i’ve been thinking about this for a while but didn’t have the nerve to start a thread.
i’m quite an opinionated person in real life but i hate getting into arguments with people i don’t know online, so i find myself holding my tongue (fingers) on gs quite a lot.
at the same time, i don’t think it’s that fair to pass comment on people’s personal choices. so what if i don’t like someone’s clothes or makeup, that’s their choice and i think it’s just not nice to pass comment if i’ve not been asked for it.
now about the thread title - i’m just like ‘what the hell??’ regarding a lot of the outfits on sale in the bazaar. other users have already commented that some are overpriced but it’s not that that really bothers me.
what bothers me is that so many of the outfits (virtually all of them with thread embroidery) are just machine worked. having machine work done on outfits in Pak is so cheap (cost wise) and to be quite honest, i don’t even know anyone who gets it done unless they just wanna jazz up a casual at-home kinda outfit.
paying $150 dollars for an outfit that costs a few thousand rupees is crazy. i can only assume people are ignorant to what they are paying for.
the thing is, i don’t actually mind when the other (non-machine) outfits are overpriced… at least you are paying for something that has been done by hand and some real effort has gone into it. although it’s sad that all that profit of selling overseas probably doesn’t get to the people actually doing that work.
agree that they r ridiculously overpriced, but what can you do? at least now there are some more honest homebased designers that won't ridiculously overcharge you.
I totally understand you and agree with you on this one.. it is not only having the nerve, but also has to do with the time and effort you want to put in making you point... There are many people that will understand you POV, but many others who will try to ridicule you and make even fun of your statements.
As for the machine embroidery... it is extremely overpriced!
i've been thinking about this for a while but didn't have the nerve to start a thread.
i'm quite an opinionated person in real life but i hate getting into arguments with people i don't know online, so i find myself holding my tongue (fingers) on gs quite a lot.
at the same time, i don't think it's that fair to pass comment on people's personal choices. so what if i don't like someone's clothes or makeup, that's their choice and i think it's just not nice to pass comment if i've not been asked for it.
now about the thread title - i'm just like 'what the hell??' regarding a lot of the outfits on sale in the bazaar. other users have already commented that some are overpriced but it's not that that really bothers me.
what bothers me is that so many of the outfits (virtually all of them with thread embroidery) are just machine worked. having machine work done on outfits in Pak is so cheap (cost wise) and to be quite honest, i don't even know anyone how gets it done unless they just wanna jazz up a casual at-home kinda outfit.
paying $150 dollars for an outfit that costs a few thousand rupees is crazy. i can only assume people are ignorant to what they are paying for.
the thing is, i don't actually mind when other outfits are overpriced... at least you are paying for something that has been done by hand and some real effort has gone into it. although it's sad that all that profit of selling overseas probably doesn't get to the people actually doing that work.
agree that they r ridiculously overpriced, but what can you do? at least now there are some more honest homebased designers that won't ridiculously overcharge you.
where are they!? lol.
my point is, that these homebased designers are way way waaaay overcharging for machine embroidered outfits, it's pure profit. i find it ridiculous that people are paying for them, i can only assume they don't know the real cost (and minimal time and effort) of what they are buying.
what can one do? refuse to pay so much for these sort of outfits!
as i said, it doesn't bother me so much when people are paying very high prices for handworked outfit. at least someone has put in effort to embroidering these and some poor person is getting some money for doing it.
i'm sure, like many other gs users, i could show outfits that my mil has sent me in the past that have loads of **hand **thread work (which in my opinion looks a 100 times nicer than machine stuff) and even they have only cost a few thousand, if that, to have made.
well u are right but i must tell u that machine embroided dresses are the hottesttttttt thing in pakistan these days i hav seen it i just came back from pak i went to motifz they have all machine embroided dresses n i bought a dress unstisched for 10000 rs.n simple lawn suits with embroidery for 3000-4000 Rs. even bareeze has clothes starting at 3000 n they go up to 25000 but these are all like branded clothes u can get cheaper clothes then this but my friend if u get it done by a kaam wala darzi even then it ll cost u around 4000 im talking abt the machine embroidery but but but if u get only the gaala done like all the newscasters of geo then it ll be much cheaper then that
some of the designers are reasonable, some are not.
btw, how can u tell the diff btwn hand/machine embroidery?
u look at the back of the shirt ifu can find any knots or twists or loose threads then its hand where as machine embroidery doesnt have any knots and its the same design at the back but lighter
hand embroidery is cheape ri have dresses both in hand n machine ill post some pics for u if i can find my camera charger :)
Sara - i don’t think any of the machine embroidered outfits are reasonably costed.
Maybe someone else can explain better but if you have seen a vast array of hand embroidery, you can spot machined work a mile off.
Hand embroidery comes in many different forms with many different kinds of stitching. Machine work on the other hand is ‘fat’, unrefined looking, messy in the close-up and is usually just a tight back and forth stitch to completely fill up the space. Example.
