Pomegranate: A sweet prospect for young designers

Multi-designer store run by three friends opens up at Zamzama.

KARACHI:

For 19-year-old Madiha Khalid, the great break came eight months ago. What started out as a hobby transmuted into a passion that she will now cash in on.

“Fashion designing is a hobby which developed overtime,” said The Lyceum School graduate who is currently a freshman at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi. She is now one of the eight young designers who display their work at Pomegranate, a new multi-label store that opened up on Zamzama Thursday evening.

Pomegranate is a joint venture of  Usman Sohail and brothers Naqqash and Zulfiqar Haider. “People may have fashion sense, but they usually don’t have finances. We are providing them with a platform to showcase their collection,” Zulfiqar told The Express Tribune, explaining the idea behind the multi-label venture. “It’s one way of facilitating the designer and also to show our collections to various consumers around town for affordable prices.”

“If the king of fruits is mango; the pomegranate is considered the queen,” said Naqqash, shedding light on the name of the store. “As this is a completely feminine collection, it’s been titled such.”

The trio’s business arrangement requires the displaying designers to give them 25% of their revenue along with a certain amount of store rent.

Present at the store launch, Khalid explained that while she works mostly with cotton for her semi-casual line, she has brought silks and chiffons to the racks for Eid. For Khalid, her inspiration comes from viewing the work of Bunto Kazmi, whom she described as “the ultimate” fashion designer. “She should be the benchmark for every designer who wants to join this field,” she said about the bridal fashion doyenne. Besides Bunto, Khalid loves the work of Elan’s Khadija Shah amongst the new designers.

Her collection is priced between Rs3,800 to Rs20,000, with steeper prices reserved for the heavily embroidered outfits with gold work.

While the store is barely a few days old, the owners have big plans for the coming year. “Besides bringing other designers to this store and launching their names, we plan to have accessories such as shoes and bags,” said Naqqash, enthusiastic about his venture. He also added that they hope to set up a bridal lounge in 2013 so that young brides can browse through the racks to their content.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2012.

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