Ayesha Farook Hashwani opens e-store

Customers from Multan to Milwaukee can now buy her latest collections online.

KARACHI: 

Pakistani designers are waking up to the potential of e-commerce. Ayesha Farook Hashwani (AFH) has become one of first premium Pakistani designers to launch her own e-store: www.afhashwani.com/shop. “We have a huge clientele abroad and in parts of Pakistan too such as Faisalabad and Multan, where we don’t currently stock,” says Hashwani. “We wanted to make our products easily available to all our customers no matter where they are.”

The shop stocks a wide range of formal and dinner wear in silks and chiffons, featuring the designer’s signature anchor work and fluid fusion silhouettes. The store will eventually also showcase Ayesha Farook Hashwani accessories, which are set to launch soon. Hashwani was also able to give a preview of some of the necklaces which she reveals will be made abroad. They are chunky elegant pieces of costume jewellery that echo her brand of style.

Ayesha Farook Hashwani currently has one studio in DHA Karachi, and also stocks at Ensemble and Labels in Lahore and Melange in Islamabad. She has a retail outlet in the pipeline but was keen to give precedence to her e-store. Online demand is skyrocketing. Overseas customers, in particular, have gotten used to buying clothing online and are comfortable with the concept. Shrewd resellers have been selling both designer originals and copies online for several years now. Customers in wider Pakistan, too, are realising that it’s better to buy something you have seen online rather than trust friends and relatives to shop for you on visits to Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad. Designers have come to appreciate that it’s vital to have an online sales presence. While many have signed up for high profile multi-label e-stores such as Style360 Labels e-store, a few are now starting to look at dedicated e-stores