Affordability comes with Lala lawn

KARACHI:

With the country’s famous designers and textile mills joining the lawn business, the fabric is now priced higher than ever. Unlike the prices featured in previous years, this time an average lawn suit starts from Rs1,000 and goes up to Rs4,000, making it limited to a certain class that can afford it.

Refusing to join the bandwagon effect, Lala Textiles has launched their Lala Collection 2011 with prices more affordable for a middle-class woman. The brand’s price range falls between Rs675 and Rs995.

Lala Textiles, which started its journey in 1947, is a Lahore-based company.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Director Danish Lala said: “Lala lawn is not a niche commodity catering to a certain class only. We have a plethora of lines under the label to suit our clientele spread over all the strata of the society. So if we have a range competing with contemporary lawns, we also take care not to leave out the masses, who are very important to Lala.”

Seeing the price range, one assumes a compromise on the fabric quality. However, the director stressed this was not the case. “Importantly, there is absolutely no compromise on the essential quality of our product.”

Speaking about the variety of the latest collection, he said, “Lala lawn has over a 100 designs,with many more to come. The colour variations are numerous. We normally believe in experimenting with two or more colours, but we also make sure that it should look pleasing and not become bizarre in any way.”

When asked about the recent boom in the Pakistani lawn industry and its scope, he said: “Lawn is certainly the ‘in’ fabric, and it is bound to get even more hyped in the coming days.”

Unlike some of the textile mills that have collaborated with fashion designers for their latest lawn collections, Danish Lala says his brand plans to stay away from attaching the mill to a big designer. “What people need to know is that Lala has the strength, and the class, to stand on its own without the crutches of any celebrity or renowned designer’s name attached to it. It is a label in itself and people are recognising it as one too,” he said. Having heard that, it is ironic to see a renowned model like Aamina Sheikh donning the prints on the billboards.

Talking about the inspirations behind the brand, Lala said: “Our design philosophy or inspiration cannot be confined in a single idea or source. It is as varied and dynamic as our team of multifarious designers is. Each of them brings forth his/her own unique creative streak to be joined together under the Lala label. The inspirations, like the prospects, are limitless.”

When asked what makes Lala lawn different, the director said: “The colours, the design, the feel, the look — Lala is distinctive in its own way. We essentially rely on exclusivity of designs and uniqueness of ideas. Copying others or mindlessly following the market trends is just not Lala.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2011.