PROJECT BRIEF

Clothing is a beautiful visual demonstration of the social and emotional needs of people wearing it. It also portrays in a clearly understood visual manner, what people of different cultures and styles want socially. Fashion, through times, has gone through so many rapid changes and bizarre extremes that it has examples of nearly every kind of clothing function. However, in a boutique business, the specifications and descriptions of the designs and clothes are so general that they can fit more than one costume, which actually are quite different in nature from each other and this is solely dependent on the taste of the people. The range of Pakistani dresses is remarkably wide, according to the vast cultures, geographical differences, purchasing capacities, influence of the western culture, and bewildering diversities of the ethnic groups. One has, therefore, to sift and isolate, and then relate and bring together, the ideas for creating various designs, which can fit in the context of the fashion in vogue and the culture in practice.In reference to Pakistan, the Boutique business is quite in vogue but has yet to be formalized. The market of this enterprise is quite scattered and unorganized. There are a few major players in Boutique business and these entrepreneurs have also taken an initiative based on their caprice and experience in the field of fashion design. However, there is a massive potential in this field, if one has the ability to design and market his/her products through introducing innovative designs both in stitching as well as the fabric sector. Furthermore, there is massive export potential in this sector, as the demand of Pakistani dresses, especially in countries like UAE, USA, and UK, is massive due to a high number of Pakistani expatriates who have settled in these countries. The Boutique business can also be expanded into a more profitable venture by providing stitching facilities to other boutiques, which do not own a stitching unit or are lacking this facility.PROPOSED CAPACITY

The Boutique business capacity is greatly dependent on the market size and the number of potential clientele one can attract. Furthermore, the women fashion wear garments will be designed through a contracted designer and then stitched through in-house stitching unit. On average, a designer can supply forty designs per month from which nearly twenty designs are selected on average. Approximately, total capacity of the defined unit with 5 stitching machines (basis on 8-10 hours shift) will be about 500 dresses. This production and sales capacity is estimated to be economically viable and justifies the capital as well as operational costs of the project.

CURRENT INDUSTRY STRUCTURE

Currently, the boutique industry is relatively unorganized and is scattered in and around the posh areas of the metropolitan cities of Pakistan i.e. Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta. The boutiques in Peshawar and Quetta, mostly sell the traditional dresses having indigenous/local designs, whereas the ones in Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi deal in fashion wear greatly influenced by the west and the local trends in vogue. As such, there is no exact detail available of the number of boutiques; especially in women wear, because there is no association or link between these enterprises. The reason being the business rivalries and the competitive structure of this industry. However, one can name a few major players in the business such as Indifference, Generation, Parahan, Nee Punhal, Bossini, Kapre Waghera, Maria B, Ninas, and some individual designer players like Beegees, Nilofar Shahid, Nadia Mistri, Amir Adnan, Shayan Malik, and Sahar Saigol.