They’re fashion’s next generation; a milieu of firebrands, bursting at the seams with excitement and enthusiasm to break through. But what are fashion graduates, aspiring to make it big, up against? Maliha Rehman reports…

Gone are the days when bored housewives played ‘designer’ by relying on the tailor around the corner. Fashion’s gotten savvier, slicker, better-conceived and well-finished and it’s all largely due to the mushrooming masses of fashion and textile graduates pouring into the industry.

These are young experts who can cut, drape and stitch an entire garment and understand silhouettes, patterns and the entire rigmarole. We see spurts of their creativity in the debutante ‘student’ shows at fashion weeks where they showcase their skills with designs bordering on the insanely off-the-wall. A ‘putli’ tamasha or patchwork bubble dresses created out of thick quilted fabrics – clothes that are so zany, they make you smile. From assorted institutes across the country; most prominently the Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (PIFD) in Lahore and Asian Institute of Fashion Design (AIFD) and the Indus Valley School or Art and Architecture (IVSAA) in Karachi, students certainly make fashion fun.

But there’s more to fashion than fun and creativity. It’s a business – a key principle that many a designer has forgotten, leading to his or her downfall. And even as the thesis shows at institutes get more spectacular, we haven’t lately seen a bright spark, freshly graduated, rise from the dust and carve out a success story of his or her own. Ali Xeeshan, a PIFD graduate from 2006, was perhaps the last breakthrough kid to spearhead his eponymous label. Other promising names like Mohsin Ali and Akif Mehmood remain just that – promising – as they flit from working with one design house to the other, earning fashion week accolades but not always managing to make that imperative translation  to retail.

So where are fashion’s young graduates fading off to? They’re all getting jobs!

"PIFD graduates are working virtually everywhere right now," observes designer and long-term PIFD teacher, Yahsir Waheed. "From high-street brands like Generation, Outfitters and Leisure Club to textile mills like Gul Ahmed, Al-Karam and Nishat and designer labels like HSY, Karma, Deepak Perwani and Elan, the institute’s yearly batch of 45 odd graduates has plenty of options available to them. Starting salaries are usually at about PKR 40,000 and there are opportunities to grow. They also get the chance to gain experience and brush up on their business acumen by working within an established setup."

Kamiar Rokni, a PIFD graduate from that stellar batch of 2000, which shot forth an entire host of fashion ‘stars’, including HSY, Maheen Kardar Ali, Ammar Belal and Maria B., tallies the then and now: "I think fashion graduates today have it a lot easier compared to us. The only job options we had were to work in the relatively uninteresting denim and knit industries. Luckily, I had my family’s financial support that allowed me to create my own label but not every young designer could afford to do so."

Even now, the hefty capital required to launch an independent label pushes young designers to detour to the job route. "It’s the way of the world," muses Safinaz Munir, whose Sana Safinaz pret-line is headed by NCA graduate Ather Hafeez and a small design team of AIFD alumnae. "Sadly, only young designers with finances are able to create their own labels. Of course, even well-off designers need to be good at what they do in order to succeed. The market now is far too competitive to sustain lackluster work."

Zaibunnisa Umar, an AIFD graduate working within the design team at Sana Safinaz, hopes to one day create her own brand. Prior to her current job, she was a pattern-maker for FnkAsia, followed by a stint as assistant designer to Shamaeel Ansari. "Each job has presented its own challenges and helped me learn more.  I enjoy my work but of course, if I manage to gather the finances, I’d like to eventually have my own label."

There are others who prefer the job market. Saira Fatima Sadozai, a PIFD top graduate with a lofty cumulative GPA and a gold medal to her credit, is very enthusiastic of her role in the research and development department at Leisure Club and Kayseria. "Every year, the PIFD selects 20 third-year students to train at the Ecole de la chambre syndicale de la Couture at Paris and I was one of them. Still, I preferred to take on a job rather than try to start my own label. When I joined the PIFD, my inspiration was HSY – I wanted to be a star like him! On graduating, though, my perspective changed. To go big, you have to work within big organizations. Luckily for me, Waleed Zaman, the Creative Director at Kayseria, is extremely receptive to new ideas and allows his team to be as creative as they can be. I still enjoy design but my job provides me with the extensive facilities and finances to work on huge projects and understand the business-end. I don’t see myself creating my own label ever."

