market is of high quality. In fact, many of us have bought hi-tech equipment, the very same that big brands use.''

The fashion statement today, according to the tailors of Welcome Colony, is tight jeans with six pockets and made off non-diamond material (polyester-cotton mix). This material is apparently better than the usual cloth used to make jeans because it is lighter and falls better. For those who want to stick to regular jeans, they have the corduroys and cottons.

Walking down the narrow bylanes of the colony, you will bump into big pots of bubbling dye in all hues, heaps of semi-finished jeans and cloth hung out to dry. And all along will be the whirring noise of sewing machines.

There is a story behind the formation of this ``jeans concentration colony''. It all started with khaki knickers. Tailors working out their homes in the colony stitched school uniforms and gave it to the shops that sold them further. ``Earlier they all worked for shopkeepers in Gandhinagar or other places that sold school uniforms,'' explains Syed Zahurul Islam. ``Then a couple of people started opening their own shops and did well. Soon business picked up.'' The only difference was that khaki shorts got replaced by jeans.

Interestingly, most of the tailors are from Sambal in Moradabad district. They were the first people who opened shop and they still dominate activity in the area. ``We have the hunur,'' says Chotte Khan. ``Anyway, every shop in the area, no matter how big or small it is, is making a profit. We deal in lakhs here. Nobody knows about us only because of the communal aspect which is always highlighted. But people probably pick up our jeans in some other shop in some other locality.''