INSTEP Magzine

The Sana Safinaz Lawn exhibitions are still the talk of the town. We know women went berserk, queuing up at The Imperial in Karachi hours before the exhibition was due to start, and that there were traffic jams in both Karachi and Lahore thanks to the consumer madness that ensued. One can only imagine what the scene in Faisalabad was like, where a major portion of the Sana Safinaz clientele lives - Faisalabadis regularly fly down to Karachi to get Sana Safinaz's bridal couture and prêt, and furniture!

One heard many a joke about the imagery of fashion hungry hordes of Pakistani women stampeding through the exhibition. Perhaps the best repartee one came across was the exclamation "Pakistani women are cattle!" followed by the wisecrack "And they graze on lawns!" Great witticism indeed, but one wishes they grazed peacefully; there was shoving and jostling involved and they would raze you to the ground if they could. Amidst firebreathing dragons there were also peaceful women who waited patiently for up to two or three hours to buy their chosen joras. It's good they did - the planned three day exhibition lasted all of two days before stock ran out.

However, as much as the SS lawn phenomenon merits wisecracks - any civilized person did go quite berserk at the venue - this was the business of fashion at its maximum potential, Pakistan style! After all, the debut of Kate Moss' range for Topshop saw a similar response in London when it was launched. The consumer craziness was repeated when it debuted in New York.

Topshop is a major clothing chain store that operates in over 20 countries around the globe. Sir Philip Green has the second largest clothing retail empire in the UK after Marks and Spencer and so he pays Kate Moss a couple of million dollars every year, provides her with a fabulous global platform, rakes in even more profits for himself and makes Topshop a million times more hip by having her on board

Clothing retail has a long way to go in Pakistan, buyers like Zeba Husain and Zahir Rahimtoola have presence in two cities while Arshad Tareen has presence in three. On the 17th of this month Zahir Rahimtoola will take 16 Pakistani designers to Dubai to stock regularly at Studio 8, a multi label store there. Meanwhile retailers like Chen One and Sanaulla don't bring designers on board to do a line. Synergies haven't been created yet and clothing retailers remain quite oblivious as to how fashion can boost their profile. Until this happens, the business of clothing retail won't flourish .

There have definitely been steps taken in fashion retail with brands like Amir Adnan (and FNKAsia Khaadi (and Khaadi Khaas), Karma and Ego coming in. The most recent addition is Sheep that has been established by a textiles trading company. However, Ego and Sheep aren't really platforms for budding designers. Meanwhile, Amir Adnan owns the FNKAsia enterprise and his wife Huma takes care of the design front. Ditto with Karma where Saad Ali owns the growing chain of stores that sell clothing credited to one designer, his spouse Maheen Kardar.

Apart from multi label stores that carry designer clothes on a commission or space rental basis, there is no one to take fashion further. The business of fashion here remains largely about each designer for himself. One wishes for collaborations between clothing retailers and the fashion world that are so needed to drive the business wheel forward. Thakoon, an increasingly popular name in the US, got his big break when Anna Wintour recommended him to Gap to make a line for them. He hasn't looked back since. It's not rocket science.

In Pakistan, it is the big guns of the textile industry who are cashing in on the value addition provided by fashion. Various mills have picked up designers like Sonya Battla and HSY and models like ZQ and Vaneeza to design lawn prints for them, which are then sold at a premium at exhibitions. It's what Sana Safinaz did till last year but this year they took their business one step further.

Previously, they had followed the usual route of making lawn for a textile manufacturer, this year, they got a textile mill to make lawn for them! After cost, all profits of the substantial sales go to Sana Safinaz. Marvelously enough, the sale of their lawn is like the sale of their prêt at stores in both Pakistan and India - Sana Safinaz sell out much faster than they can restock, even though they have been increasing capacity. Next year we can expect the SS Lawn enterprise to get even bigger. In terms of where they have taken their business within the parameters of Pakistani fashion, their achievement is far greater than that of Kate Moss. Here's hoping one or more of our big guns of the textile or clothing retail world decide to emulate Sir Philip Green... and soon.