It’s like getting a whiff of what had once propelled Pakistani fashion to the sky: excitement, innovation, and passion melded with an eye for commerce. I meet Sania Maskatiya and Umair Tabani — the brother-sister duo behind the eponymous label Sania Maskatiya — at the launch of their new store in Lahore and I am reminded of our past meetings.

That same excitement for fashion and that laidback glamour is on display now in their shiny new store. Up on the first floor, I make my way through an expansive bridal studio, taking my time to scrutinise the bridal-wear on display. The clothes are heavily hand-embellished, the dainty thread embroideries set off by the bling of kora, dabka, sequins, etc. There are lehngas and farshi ghararas, regal long shirts and grand dupattas, traditional reds for the bride on her big day, silvers and whites and a delicious variety of pinks for other days of the wedding.

Desi wedding-wear tends to abide by certain set silhouettes, colour variations and patterns, but the very neat, meticulous embroideries and patterns are Sania Maskatiya’s hallmark. They are what set these formals apart from the many other contenders in the market.

As I lean down to scrutinise a beautiful multi-shaded cluster of florals, I am reminded of an earlier time, when I had rushed backstage at a fashion week, right after I had seen a bridal line-up by Sania Maskatiya. I had wanted to make a zoomed-in video on my cellphone of an exquisite cutwork trail worn by model Mehreen Syed on the runway, wanting to note down the finer details of the design; not just because I wanted to revisit the design when I wrote my review on the collection, but also simply out of a genuine love for craft.

Sania Maskatiya and Umair Tabani are the brother-sister duo behind the eponymous label Sania Maskatiya and they have smartly divided responsibilities between themselves. Where Sania handles the designs, Umair manages the business. But when they’re together, they seem to be just extensions of each other, finishing each other’s thoughts. No wonder, they’re on an all-conquering spree…

My reminiscences lead me to ask Sania and Umair — who I meet the next morning specially for this interview — if they miss fashion weeks?

“Those were exciting times too but so are these,” says Sania. “As a brand, we understand what signifies ‘fashion’ for our clientele. We know that we can’t experiment too much with silhouette, and clothes generally need to suit our body types and also be acceptable culturally. Even then, we add quirky little details to every design, even to our evening formals. Our ethos is that a design should be beautiful and modest while, at the same time, it should be able to make your heart stop. You should want to buy it, own it, wear it.”

Umair adds, “The beautiful, conventional clothes are our bread and butter. But this was always the case. Back when we would show at fashion weeks, every collection we put out on the runway would be available for retail at our stores. The drapes, the wraps, the shalwars and the tunics would all be there. We would also simultaneously create more conventional versions of the same designs. And if we sold five clothes replicated right off the runway, we would end up selling 50 of the more conventional ones! That’s how it would always be.”

Fashion weeks, of course, bit the dust completely in the post-coronavirus pandemic Pakistan and Sania Maskatiya seamlessly changed tack, setting aside the quirky spurts necessary to make impact on the catwalk and, instead, churning out multiple collections, week after week after week. The brand’s social media presence — Instagram, Facebook and the official e-store — is testament to the sheer volume and variety of designs introduced by the brand every month.

“Close to Eid, Umair will tell us that he needs 100 designs!” laughs Sania.

Umair, who handles the business end while Sania turns a gimlet eye towards the designing, explains, “We’ve figured it out, down to a science. We have entire families that come to us for occasion-wear and a lot of variation is needed. They need heavy formal-wear, lighter formal-wear, clothes for the main wedding functions, clothes for the ceremonies before the wedding, clothes for the morning, clothes for the evening, clothes that the mother will want to wear, and others that will appeal to the younger girls,” he ticks off this prodigious list on his hands. “And no one in the family wants to wear the same clothes as the other wedding guests!”

The whole idea behind taking part in NYFW had been to penetrate into the US market and it’s not an easy market to get into, not in terms of time or money. Our designs, the way they are, couldn’t sell there and we would have had to further tweak them, make them more Westernised, while also relatable to Pakistan.”

