Iran's high and mighty may poke fun at the simple sports jacket of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, their fundamentalist president, but the versatile garment is so fashionable with many of his young supporters that businessmen are ordering more from China.

"Every day, a couple of youngsters, including students, come in and ask for what they call 'Mr President jacket' or 'Mr Ahmadi-Nejad jacket'," says Ali, a shopkeeper in Bab-Homayoon, adjacent to the old bazaar in southern Tehran and a bustling shopping haunt for the less well-off. "The jacket the president wears is cotton and generally sells at $20."