Just a few months ago, the TDAP was spinning London dreams; of double-decker buses swathed in truck-art, the Grand Hall of the Olympia mapped out a la the G.T. Road and royal attendees at the Pakistani fashion show in Lancaster Hall. Now, out of the blue, the London plans have been ‘postponed’. People in the know recognise this as the politically correct way of stating ‘cancelled’.
“We hope to hold the Aalishan exhibit in London at a later, more conducive time,” says TDAP Secretary Rabiya Javeri. That’s a decidedly vague statement that leaves so many questions unanswered.
It doesn’t make sense for Rabiya to enlist designers Nilofer Shahid, Faiza Samee, Rizwan Beyg and Shehla Chatoor to create elaborate collections for the fashion show in London, only to ask them to halt work a few weeks later. “My collection was already underway and I was very excited to be showcasing alongside some of the country’s most prestigious couturiers,” recalls Shehla. “But then, I was told that the fashion show was cancelled.”
The Trade Development Authority Pakistan’s (TDAP) Aalishan designs on London have seemingly gone kaput — and there’s no official reason why
Earlier this February, in a talk held in collaboration with the British Council, Rabiya had elaborated on why a trade fair in London made absolute sense given that the United Kingdom was Pakistan’s sixth strongest economic partner in export. Then what brought about this change of heart? With the TDAP refraining from comment, perhaps answers can be sought by reading between the lines.
In a letter published in the Business Recorder on April 14, 2015 by Mr Shabir Ahmed, Chairman of Pakistan Bedwear Exporters Association, the plan for Aalishan Pakistan in London was derided as a ‘Milan and Paris-inspired fashion extravaganza with lots of models and music thrown in’. According to him, Pakistani export continued to suffer with trade fairs not managing to make ‘a whit of a difference’.
It is clear that a faction of the country’s exporters feels that the TDAP’s resources are wasted on trade fairs. It is quite evident also that this faction does not believe in the export potential of fashion or the image-building that can be achieved through music.
Coupling this critique with the considerable expenses of orchestrating an event in London, could the TDAP have gotten cold feet? It boils down to a question of who steers the TDAP’s policies forward — Secretary Rabiya Javeri, who up till a few weeks ago was waxing lyrical on her London plans, or other entities who feel that there could be better ways of building Pakistan’s export other than trade fairs?
Or perhaps, Aalishan Pakistan in London met its premature demise because major organisations expected to take part in the event developed doubts?
Abid Umer, CEO of Al-Karam, who had initially planned to take part in the four-day exhibit at Olympus explains, “We were eager to be part of the trade fair because London is an important market for Al-Karam, with a third of our online sales generated from the UK. Still, the costs involved in taking part in the event including airfare, transportation of stock, hotel and day-to-day expenses was a concern for us. Aalishan Pakistan in London was being touted as a grand affair and inevitably, that meant heavy-duty expenditures incurred by the TDAP as well as by everyone else involved. It’s what made us decide to withdraw our participation from the event.”
Another prospective participant, the SEFAM group, refrained from committing to Aalishan Pakistan in London altogether. The group, with a host of retail brands to its credit such as Bareeze, Kayseria, Leisure Club and Minnie Minors, had actively been visible at the same exhibit in India last year. This time round, Creative Director of Kayseria Waleed Zaman felt that the London venture couldn’t yield profits. “We couldn’t even manage to cover costs at Aalishan Pakistan in India and there were no business-to-business meetings that could assist us in forming stronger economic ties in India. Taking part in trade fairs abroad is expensive and we didn’t feel that participating in Aalishan London would be commercially viable for us.”
The hit-and-miss success of Aalishan Pakistan in India is certainly a factor that may have dissuaded industrial hotshots to place their faith in the much expensive London project. Due to political factors and general difficulties in dealings with India, many of the exhibit’s participants in India had been unable to get their visas on time. As a result, there had been last-minute hitches in setting up certain stalls while designer Shamaeel Ansari, scheduled to take part in the fashion show preceding the exhibit, was unable to showcase her work.
“The problems that occurred were unfortunate but TDAP was certainly not at fault,” observes Abid Umer, whose Al-Karam retail standpoint had featured at the expo in India. “India is a tricky market to try and enter. Perhaps it would be better if the TDAP now shifts focus away from London, with its considerable costs, and tap into other viable promising markets for Pakistani exports, such as Bangladesh and the UAE.”
But do these teething issues indicate that the TDAP should refrain from investing into trade fairs altogether? Export may not have seen an exponential rise yet but aren’t trade events and shows — both abroad and locally — supposed to be long-term investments, expected to yield results over a matter of years rather than immediately? Retracting to the letter in the Business Recorder, the TDAP’s trade events were likened to ‘Meena Bazaars’. Admittedly, the TDAP’s machinery needs to function more smoothly. Until the organisation gathers its bearings, Pakistan’s international trade endeavors seem haphazard compared to those of other, better-organised, more-experienced countries.
But how could any improvements be made if the TDAP’s trade expos were halted altogether? Exhibits abroad are not just a way to bolster trade; they also help in a country’s image-building.
A case in point is India’s ‘Make in India’ pitch as partner country in the Hanover industrial technological fair last month, promoting India’s investment potential through meetings, conferences, spurts of local song and dance and the image of the ‘Indian lion’ plastered all over the city. India must have invested considerably into the promotions; perhaps an effort that our floundering economy can’t replicate at the moment. Smaller, less grandiose steps can be taken, though. Aalishan Pakistan in London could have been one of them.
It’s no wonder then that faced with inconsistent official trade efforts, export in Pakistan is growing privately rather than through government assistance. This is particularly true for fashion. The export potential of our indigenous craftsmanship and more experienced ateliers has often been touted but the industry is yet to haul in export orders for the country. Instead, slowly, Khaadi, through private investment and franchises, has managed to inch into the UK, Malaysia and the UAE. Similarly, there are Bareeze stores in UK, India and the UAE and Nishat Linen standpoints in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Canada. Export in fashion could multiply should the fashion industry and the TDAP manage to see eye-to-eye.
“The onus is on the government to subsidise textile and fashion-houses so that they can at least meet costs if not generate profits at TDAP’s exhibits abroad,” points out Waleed Zaman. “With consistent exhibits, we may then eventually manage to build a market outside of Pakistan.”
For now, though, designers and textile houses gain privately through their limited international endeavors. International organisers orchestrate private ticketed Pakistan Fashion Week events in locations like London, Doha and Australia. The fashion may be stale, the attendance lackluster but the growing number of Pakistan Fashion Weeks popping onto the horizon indicates that there is certainly an international demand — and a market — for local designers.
Brands tend to gain media mileage through fashion. Should the TDAP choose to do so, this publicity could be generated for the country as a whole. Privately gained orders can be augmented through official support. Trade fairs help, subsidising the industry helps, training and directing designers who have the talent but lack the know how regarding export standards will also certainly help.
But does the TDAP want to help at all? Or does it want to build export in other directions, in other ways. The TDAP needs to decide, and quickly.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 17th, 2015
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