“Talking Fashion: Policy, Infrastructure and Sustainability’, declared the title of the talk, organised recently by the Fashion Pakistan Council (FPC) and the British Council, implying a fair amount of ‘fashion as business’ analysis and a scrutiny of the highs and lows of Pakistan’s nascent fashion industry.

The FPC’s involvement ensured the attendance of the fashion industry’s crème de la crème and the British Council’s participation hinted at the prospect of fashion export and a look at Pakistani fashion from an international standpoint.

In a panel hosted by British Council’s Country Director Peter Upton and consisting of Secretary Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Rabiya Javeri, MNA Nafisa Shah and British fashion consultant Craig Speller, a gimlet eye was turned towards the nitty-gritties driving fashion forward and the road bumps that inevitably come along the way.

There was talk of ‘commerce’, ‘inter-regional trade’, lamentations over a lack ‘industry academics’ and plenty of references to ‘brand sustainability’ and the all-pervasive ‘Internet bubble’.

Designer Maheen Khan brought up the plight of young designers wanting to set up their own businesses, Inaaya’s Naushaba Brohi highlighted the need for developing rural entrepreneurship while Kayseria’s Waleed Zaman bemoaned the predominant lack of synergy between the fashion fraternity and potential investors. Sri Lanka’s Linda Speldewinde was placed as an example; a designer who, with the support of the British Council, has played an important role in developing her country’s fashion industry.

There are so many cogwheels that need to be oiled and fine-tuned before Pakistani fashion export even takes off, let alone brings in profits!

Wrapping it up neatly was Speller’s presentation focusing on the British fashion industry, highlighting its phenomenal growth from a handful of ateliers to a money-minting, colossal empire with well-established worldwide trade ties.

A model that, in a perfect world — devoid of terrorist attacks, gas and electricity shortages and clashing, gargantuan egos — Pakistani designers should be able to follow. Unfortunately, the world we struggle to live in is a far cry from the safe, developed sanctuary of Great Britain — but that doesn’t mean that we should stop striving for a better future or, putting things in context, cease aiming to build an export-savvy, profit-churning fashion industry. This is precisely what the talk highlighted.

Presently, Pakistan’s regional trade is primarily with China, Vietnam and Cambodia but Europe is a market that can’t be ignored, pointed out Rabiya Javeri. The GSP Plus status allows Pakistani exporters to trade at zero-rated duty and this, in itself, can assist in propelling trade forward.

With the aid of the British Council, stronger links can be forged with the British creative industries. Export within Pakistan’s creative industry, said Rabiya, is on the rise, having increased from $6 million last year to $9 million.  

Platforms may be provided, visas and paperwork may be dealt with and umpteen trips may be organised but unless a design house has the production facilities and quality standards that meet international requirements, mass export just isn’t possible.

These rosy figures, of course, refer to the creative industry on the whole and ring true particularly for Pakistan’s promising textile trade. Fashion trade is limited to a miniscule, almost negligible fraction of Pakistan’s overall export revenue. Would the British Council be willing to open new trade avenues for Pakistani fashion?

Peter Upton, Rabiya Javeri and Craig Speller

“We’re here to provide our expertise and help out with any endeavor that the Pakistani fashion industry may take in Great Britain,” said Upton. To this end, the Council has compiled a comprehensive report titled the ‘Cultural and Creative Industries in Pakistan’.

Following up on its agenda, the British Council has also entered into talks with big gun Al-Karam, discussing participation in events taking place in Great Britain and representing local designers by hiring them for capsule lines.

For only the designers themselves can wield the clout to generate actual international trade. Platforms may be provided, visas and paperwork may be dealt with and umpteen trips may be organised but unless a design house has the production facilities and quality standards that meet international requirements, mass export just isn’t possible.

There are so many cogwheels that need to be oiled and fine-tuned before fashion export even takes off, let alone bring in profits. As the British Council lauded the inherent talent and rural crafts within Pakistan, one was reminded of another conference that took place long, long ago in 2007 — when Simon Lock, the Managing Director of IMG Fashion for Asia Pacific endeavoured and subsequently failed to orchestrate the very first ‘Pakistan Fashion Week’.

While the British Council is certainly not making tall promises of fashion weeks, we get a bit jaded even as we recognise that its support could possibly provide new opportunities for local fashion.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen the industry bifurcate into two disparate councils; we’ve seen designers bask in fashion week rave reviews and never manage to translate their clothes to retail; via social media, we’ve trailed after designers taking part in shows abroad but never bringing back any orders and we’ve cringed when some of our favorite designers have resorted to becoming mere copycats.

When Rabiya Javeri talks about decorating a London double-decker in Pakistani truck-art and setting up a Pakistani fashion show in London, we want to know who the show’s attendees will be? Will they be the usual milieu of Indian and Pakistani housewives out looking for the perfect bridal jora or stockists wanting to buy en masse and journalists from prestigious fashion publications?

Maheen Khan addresses the panel while Waleed Zaman of Kayseria looks on

Perhaps the British Council could assist in bringing the right audience to a Pakistani show in London, thereby lifting it above that undignified ‘fashion for entertainment’ status.

And which designers will actually be part of TDAP’s show? Historically, the TDAP’s lead some very successful international endeavours — last year’s Aalishan Pakistan comes to mind — but it has also organised quite a few shows abroad where all the participating designers bring back are fabulous Instagram images of their trips.

“International fashion weeks may not always generate orders but they do help you gain experience and establish contacts that may eventually lead to business,” explains designer Adnan Pardesy, who took part in the Amsterdam Fashion Week in 2013.

Still, in a country where many outstanding designers prefer to remain exclusive to couture — Shehla Chatoor and the House of Kamiar Rokni come to mind — it is important to discern which designers deserve to be given a platform abroad: the bridal couturier out for a bespoke order or two or enterprising business-savvy designer labels like Karma, Nida Azwer, Sania Maskatiya or Elan or bigwigs like Khaadi, Kayseria, Sana Safinaz or Sapphire with the production facilities and quality control required for export? As CEO FPC Wardha Saleem says, “The right people, with a sound understanding of what works in the international market, need to represent Pakistan in international shows.”

Kendall Robbins, Programme Manager Architecture, Design, Fashion, recalls her experience with Pakistani designers participating in the International Fashion Showcase, organised by the British Council and British Fashion Council during London Fashion Week, “They were undoubtedly talented but they came without catalogs or lookbooks, presenting their Facebook pages as their web-pages.

How do they expect stockists or buyers to take them seriously if they come unprepared?”

This is perhaps where the British Council can assist local fashion the most. “It would be wonderful if the British Council could use its expertise to train the local industry for the international market before providing opportunities for them abroad,” says fashion retailer Zahir Rahimtoola.

A talk like this helps and as local fashion stumbles, falters and ultimately finds it way, there need to be many more — pointing out the weaknesses within the industry and providing opportunities in the international market. But for customers and the world at large to take Pakistani fashion seriously, designers need to take themselves and their businesses seriously first.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 15th, 2015

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