More by design than by accident

Designer Munib Nawaz talks about the necessity of having a men’s fashion week and his career choices.

KARACHI:

A firm believer in promoting Men’s Fashion, Munib Nawaz began his efforts to introduce Men’s Fashion Week in Pakistan a few years ago but to no avail. “A couple of years ago, Rampage approached me.

They wanted me to become the spokesperson for Men’s Fashion Week.” Active and excited at the idea of it, he faced problems bringing on sponsors. “A few designers showed interest and only a few sponsors were on board. I told the team to take a serious initiative, but the lack of a fall-back capital forced the team members called it quits,” he lamented. Mansoor Vohra, much later did a men’s fashion week, which was a one-day event.

Upfront about the designers in the business, he said, “We, designers are snooty, snobbish kind of people. To become a designer you have to work very hard. You may have some money but it’s not going to work out for you without hard work.” He further added, “The purpose and pursuit should be greater than money, a lot of people need to understand that.”

“There must be a Men’s Fashion Week, I earnestly hope.” He reiterates that, as of now, the menswear designer industry has grown exponentially,  “A men’s fashion week will happen when they plan to have a proper industry. This industry has grown over the years. There were Deepak Perwani and Amir Adnan, and then there was Tariq Road and Saddar.”



About the fact that there are designer-wear stores but no full-fledged accessory outlets set up for Pakistani men in the country, he states, “My aim and target is to have a big store, where a man can shop for everything he needs.” He believes Pakistan has produced big names, such as Shamoon Sultan’s store Khaadi.

Nawaz goes on to say that people attach too much importance to money, for what he knows not. “It’s a piece of paper, cut and crap and a value is attached to it. That’s what we call money.” The designer has long engraved his name in the world of fashion but he didn’t start off with this in mind. “I wanted to become a writer, but sadly, I was a dull writer,” he said with a smile. “Everyone found my write-ups to be too gloomy. At the age of 16, I realised I could make a few shirts and sell them. By making only an extra Rs50 benefit, I chose some random kapra from Aashiana Mall and took on designing,” he explained. Munib Nawaz, then recognised a creative outlet and commercially viable prospect to venture in.

Talking about his strong support system, he says, “The first group that believed in me — that’s my friends. They have, throughout been very rude with their honesty.” Having done his intermediate in commerce and an Internship at Amir Adnan’s for about two years in 2001, he was forced by Adnan’s elder sister Bina Rashid to go back to college and get a Bachelor’s degree. “I needed some serious money to pass out of college,” he said. “I ventured a head with a commercial activity in mind - it did worked out and I never looked back,” he said. On private educational systems, he says, “Private schools today churn out money from you, the real purpose of education is all lost. They’ve gotten lost in their economics.”

Nawaz started off with working from home and later opened a studio. “I was that one guy sporting blond hair and drinking tea outside, around the vendors’ stalls. But, with time, everybody grows and evolves and even your priorities change. I am glad I got to live that time as well.”

Since his launch in 2004, he says he’s not busy in expanding his outlets but consumed with consolidating them in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. “We are not a retail brand, we are a specialty brand. Our customers will find us, wherever we are located,” he concludes.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.

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