Soft, light fabric in a kaleidoscope of colour spearheads summer fashion trends in Pakistan; the lawn business generates revenue worth billions of rupees.

Summer and lawn are synonymous. Every season a number of fashion brands unveil their collections of lawn in beautiful prints and unique styles. Women from all walks of life throng boutiques, exhibitions and cloth markets to select from an astounding variety of lawn fabric, an absolute essential for the summer wardrobe. Faisalabad is the textile capital of Pakistan thanks to its assorted textile products with lawn being a top seller all over the country as well as abroad.

Before partition Faisalabad had only five industrial units. According to the district government record, presently 328 textile units, some 12,000 household industries including 60,000 power loom factories work round the clock. Being the mainstay of our national economy, textile fetches the much needed foreign exchange, and Faisalabad is the major contributor by depositing its share through textile value-added products.

Summer in Faisalabad infuses a new life in the different markets of the clock tower bazaars including Jamia Gali, Mandar Gali, Gurdawara Gali, Anarkali, Arshad Market, Sattiana Road, etc.

Summer also brings prosperity for the entrepreneurs, shopkeepers and the people in the fabric business as this is the best time of the year to make money, says Sheikh Younus, a shopkeeper in Anarkali Bazaar. “In winter, women don’t buy much fabric because they wear warm clothes like sweaters, coats and shawls. But in summer, the demand increases because one needs several outfits.”

Nadeem Shera, a shop owner in Chiniot Bazaar says that good quality fabric and eye-catching designs are sometimes lost in the huge variety available but celebrity endorsement attracts more customers because then they come looking for a certain line or style or design that has caught their eye in a catalogue, poster or on a billboard.”

Shops are lined from floor to ceiling with bolts of lawn fabric including embroidered fabric, pre-packed lawn suits with embellishments and lacy panels. Embellishments demand a higher price for the outfit so the average prices vary from Rs800 to Rs1000 or more.

Malik Mohammad Ali, a ribbon dealer, says that the variety of ribbons and laces may cost from Rs60 to 1,000 per yard. “Sometimes women spend more on embellishments than on the fabric itself to make the outfit attractive.”

With fast changing fashion and trends, fabric catalogues are not only available at fabric and designer outlets but are also uploaded on the net, making it easy for the customers to select designs, colour and style and proceed to the selling point for purchase without any hassle.

Maqsood Lahori, a salesman at a cloth shop on Sattiana Road, a posh locality attracting high-end customers, says “Uploading brands online has made life much easier for us as now mostly customers come up with the designs that they have already selected.”

Recession, inflation and soaring price of material has also affected lawn customers. “There are many customers who have no problem buying high end product but a lot of people, who until a few years ago could easily buy many suits, now can only afford a couple of suits,” says Lahori. “Now they focus more on design and colour rather than quality.”

Due to low sale shopkeepers have to seek alternative arrangements to meet their daily expenses and stock clearance.

Sheikh Islam, who runs a shop in Chiniot Bazaar, says, “Due to price hike, many shopkeepers go to Friday, Sunday and Tuesday Bazaars, literally trying to sell their product at the doorstep.”

Shopkeepers and traders hold capitalists of the yarn market responsible for the high prices of all kinds of fabrics including lawn. Sheikh Adeel, a shopkeeper of Jamia Gali, a renowned cloth market in Kutchery Bazaar says, “Due to hoarding and satta by a number of well-off traders in the yarn market, the prices of yarn for lawn has gone beyond the reach of local customers. These investors are in a position now to make the market stable or to destabilise it at any time.” Hence the prices of lawn are rising in every season, he added.

According to Aftab Ahmed, a textile mill owner, the lawn business has tremendous potential. But the gas and electricity crisis has been disastrous for the textile industry and a number of factories were closed, rendering scores of workers jobless.

He said not only the lawn sector, but the entire range of textiles produced in Pakistan has incredible scope for growth which could cater to the needs and demands of the local and international markets as well. However, the government has to step forward and help entrepreneurs explore new international markets, he added.