An Ethnic transition

Known for its western wear collections, Outfitters launches an eastern fashion line for women.

LAHORE:

“I need fuss-free clothes yaar,” shouted a 30 something Sana from across the changing stalls inside Outfitters’ latest offering, Ethnic. “I just cannot be bothered with all these lawn exhibitions!”

Lawn may be ‘the’ thing this summer but with a price tag of un-stitched lawn fabric going up to Rs5,500, there are not many women willing to go for it. “It’s just lawn for heaven’s sake,” exclaimed an irritated lady, Mubruka Usman. “Who can bother with tailors in this heat, and additionally a thousand people will be wearing the same prints,” she said.

With the summers escalating, electricity will soon start playing hide and seek, and certainly nobody has the patience to bear with tailors anymore when markets are lined with ready-to-wear stores. The latest brand to join the ranks of ‘desi’ pret is Outfitters. About time actually, that a local retail brand, albeit in western wear, becomes the torch bearer for cool ‘desi’ wear.

As a major textile concern, Outfitters’ parent company could have opted for entering the lawn game this summer, yet they chose instead to launch their own swanky store for pret wear. “We have always tried to be different,” spoke Kamran Khursheed, the CEO of Outfitters. “We want to do challenging work. Hence, we didn’t do lawn.”

It’s a great business move for an established retail brand, but since the brand is identified with western clothing, wouldn’t it dilute the image that Outfitters has worked hard to achieve? “We had been observing since the inception of our brand, that the sales in women’s wear were much lower than our sales in menswear,” said Khursheed. He further said: “The trend is understandable given that many young girls to date, don’t get the permission to wear western clothing. Therefore we wanted to offer a range that is ‘cool’ and trendy, yet eastern, so their families don’t have an issue with their attire.”

Given that Outfitters has been a dependable brand for urban street wear for teenagers, there is little doubt that despite their image transition, their ‘Ethnic’ line will do just as well. “Our aim is to develop multiple lines for Outfitters and we will soon launch a shoe line as well,” added Khursheed.

The brand understands that offering a low price point does not mean a corresponding dip in the services. Apart from a sparkling store and a courteous staff wearing red and black funky ethnic embossed kurtas as uniforms, each garment is carefully packed in tissue with an ethnic seal and placed in chic shopping bags with organza ribbons. It’s these little gestures that make shopping all the more special for women, especially when they are not spending in hoards, making their shopping experience akin to any other coveted and expensive brand.

With a price range of Rs2,500 to Rs5,500, Ethnic is offering two to three-piece suits with an array of lowers such as harem pants, culottes, ‘churidaars’ and tights along with a range of shirts in short and long hemlines. “We wanted to incorporate international trends into our eastern wear,” explained Muniba Mehdi, head designer at Ethnic. “We are targeting young women from 25 to 35 years and the focus of the garments is on various hand embroideries and embellishments.”

A few designs had dexterously been derived from the ever popular TeeJays such as the round hemline and the military kameez. TeeJays is hardly ever available in Karachi, where the brand is stocking at its own store in Saddar as well as Labels, and has virtually no presence in Lahore. It was no surprise then that fans of TeeJays such as Mehreen Syed, fashion photographer Faisal Farooqui and a local fashion journalist leapt at a plain white military kameez with a churidaar with a elephant motif on the back of the shoulder. At a reasonable price of Rs2,890, it was a steal. One shouldn’t be too surprised if the garment makes way onto the front row of journalists and fashionistas at the upcoming fashion week.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2011.