How big is Pakistan’s bridal dress business? And why are wedding dresses so expensive?

On February 4, 2021, a rather peculiar crime took place in Karachi. At the posh locality of Defence on Khayaban-e-Bukhari, a group of robbers made their way to a boutique. As they entered, they did not make a beeline for the cash register and nor did they go looking for precious jewelry. Instead, their focus was on rounding up as many designer bridal dresses as possible. By the time the robber left the store, they had managed to carry out 98 bridal dresses between them. The total value of the robbery? Rs 1.5 crores. And to anyone surprised either by the nature of the crime or by the value of the stolen dresses - this is not the first time it is happening and it has happened before exactly because people know how expensive these dresses are. A similar incident took place a few months ago in which a boutique in Karachi’s Bahadurabad area was robbed for both cash and dresses. What do these incidents tell you? There is the obvious, which is that Karachi is not safe and the crime rate is high. It might also tell you that boutiques do not have great security, perhaps because they do not necessarily feel like they are very obvious targets for thieves and robbers. But the most important takeaway from these incidents is that bridal dresses are valuable and worth a lot of money, and their being stolen means there is probably a black market for these stolen dresses. The thieves in this equation are clearly the criminals. But ostentatious charges for wedding dresses is a practice found everywhere. In Pakistan, it has reared its ugly head more recently in the form of designer dresses with each designer commanding a certain level of prestige and the more the prestige the more ridiculous the prices for these clothes. And while Karachi’s putrid security standards have a lot to do with all of this, it is worth looking into the bridal dresses industry in Karachi and the country at large, and what the dynamics behind these very high end and very expensive products are.

A love for weddings (sort of)

Pakistanis and their love for weddings is no secret. Whether you’re a girl or a boy, once you’re of age your not-sofriendly distant relative starts getting concerned about when you’re tying the knot. While finding a good match is important, the right dress is too. A common question that brides are often asked is “who are you wearing?” No, they aren’t skinning anyone and wearing them, (even though sometimes it feels the designers are when they demand money but more on that later) instead this question means what brand are you going to wear.

This was not always the case. For the longest time, bridal dresses in Pakistani and subcontinental weddings were not the showcase. The culture, however, has long been the same of a wedding being a display of wealth rather than a celebration. Before, it used to be gold sets that were the focus of attention and dresses were usually made through private tailors. However, in the 1990s, Pakistan's nascent fashion industry began to take shape.

Brands like Gul Ahmed for regular lawn clothes had existed since as early as the 1950s and even before partition, but driven by women entering the workforce in large numbers and having more spending power, a fresh batch of fashion designers cropped up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Once they established themselves, they also started making wedding clothes and charging high prices for them. In recent years, with more designers coming in and social media making wedding pictures and captions on those pictures particularly important, the significance of the wedding dress in Pakistani weddings has increased. With news like Isha Ambani’s wedding lehenga costing 90 crores going viral in the Pakistani social media sae, the prices of wedding dresses are something Pakistanis have become obsessed with and have very much made a status symbol of.

So, if you are a bride deciding on her wedding dress, and your family is the sort that cares about ‘log kya kahen gai’ and putting on display wealth, you would want to go to the top designers that charge the most for often gaudy looking dresses. If you are less ostentatious, but still want a nice designer dress for one of the most important days of your life, you might go for a designer that is not considered top of the line. To figure out who these designers are and what they are charging, we have broken down the industry into six tiers and pricing groups. They are as follows.

The bridal couture industry is worth Rs 105 billion rupees a year. Based on our projections, a 2% increase in the number of weddings and a 10% increase in the prices of dresses will make the industry a Rs 117 billion industry next year. If it continues to grow at the same rate, all other factors held constant, it can be worth Rs 300 billion by 2030

1. Top Tier:

Examples: Dr Haroon, Bunto Kazmi

These are old school names. People with supposedly old money and staying close to tradition are considered their clients. You often need to book a dress at least 6 months in advance or pull some strings to get an appointment. The prices of their wedding dresses are reportedly over Rs 1.2 million on average. It is entirely likely you might be going here because your mom got her wedding dress from this place too.

