Indo-Pak cross-border fashion gains momentum

Fashion is one such industry where even cross-border designers earn popularity in each-others’ domain. This year, India

took the initiative in promoting cross-border exchange by inviting four Pakistani designers to showcase their designs at The Lakmé Fashion Week, held in Mumbai.

It was in 2012, the Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) launched its first exclusive store ‘PFDC-The Boulevard’ in New Delhi to promote Pakistani designs in India. The launch was followed by a fashion show, where 18 designers displayed 3 creations each. Before that, in March 2005, Bareeze launched its store in the capital and during the same month Asad Ahmed, a designer from Karachi, opened doors to his retail outlet ‘Images’. Both the stores sell machine-embroidered dress material in a variety of colours and textures.

On the other hand, some Indian designers have been catering to a large clientele in Pakistan. The Raymond Shop sells suits, jackets, trousers and shirts for men in Karachi. Designers Ritu Kumar, Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal have their own sections at Ensemble which has branches in both Lahore and Karachi. In 2013, Sahiba, a renowned textile manufacturing business from India hired Maria B to design their lawn collection. The products sent to India included Pashmina salwar kameez suits. The same year, Pakistan’s Five Star Textile Group hired J.J. Valaya from India to design their lawn collection for the season.

Other prominent Pakistani designers, such as Umar Saeed, Faraz Mannan, Shehla Chatoor, Faiza Samee, Rizwan Beyg, Sania Maskatiya and Nickie Nina have also taken their products across the border. Sana Safeenaz and Crescent Lawn also have a huge market for their textiles in India.

While Indian designers are making waves with their creations across the globe, when designs made in Pakistan travel to India, they quickly fly off the shelves. Recently, when Pakistani designers exhibited their collections of suits, embroidered salwar-kameez and colourful lehengas at Dilli Haat in New Delhi, over a fortnight, they got a tremendous response.

A unique feature of Pakistani designs is its articulate finishing as well as complex yet beautiful embroidery on smooth fabric. When such elegant pieces of garments are exhibited at the annual India International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan, they witness highest sales as well as footfall.