Shammal Qureshi: A little healthy competition and lots of politics

A rendezvous with Toni&Guy’s Shammal Qureshi.

LAHORE:

Politics in the fashion industry are far more deep-rooted than they appear to be on the surface. With numerous designers, models, photographers, make-up artists and hairdressers present, cut throat competition in this industry is slowly becoming inevitable.

Karachi-born hairdresser and stylist Shammal Qureshi, who moved to Lahore three years ago and made a name for himself with his salon Toni&Guy, speaks to The Express Tribune about his journey and experiences.

Experiences

“I moved away from Karachi because I had a very large social circle there including my mother who is a household name when it comes to hairdressing,” says Qureshi, who wanted to achieve his dreams without any help. “Peng Qureshi has maintained her clients for over 30 years and I wanted to see if I could make it on my own, here in Lahore,” he adds, referring to his mother. Fortunately, he met his wife — Redah Misbah of Depilex — shortly after arriving in Lahore. She guided him with her experience of running a salon and helped him take the necessary steps to make Toni&Guy build a name for itself in the walled city.

Competition in Lahore is fierce and as a result, hairdressers and stylists need to be proactive and always on their toes. “I have had some insane experiences with leading hairdressers and salon owners in this city,” he says, talking about the jealousy and insecurities which prevail amongst competitors. “When I initially opened up the salon, I had published an ad in order to hire workers. A lot of people responded and came to me and once I was done hiring, their previous employers started threatening to sue me for taking their workers away.” He feels that this behaviour was bizarre as they had no contracts with these workers nor did they have any prior training.

“You cannot have groups — there are a lot of people in this industry and this leads to drama and leg pulling,” he continus, talking about the concept of brotherhood and fraternity in the industry. “At fashion weeks abroad, you will never see the Vidal Sassoon team being egotistical toward the Toni&Guy team.” He feels these unnecessary ego issues needs to change. “It goes against the business model — we are in the service industry and this requires you to be a people’s person,” he adds. “You cannot lash out on your competitors at every little opportunity you get.” Since stylists have to work together at some point, he believes that competition should be healthy — this is the incestuous nature of this industry.

When asked why such ego wars exist, Qureshi said that 80 per cent of the hairdressers do not have a technical standing or expertise and this is where the insecurities stem from. “The standard is appalling and when you don’t have any standing [credibility] then you will obviously be insecure,” he says. “Technical grounds motivate me and allow me to try harder.” He also believes that he has had opportunities others have not and a lot of people are intimidated by that. “However, more than even my opportunities, I have a wife who has been a great pillar for me — guiding me through everything,” he adds.

Future plans

“I want the brand to grow organically,” he says, with regard to his future plans for Toni&Guy. “Hence, I have refused all opportunities of letting investors pump money turning it into a multi-branched conglomerate. I want to open up an academy that will not only train our employees but also allow students who want to receive training under the tutelage of professionally trained instructors.” He feels it’s important to take one step at a time to allow a company to grow on merit. “Eventually I would like to sub-franchise the brand but only when I’m confident others would do justice to it,” he adds.

Qureshi, who received the Toni&Guy International award of ‘Best Salon Director’ earlier this year, has certainly done something right — we wish him and his salon the best of luck for the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2012.

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