The apparel industry is one of the most significant industries around the world. As an industry, the apparel sector significantly contributes to the economy of a country. It promotes trade relations between different sub-economies within and beyond geographical boundaries and helps generate revenues that contribute to the GDP of an economy. The advent of technology has changed the global outlook towards apparel manufacturing and a great deal of importance is laid on advertising, designing and manufacturing of fashion accessories. Consumers these days are more informed and educated about fashion trends because of exposure to use of internet and social media. A single click can take them into the fascinating world of fashion trends in different countries. Successful apparel marketing depends on understanding consumer demand and responding with appropriate products. That’s why it has become very important for manufacturers to keep introducing outfits with innovative designs.
Alkaram Studio is a Pakistani fashion retail brand that launched its first outlet in the year 2010 under the parent company Alkaram Textile Mills. The company aims to offer a one-stop solution for its customers’ lifestyle needs. Its average target audience comprises of men and women falling in the age group of 18 to 44, who are looking for contemporary fashion and are open to experiment with the ever changing fashion arena. The company started its journey with one store in unstitched category and now it has a very diverse product portfolio and a nationwide presence with a chain of nearly 60 stores. “With the wide range of sub-brands available under Alkaram Studio umbrella, our aim is to have something for everyone and to offer our customers a chance to express themselves through fashion and design”, says Mehvish Waliany, COO of Alkaram Studio Board.
Creating its Own Niche in Market
The core value of the firm is rooted in providing high quality fashion products for aesthetically inclined men and women that helps them in creating their personal style statement. The firm has gained immense popularity among customers in a very short span of time due to its high quality of apparel. Alkaram Studio never compromises on fabric quality and generally launches its summer lawn suit collection which consists of three piece suits, both pret and unstiched with light embroidery and laces around the sleeves, giving ladies an elegant style that flatters ladies of all ages.
Diverse Product Portfolio
Alkaram Studio started its e-commerce journey back in the year 2014 with an aim to achieve scalability in its business operations and to cater to the customers around the globe without being restricted to a particular radius via conventional brick and mortar model.
Building on the strength of its textile heritage, Alkaram Studio retail experience offers customers the chance to sample the depth, range and creativity of the Alkaram product portfolio. The company believes that in the digital age, with its low overhead and higher margins, e-Commerce has the potential to grow manifold and perform as an individual profit centre. Initially, Alkaram Studio started as a brand that sells women’s unstitched clothes but now it has expanded into multiple categories such as a Pret line for women, fabrics and ready-to-wear for men, MAK, accessories and footwear.Its pret line, Calico is a modern twist on fashion for the woman of today’s generation, primarily targeting the millennials.
On the other hand, MAK is dedicated to provide trendy, innovative outfits for Gen Z, giving them a chance to express themselves. Since Alkaram’s entire supply chain is in-house, its professionals keep stringent checks on not just products but also on systems and processes. The firm also has a quality control function that works from the initial stage of sourcing material to the stage of final product. As part of a company culture that emphasizes on providing quality products, every department plays a key role.
Mehvish Waliany, COO Expansion Plans
Alkaram Studio’s aim is to keep improving through initiatives that will not only be beneficial for the company, but will also ensure continuous quality improvement and customer satisfaction. Alkaram Studio now holds a nationwide presence with a chain of nearly 60 retail outlets all over Pakistan and has ambitious growth plans in the coming future as well. Moving forward, the company is aiming to shift towards a hybrid model for better inter departmental co-ordination and synergy for which it will be creating different business units. Alkaram Studio is also planning to increase its focus on areas such as design philosophy, downstream planning, retail network expansion and marketing redirection in the coming years.
The core value of Alkaram Studio is rooted in providing high quality fashion products for aesthetically inclined men & women that helps them in creating their personal style statement
Fawad Anwar, Chairman
After completing MBA from Drexel University, Fawad Anwar commenced his career at Alkaram Textile Mills as Managing Director which is one of the largest purveyors of innovative textile solutions around the world. He is also the member of YPO-WPO since 2004 which is a global platform for Chief Executives. Creativity and thinking out of the box are some of his strong personality traits. Later on in 2010, he launched Alkaram Studio for shoppers to experience the depth and creativity of its product range. Despite the emergence of new entrants in the industry and the introduction of tighter monetary policies, he has never shied away from taking daring initiatives and consequently made great strides with regard to product innovation, R&D processes as well as overall business transformation.
Mehvish Waliany, COO A
fter completing MBA in Finance from Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Mehvish has around two decades of investment banking experience with a focus on infrastructure, impact investment, project finance and debt capital markets. Her body of work includes spearheading 2002 IPPs project financing wave, renewable energy, roads and motorway infrastructure, water distribution, PPP collaboration. Creativity and thinking out of the box are some of her strong personality traits. which are also the underpinnings of her career pivot from financial sector to retail fashion industry.
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