“There also need to be colour options,” he continues. “I let Sania and her team follow their instincts and create what they like and, then, when the second option for the design goes into production, I will maybe opt for a completely different colour. Sania, I know, loves her beiges, pinks and whites but, over time, I have pushed her out of her comfort zone and made her dabble with multi-colours and bright shades.”

Sania intervenes, “There’s no pushing! I will just be told, this is what will sell, so we’re making this!”

This is intriguing: how does Umair know what will sell?

“I mean, I can’t know for sure,” he shrugs, “but after so many years, you do get some idea. I am also at the Karachi flagship store every evening, and I see what customers are buying, what they like, what they don’t like, what else they are looking for. Our customers are very comfortable with letting us know if they don’t like something and I take notes of all that they tell us. Also, sales are always an indication of what the customer wants. If a design doesn’t sell well, we’ll reconfigure it, tone it up or tone it down.”

Sania adds, “There are customers who will tell us, ‘Please don’t use this flower in your embroidery ever again!’”

“Or they’ll say we want to see more reds!” says Umair.

“It’s a lot of work and things can get quite hectic,” smiles Sania. “It helps that our design team consists of artists, who all love reviving craft, developing it and attuning it to our aesthetic. Tahera Akbari, our Head of Design, is very particular that every design should have our signature.”

At this point, Sania introduces me to Tahera, who is evidently a driving force behind the brand. Sania continues, “Our work is led by passion. We love it, we live it, we breathe it, we dream it. But it can get overwhelming!”

And yet, this overwhelmingly busy schedule is one that many of their peers aspire to. Not every brand manages to latch on to a loyal clientele that buys from them regularly, come what may. Sania and Umair don’t have to go about blowing their trumpets, professing to the world about how well their brand is doing. Anyone driving past their flagship space in Karachi is likely to witness the impressive number of customers drifting into the store on any given day.

And you’ll probably spot a Sania Maskatiya design or two — or three — when rifling through the society pages in a glossy or attending a high-flying wedding.

The brand has a strong online presence and also has physical stores in both Karachi and Lahore — is there a difference in both cities’ aesthetics?

“Honestly, we’ve always made the same things for both stores,” says Umair. “I think our customers like our designs and they also particularly trust our quality. Our overheads are pretty high because we never cut corners with substandard fabric. There are times when we’ll announce the launch of a collection online and then end up delaying it because the raw silk that we had purchased wasn’t of the calibre that we wanted. I think that one of the main reasons why our clients keep coming back to us is because we are very particular about quality.”

So, the brand’s sales haven’t been hit by inflation? “No,” says Umair, “although there are different prices for different products.”

Their annual unstitched summer collection — ‘lawn’, per se — was also one of the more expensive options in the market. Considering how competitive the market is for unstitched fabric, with multiple designer collections launching every month throughout the summer, did they face issues because of their higher price tags?

“No, it sold really well,” says Sania.

Umair adds, “I’d say that perhaps 10 percent from the entire collection was left over, but we also reprinted some of the more popular designs, about 20 percent, I’d say. Again, people appreciated the quality and the aesthetic. We didn’t opt for substandard silks for the dupattas or compromise on the dye or the thread quality or the textured fabric that we used.”

Possibly another reason why the brand is so popular is that it appeals to Pakistan’s who’s who. Much like a branded bag or an expensive pair of shoes, the large majority inclined towards braggadocio opt for a Sania Maskatiya design because they want to be seen in it and show it off.

Still, every week, one sees the brand’s lookalikes popping up on social media. From the craftsmen sitting in Karachi’s Gizri market and women running small-scale online businesses from their homes, to bigger brands professing to be bona fide designers, the copycats are rampant and shameless. Have they done anything about this?

“We’ve gotten used to it now,” says a resigned Umair. “I keep telling Sania not to waste her time and energy fretting over the brands that are copying. We literally come across a new page everyday, and if she were to waste two hours just getting angry, when would we get our work done? It’s just better to move on and create something new.”