2. Second Tier:

Examples: Sana Safinaz, HSY, Elan

These are relatively younger names in fashion but have established themselves as high end brands. You’ll find a number of families begging these designers to give them an appointment too. The prices of the dresses are between 700,000 to 1.2 million. And yes, despite you paying the big bucks, the designers are the ones you have to chase around. Because prices are so high and the margins even higher, they can afford to only make a limited number of dresses a year. Besides, it is the rarity that gives the dresses some of their value.

3. Third Tier: Somewhat famous designers

Examples: Haris Shakeel, Shakeelz

These are names that have started off primarily from Instagram or are known because of their boutiques and quality over the years. The prices for their bridal dresses vary from between Rs 100,000 to Rs 700,000. This is a very wide range. Someone might be happy to spend Rs 100,00 on a wedding dress, but they also have higher end stuff.

4. Fourth Tier

Examples: Shops you find for instance at Tariq Road that produce customized and off the rack dresses + Karigars you find at Gulf Market in Karachi. These are shops that have not spent exuberant amounts on marketing and branding. They cater towards the middle class. You can find dresses starting Rs 40,000 upto Rs 100,000. With tailors around, if you have a creative knack, you could even design your own dress and be very happy with it and it might even look like it's worth a lot more

than some of the upper tier designers we have discussed. However, what in the world will you say when they ask you that awful question: what are you wearing?

5. Fifth Tier

Examples: Shops at Jama Cloth or Allah wali Market

This is the wedding dress shopping experience without air conditioners and fancy shops. Basically, for those with a working knowledge of the romcom genre, this is the equivalent of brawling for a dress at a mall rather than a store with free cake and Champagne. Here you’ll find ready made dresses based on your range. The prices start from as low as Rs 10,000 for a bridal dress and are usually not more than Rs 50,000.

For the longest time, bridal dresses in Pakistani and subcontinental weddings were not the showcase. Before, it used to be gold sets that were the focus of attention and dresses were usually made through private tailors. However, in the 1990s, Pakistan’s nascent fashion industry began to take shape

Seriously? That much money?

We have mentioned above that the margins for these dresses are quite high. And let us also state here, to clarify the possible snark you might have detected above, that we truly believe people have the right to spend their hard earned money as they see fit. And if creative types like designers feel their vision and imagination is worth charging Rs 1.2 million for a dress, then we happily accept that it is the case and if people are willing to pay them that money then that is wonderful.

However, we cannot claim to say that it is a smart decision, but what we can say for sure is that the margins are indeed very high. These dresses are, after all, just a question of fabric, the work done on that fabric, and fitting. Yes you can do things like trim it with gold or silver, but the profits on these dresses are massive. It is a vicious cycle in which because of the high prices designers can afford to only sell a limited amount of bespoke dresses instead of mass producing them (since everyone wants something different) and because of the limited availability, the brand value in the eyes of the buyers goes up. Just by getting a meeting they feel like they have struck oil.

The obvious things that go into making a wedding dress are the fabric and embellishments. The price of a dress depends on a number of factors. The most important factor is what type of designer you’re going to be employing. If you’re going to someone on the pricier side, you’ll be paying a lot more for brand name and design. However, as you go down the pyramid, the pricing primarily depends on the quality of the fabric and the intricacy of the design.

This includes numerous factors. A dress made using original banarsi fabric is bound to be more expensive than a dress using fake fabric. Moreover, dresses that have intricate embellishments and handwork are priced higher. Similarly, you’re charged a premium based on the type of designer you go to. In the higher end section, which is the first three tiers of recognisable designer names, the objective quality of the fabric and the technical aspects of the works will be pretty much the same. The price difference is just based on the brand value and any subjective preference a bride might have - very much like buying an iPhone or a Samsung phone.

The size of the wedding couture industry

There is no exact way to figure out how big the size is of the Pakistani bridal couture industry. The reason is because the industry is, no surprises, quite informally organised. While we see big names selling expensive dresses, what one needs to remember is that most of the sales are off the books or not reported. Smaller designers do not have accurate records, and understate their sales, and that is if they pay taxes to begin with. In short, what we’re trying to say is the industry is filled with tax evaders and avoiders. Profit, however, has managed to reach an arbitrary number. The size of the wedding dress industry for just a wedding dress and not the receiption is sized at Rs 105 billion. For Shadi and valima you could say it’s Rs 210 billion industry

How did we get to this number? This is our methodology, which you can feel free to skip:

As per the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017-18, approximately 2.7 to 3 million people got married in 2018. Assuming the higher end of the range, that means 1.5 million weddings happen in a year. Considering a 2% growth rate in population, we’re going to assume that the number of weddings also increase by 2% in a year. That means approx. 1.6 million weddings happened in 2021.

