Children’s wear brand ‘Born Fabulous’ enters untapped segment at the right time

Plans to open 2-3 stores a year, tap international fashion hubs like Dubai.

KARACHI: Most garment retailers in Karachi say their annual sales have dropped by at least 20-30% in the last 4-5 years owing to security issues and slow economic growth. But none of these obstacles were able to stop investors who not only launched new garment chains, but also expanded their business to other cities.

One such example is the launch of a children’s-wear brand Born Fabulous that sells clothes from newborns to ten-year olds. The brand was launched in Karachi in May 2012, exactly a year before when most investors were waiting to see political stability in the country after the general elections in the mid of 2013.

Today, Born Fabulous has two stores in Karachi’s leading shopping centres and it plans to add at least 2-3 stores a year. It is aggressively looking to open one store each in Lahore, Islamabad and then in Dubai.

Born Fabulous’ logo and theme was designed by M2, a New York-based designer who has also designed for Walt Disney and Harper Collins, while its store interior and storefront was designed by Middle East-based Pasha Interiors.

The brand is launched by two friends who first met in the United States when they were studying at different universities in the mid-nineties. On their return, both tried to work on different plans to launch a joint business, but failed many times because of their involvements in other projects. After a long gap, the two friends reached a common ground and decided to launch a brand for children’s clothing – an untapped market segment.



“We wanted to continue investing in our brand this is why we started working on our branding strategy a year before the launch,” said Asif Jaffar, who launched Born Fabulous with his partner who has interests in finance and stocks.

Their cumulative investments until now have been around Rs15-16 million, but they think they have to pour in some Rs20-25 million annually if they want to open three stores a year. The store procures around 75% of its produce from top children’s wear makers in different countries by providing them designs and fabric, while it manufactures the rest at its own facility in Karachi.

Jaffar believes that Pakistan’s middle class segment has grown significantly in the last five years despite slow economic growth. He is optimistic about the continuous growth of his business both in terms of sales and opening of new stores in other cities of the country. “We have been successful in creating an interest in our customers not only in Karachi but also in other cities through our online shopping options,” he said.

The rise of local brands

Jaffar, whose family has been in the textile business for a long time, says that the Pakistani garment brands have successfully catered to the needs of the local population. For him, the biggest success of local brands, especially those that are launched in the last decade, is that they have given strong competition to foreign brands operating in Pakistan by improving their quality standards.

Many Pakistanis with higher disposable income used to shop outside Pakistan, especially Dubai, and now buy from Pakistan where both foreign and local brands are available. This is a matter of pride for Pakistan that our local brands have attracted the niche market of Pakistanis mainly because of their quality, he said.

It is good to see local brands providing quality products of international standards in Pakistan which has never been the case before. The rising competition in quality and price is pushing forward local brands and Jaffar thinks if this continues, these brands can turn into international brands. “We should not forget the examples of Korean, China and Japanese clothing brands that have acquired international repute despite cutthroat competition from western garment brands,” Jaffar added.

Need of ‘budget’ store chain

While keeping the focus on the expansion of Born Fabulous, the two partners are also considering an option of launching a separate store chain to cater to the need of the fast-growing middle-class segment.

The average price range of garments at Born Fabulous is from Rs800 to Rs1,400, which goes up to Rs6,000 in certain categories. The duo plan to produce garments within the range of Rs400 to Rs800 but for that they have to invest separately in manufacturing facilities, as the type of fabric will be quite different from what they offer at Born Fabulous.

“We want to produce budget garments but cannot sell garbage so obviously we have to see many things before launching another store chain,” Jaffar added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2013.

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