WITH summer just round the corner, the phenomenon of cotton lawn, as can only be expected, is going to hit another high this year. Pakistan lawn industry is definitely among those very few things which have shown promisingly among those very few things which have shown promisingly positive rise in recent years. Those which have observed this transition of lawn closely have reason to believe that it is definitely not a fluke. In fact, the enormous success is owed to a very strategic image shift, obviously backed by tens of millions of rupees …. Or may be more.
The gigantic billboards with stimulating photo shoots of top models exhibiting tempting lawn prints speak volumes about the strength of the multi-million rupee industry. Every woman who moves via any major thoroughfare, which looks more like a ‘Lawn Warzone’ during the summer, wants one before she reaches the end of it. While lawn is another reason of thrill in Pakistani women’s life, it has just proved to be an additional wallop for the men. A lawless country and a lawnless woman are apparently an equally grave concern!
We still remember when Vaneeza Ahmed, the pioneer of the modern branded lawn, first came up with her brand, the idea had seemed amusingly bizarre, but the audience welcomed it warmly and since then it has all been a whoosh for the branded lawn market.
Those who jumped onto the bandwagon a wee bit late ended up needing the Kareenas and Sonams to build the urge for their produce, but even that was not necessary soon afterwards. With the much needed financial muscle, the leading textile manufactures like Gul Ahmed, Al-Karam and Orient hired celebrated fashion designers to further modernism their existing lawn products.
In a few years, their respective lawns were so well established in the market that there was hardly any need for an association with a designer’s name. On the fillip side, even the designers learned that they can make far more money in launching their own brands.
The designers launching their own brands then had to push the wheel the other ways and outsourcing the procurement, manufacturing and printing of the fabric, focusing more on designs, marketing and sales.
The craze of modern cotton lawn is still fresh, but is cannot be categorised as a fad anymore; it has proven its hold. From the times when nobody preferred wearing the lackluster fabric to the time when you will have some difficulty finding any women or, in fact, any grownup who doesn’t recognise any onward of Deepak Parwani , HSY, Nida Azwer, Ali Zeeshan, Zaheer Abbas, Warda Saleem, Omar Saeed , Bareeze , Kayseria, Gul Ahmed , Ittehad , Five Star , Al-Karam , Firdous and Lakhani. As for the scale of employment this industry has generated in recent years, there are endless avenues lawn marketing offers to photographers, models, stylists, media/marketing agencies and obviously the blue collar workers.
By Ahmed Affan