In order to calculate the size of the wedding industry we’ve assigned weightages and multiplied it with average prices. Doing so, we were able to estimate the current size of the bridal couture industry at Rs 105 billion. However, doing so, the average price of a dress comes to Rs 65,750. This is because although the weightage for the top 0.5% is less, it is able to contribute significantly to the total revenue.

Moreover, if we continue with our 2% growth rate assumption, and add 10% inflation, we expect the bridal dress industry to reach Rs 300 billion by 2030.

Similarly, the industry should be able to generate around Rs 17 billion sales tax in addition to a substantial income tax (considering the high profit margins) that these designers should be paying.

Tax

You will find it funny that we’re doing a story on bridal couture and yet have no interview or quotes from designers. We find it strange too. Profit has been reaching out to designers since the last quarter of 2020. Most have not responded once they were sent the list of questions.

For transparency and your own intellectual curiosity, here are the set of questions sent to each designer: 1. How long have you been a designer? How long has your brand been established? 2. What “image” does your brand project? 3. Which income class are you aiming to cater to? 4. What is the minimum price for a branded and unbranded wedding dress based on your experience as a designer? 5. What is the minimum price for a wedding dress at your brand? What is the maximum price you’ve sold a dress for? 6. Do you only sell off-the-rack internationally? Do international customers have the ability to get a customized dress made? What is the process like? 7. Is your business documented? Do you pay taxes? How do you invoice bridal dresses? 8. Do you accept credit cards and bank transfers as payments, or prefer cash? 9. Do you have a dedicated karigar, or is the work outsourced? 10. If you were to break up the cost of a wedding dress, which would be the biggest cost: added value, labor, material, designer costs, labor cost, other (please mention)? 11. Why do you think the Pakistani wedding couture industry isn’t as popular as India’s across the world? What must designers do to step up? 12. How fast-paced do you think the industry is? Is it easy for a designer to get replaced? 13. Do you think brands compete amongst themselves locally or do they try to compete internationally too?

We’re assuming question 5, 7, and 8 were the reasons we did not hear back from anyone.

In February 2020, the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) identified 24 designers that

And yes, despite you paying the big bucks, the designers are the ones you have to chase around. Because prices are so high and the margins even higher, they can afford to only make a limited number of dresses a year. Besides, it is the rarity that gives the dresses some of their value

were involved in tax evasion. The FBR investigated the prices of dresses and matched that with the tax they received. The bridal dress designers were either paying little tax or were not listed on the tax roll.

Designers like Shehrnaz, Nada Tai, Aisha Ahmed, Wardha Saleem, Sanam Chaudhri, Sania Maskatiya, Cartes by Pasho, Silhouettes by Ash and Uzma, Nida Azwar, Waqar J. Khan, Kavalier Laser Cut Innovations, Rozina Munib, Ayesha Sarfaraz, Farida Qureshi, Saleha, Mahin, Natasha Kamal, Basic, Sarah Arshad Gilani, Amna Chaudry, Chikankari, House of Farah V, Sable Vogue, and Zuri by Zainab Fawad were mentioned in the FBR notice. "It is estimated that a huge loss of revenue would be detected," read a line from the notification. Based on our assumption of the market size to be worth Rs 300 billion, the total tax receipts from bridal dresses alone should be in the range of Rs 50 billion by 2030. However, it is unlikely that this will happen.

Reasons for this are simple. Most designers do not operate in a very commercial way. Most have a studio inside their homes where they take appointments. They get their embroidery and embellishments done from karigars sitting at a workshop. Even when designers work from shops, these dresses do not have barcode tags that are checked out on sale. With the industry operating primarily on cash and rarely IBFT transfers or cash cheques, one can easily manage to evade taxes. Documentation, however, is possible when these brands sell online, especially internationally. What this means is not all of their transactions are off the books or undocumented. n