Parking lot choked, walkways blocked with long queues of women of all age brackets. No, this is not a scene of Karachis typical Itwaar Bazar.
Its a sight becoming increasingly common in five star hotels these days, as a series of summer wear exhibitions has been drawing big crowds from the metropolitans posh areas.
One cannot give all the credit to hot weather for the boom in summer clothing market for women. It is the emergence of trendy designer lawns that has quite literally hooked women.
The recipe is simple and easy for the sellers. Appoint a top model, a woman of course, as a brand ambassador, hire a top designer from the fashion industry, use a top fashion photographers name, book a five star hotel for the exhibition and let the word of mouth spread.
One exhibitor told BR Research, that it is the same lawn cloth, which was previously viewed as a modest domestic wear. But it is now being decorated as high-end trendy apparel - all thanks to the branding and the never ending appetite of consumers.
The influx of designer brands in summer attire segments shows that both textile manufacturers and designers are exploiting the desire for trendy clothing.
The motivation behind this move is easy to figure out: dull performance in other segments, especially the export market, has compelled manufacturers to target the lucrative market of branded designer lawn suiting at home.
Sales of value added premium lawn, ranging between Rs1500 to Rs4000 per suit, help manufacturers realize higher margins amid rising production costs stemming from soaring cotton prices and energy expenditures.
"We are running this segment profitably and are able to cover the huge marketing expense," said one company official.
Higher sales volume is being attributed to marketing tactics, as the exhibitioners have hired top local and foreign models to display their designs and widened their campaign through widespread billboard advertising.
Though, sales volume is reportedly 50 percent higher than last year, the question arises, whether there are enough high net worth women in big cities to absorb the influx of designer suits?
Industry officials say the size of their target market is increasing every year.
"Lucrative designer dresses are attracting a number of women even from the middle class to purchase expensive lawns at least once in six months," said one designer who has been organizing lawn exhibitions since 2007.
On the other hand, women from up-scale areas, from nearly all ages between 14 and 60 years, purchase a significant number of suits in a year to increase their clothing line - thereby pushing yearly sales volume into millions of rupees.
Given the appetite in domestic consumer market, it seems that sky is the limit for branded designer clothes. The growing trend is also a sign that finally Pakistani textile makers are finding new ways of survival.
Sooner or later, more designers will likely come on the payroll of value added textile makers. Who knows when will somebody go public with the business model, achieve price competitiveness, and cash in on the growing number of middle class women population.