He continues: “The research and development involved in coming up with a new collection can sometimes take so long and be so expensive. And then, once we’ve done all the work, for someone to copy it and say that they are selling the same design at half the price is so unfair!”

Sania adds: “Many of these pages even lift off our shoots and use it to sell their own product. They don’t even bother to get their own product photographed, and the ones that do, try to replicate our shoot as is. There have been times when people have messaged us, saying that they ordered something thinking that it was our design and when it got delivered to them, they didn’t like the quality. But we can’t do anything about this. If someone didn’t order from our official e-store and simply assumed that a design was ours, we can’t help them when they get stuck with a substandard copy.”

“We are trying to be more mindful now,” says Umair. “Earlier, we would upload images of a collection that was under production in order to create hype and thereby attract more online sales. Now, we only put up the pictures once the collection is ready for retail, so that our customers buy the clothes long before others replicate them.”

The business is doing well — but do they feel that a bit of drama would benefit their brand? The neat, clean catalogue shoots up on Instagram and on Facebook may allow customers to easily zoom in on design details, but wouldn’t a dramatic shoot help in amplifying the collection, making it more memorable, giving it an edge?

“Yes, and we’d really love to work on more elaborate shoots,” agrees Umair. “It’s just that we have our hands full taking out multiple collections every season. It’s definitely something that we think about.”

They also don’t rely on a celebrity to raise hype for a particular collection. “No,” says Sania, “but we’re lucky that a lot of them opt to wear our clothes anyway. Ultimately, though, we know that our clients just want to see the design, whether it’s being worn by a celebrity or by a model on our e-store.”

Umair adds, “Also, we’re constrained by our budgets, because our raw materials are quite expensive. Besides, we’re focusing a lot on the Middle Eastern market right now. I could spend on a shoot or pay a celebrity to endorse us — that’s something that we’ve never done! — but instead, right now we’re working with influencers and content creators in Dubai to create more awareness about our brand.”

I find this interesting. Prior to the pandemic, Sania Maskatiya had taken part several times in the collective showcase for emerging designers, organised by the Council of Aspiring American Fashion Designers (CAAFD) at New York Fashion Week (NYFW). Has the brand’s focus now shifted from the US market to the Middle East?

“Yes,” says Umair. “The whole idea behind taking part in NYFW had been to penetrate into the US market and it’s not an easy market to get into, not in terms of time or money. Our designs, the way they are, couldn’t sell there and we would have had to further tweak them, make them more Westernised, while also relatable to Pakistan. Then, we would need to align with a buying house and a PR company there and it is also so far.

“So now, we have opted for the lower-hanging fruit, which is the Middle East,” he concludes. “We’re also learning a lot on-ground. For instance, customers don’t want to stand in long queues at the sales till, they want more trial rooms. From organising the valet services, to the cash handling, to the tailors, there is so much that we’re improving with every exhibit.”

How about a solo show in Dubai in order to make waves? Better yet, how about a solo show in Pakistan, I suggest. Ever since the demise of fashion weeks, quite a few local brands have opted to fly solo with a sporadic show. Sania Maskatiya hasn’t been one of them.

“Maybe,” hedges Sania, “it’s just really difficult. At a fashion week, all you had to do was pay for participation and show up with your collection. When you’re doing your own event, you have to look into so many details.”

I have a bout of nostalgia yet again, recalling meeting Sania and Umair at fashion weeks. He would be smiling, figuring out logistics. She would be a nervous mess, fretting constantly, telling you to pray that the collection did well. Inevitably, the collection would always do well, winning rave reviews and slotted as one of the very best at the event. The crowd would clap enthusiastically when Sania and her team would take the final bow at the very end.

Seeing a Sania Maskatiya show on the ramp yet again, perhaps as a solo act, would be exciting. And should the brand delve into a theatrical shoot highlighting a new collection, it could really be something else. But even without all this, people are still clapping.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 1st, 2024