Mahrukh Rafi, a textile design graduate from the Textile Institute of Pakistan (TIP) now working in Bonanza, similarly explains the importance of gaining work experience. "When we are studying, we are encouraged to be creative and create veritable pieces of art. In the real world, though, sales are the most important factor to consider. This is something I have learnt at Bonanza. It doesn’t matter how beautiful a design is or how many hours have been vested into it – if it doesn’t sell, it just isn’t good."

Amongst the many options, a job at Khaadi is unanimously considered a feather in any graduate’s cap. Alongside the brand’s creative value, the Khaadi umbrella has widened and progressed to become a large-scale corporation with employees earning yearly increments and bonuses for exceptional work.

"Designing is just a minute part of the process," explains Khaadi’s CEO Shamoon Sultan. "Business sense is extremely important. Perhaps this is what most attracts young designers to Khaadi – they get the chance to become retail-savvy in an environment which is completely professional."

Waqar Uddin, design team leader at Gulabo and a PIFD graduate, enthuses that designing for Maheen Khan is a learning experience. "We always work as a team and Maheen is extremely involved in the process," he says. "We have all learnt a lot from her vast knowledge in fashion and insight into the ready-to-wear market."

Needless to say, it is more desirable to work with an established and professional organization rather than a designer-led, smaller operation, where students (who request to remain unnamed) quote nightmares. One fashion graduate talks about the lack of salary increments and bonuses at a very established and award winning brand of menswear in Karachi. Another relates tales of being overworked and underpaid. Quite often young graduates have more technical expertise than their bosses and this leads to insecurities. Most cases of exploitation or lack of professional ethics, unfortunately, go unreported or incognito as students fear outlash by the influential designers.

In a nutshell, there are good jobs and bad jobs and designers have to discern what they want and then pursue it with a vengeance! "A lot of young designers just want the security of a well-paid job," says Mohsin Ali. "Others, like myself, don’t want their creativity to be restricted. I collaborated with clothing label Libas at the last PFDC Sunsilk Fashion Week (PSFW) and I loved it – simply because I was given the finances and resources to design the way I wanted, while staying true to the brand philosophy."

There are determined young entrepreneurs who slowly and steadily build their own businesses. Accessory designer Mahin Hussain, for instance, has a textile degree from IVSAA and worked for Gul Ahmed and the House of Maheen before launching out on her own. As she developed her own label, she freelanced for Khaadi and Nishat Linen on the side, reaching out to a widespread customer-base and inadvertently managing to promote her distinctive design sensibilities.

Some opt for alternative paths. AIFD graduate Faiz Rohani is currently developing online media for a local channel and pursuing a future in fashion journalism. "I initially wanted to design but realized that there was too much competition. Many of my friends, working for established fashion houses, are being paid just Rs 25000 monthly for jobs that require them to create run-of-the-mill clothes. I’d rather do something different."

But when the going gets tough, the tough can get going. "I started with only a limited amount of capital but I had a clear vision of how I wanted my business to go forward," recalls Shamoon Sultan. "One can always make a mark, regardless of how much competition there is, provided that a balance is struck between business and creativity. Very few people are able to manage this – which is why there is one Chanel or Dior and thousands of unknown designers working for them."

Closer to home, this is why there’s one Khaadi, Sania Maskatiya or Sana Safinaz – designer brands with clear-cut business plans – and myriad others that are trying to follow suit. And so the path continues on its way, trundling, fumbling but still moving, as fashion’s next generation takes its time to find its way and aims to push the envelope, ever so slowly, forward.