If sale of lawn prints was a criterion for judging economic well-being, Pakistan would surely put the developed world to shame. Believe it or not, this seemingly harmless fabric reveals a lot about the country’s economy, polarized preferences and lifestyles, and also about media and marketing trends.
Had the fairer sex not been besotted so uncontrollably with the most prominent fashion item in the country called ‘Lawn’, the fever of designer prints would not have stood where it is. Amongst urban elites, the craze for lawn has grown with greater female participation in the workforce, affording many the possibility of owning a signature print of their own.
That brand consciousness and conformity are becoming the norm cannot be ignored any more, and that’s something that fashion designers are cashing in on. Luxury brands are found in any country of the world. But what makes ‘branded lawn’ unique is the relatively lower price than a formal designer outfit. So designers find it easier to cash in on volume compared to their other lines of clothes.
Let’s do the math of the designer lawn industry as seen in urban centre today. An average three-piece designer lawn dress set costs about Rs5,000. Keeping a lower estimate of 10,000 pieces sold by a brand on average, that equates to revenues of whopping Rs40,000,000 in 1-3 days. Apply a net margin of 10 percent to that, and raking in Rs4,000,000 doesn’t sound like a really bad deal.
Inflation may have receded into single digit for most of this fiscal year, and cotton prices may have slumped a tad, but lawn continues to ignore these economic realities. Even though most exhibitions have not been put up yet, prices of a set of designer lawn prints are expected to have gone up by 10 percent or more relative to the previous year.
As to who does and who doesn’t pay income taxes on what they make is an issue best left to the reader’s conjecture.
Great inventory turnover adds to the gleam of getting into the designer lawn business, as it’s too easy for women to get bored of the old and crave the new. After all, that in itself is the lifeline of the fashion industry, and why should domestic ‘lawns’ be any different.
And don’t forget to observe the changes in marketing and media through the lens of something as popular as lawn prints. Facebook pages and Twitter profiles of designers making lawn prints are common, clearly showing the rising power of social media advertising.
Evolving from billboard and banner advertising, some designers are also going for TVCs to lure prime time show aficionados who are usually women. And let’s not forget that lawn exhibitions in these 2-3 months probably get the most traffic than all other exhibitions of sorts all year round in the country.
This summer, the show goes live again. Fabric stores and exhibition halls across key cities will witness the battle of wits and fists once more, as the fairer sex braces for the mad race called lawn.
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