When you buy unstitched kapra with thread embroidery on it, it’s usually machine embroidery. You can buy 3 piece suits from anywhere from 500RS to a few thousand RS if the kapra itself is very good quality. To pay well over $100 + shipping is ludicrous.
A lot of the outfits my MIL has made have a beautiful stitch that is similar to a very delicate chain stitch and requires a lot of skill but literally costs in the hundreds of rupees for a small amount (neck, sleeves). So cheap, but still a lot more cost than machine work! Which just gives you an idea of how dirt cheap machine embroidery is.
my point is, that these homebased designers are way way waaaay overcharging for machine embroidered outfits, it's pure profit. i find it ridiculous that people are paying for them, i can only assume they don't know the real cost (and minimal time and effort) of what they are buying.
what can one do? refuse to pay so much for these sort of outfits!
as i said, it doesn't bother me so much when people are paying very high prices for handworked outfit. at least someone has put in effort to embroidering these and some poor person is getting some money for doing it.
i'm sure, like many other gs users, i could show outfits that my mil has sent me in the past that have loads of **hand **thread work (which in my opinion looks a 100 times nicer than machine stuff) and even they have only cost a few thousand, if that, to have made.
hopefully this won't be considered advertising- but i think prototype is fairly reasonable. i mean i paid more for lawn suits than i would have if i was in pak- but i had to buy designer stuff b/c that's the only way i would know exactly what design i was getting.
also, in the karma thread someone bought the nilo outfit for a whole lot, and when i was in pak i bought the outfit for 6,000 without even knowing it! It was when i came back, that someone pointed out to me that it looks just like it(except mine is in red/green)...altho granted they gave us a bit of a discount b/c my uncle knows them.
I also bought this really heavy kaum wala jora for 10,000 and then i see less heavy stuff around here selling for 10x the amount i'm like whoah! but then again i bought it from a boutique and didn't custom design thing- which apparently cost 10x more?
i just had another look at prototype's stuff. not my taste, but you are right, her prices are pretty reasonable compared to some of the others.
well, i don't think that custom designing costs more unless you are having the kaam completely custom designed for you too and even then it's not 10x the amount.
changing things on an outfit and having a new one made in your size should cost the same amount, always does where-ever i have been in pak.
or making up your own design and picking out the style of kaam from an already made outfit, that doesn't cost any more either because they have already come up with the kaam pattern.
like, my nikah outfit cost a fair bit in comparison to my lengha because they custom designed the kaam in it. someone had to sit and come up with a design of all the things i had asked for to be in it, whereas for the lengha i liked the kaam i saw on another lengha but just wanted the colour and a few other things changed for mine.
but anyway, i was talking about machine worked outfits that are being sold in the bazaar specifically.
u look at the back of the shirt ifu can find any knots or twists or loose threads then its hand where as machine embroidery doesnt have any knots and its the same design at the back but lighter
hand embroidery is cheape ri have dresses both in hand n machine ill post some pics for u if i can find my camera charger :)
as far as i know hand embroidery is much more costly than machine
i’m not sure where u live n how often u go to pak but a decent 3 pcs unsitched fabric alone comes anywhere from 1200-2000Rs.i bought a cotton 3 pcs unstitched fabric with sequins for 1900Rs n another with lacework for my mom for 4000Rs from Saleem fabric 2 yrs back when i went to pak.Another i bought from Faisalabad n it was chiffon machine emb unstitched 3 pcs for 3,000rs.
n those 500rs suits r quite substandard i must say.u can’t find good quality in that price.n i hav myself seen stitched med heavy partywear in a liberty small shop selling for 8000rs-10,000rs. on one of my lawn suits i got machine emb done it was very simple ,only along neckline n sleeves n that costed me 500rs which is the cheapest any kaarigaar charges these days.nodoubt ppl living abroad r always being overcharged but things in pak r not that cheap anymore.also when ppl try getting designerwear copied the price gets a bit higher.yes readywear or factory made r always cheaper than custom made.
mabrook. as i said 500RS to a few thousand. i was trying to illustrate my point regarding outfits that already have thread work on them.
my MIL lives in multan and bargains hard. when i'm with her i can buy cotton-silk suits with plenty of thread work on them for 500-1000RS. obviously, you go to Bareeze and a 3 piece cotton suit is going to cost a few thousand.
obviously you don't know me but if you did you would know that i never buy synthetic fabrics. i wouldn't be caught dead in one of those polyester chiffon/georgette readymade outfits - my own preference! (before i get jumped on)
I also bought outfits as presents for people from Saleem fabrics.e.g. a 3 piece chiffon with threadwork and sequins for about 5000RS, yet in the GS bazaar we see a threadwork and sequins outfit going for over $150 and in actual fact i doubt it was would have been more expensive to make just because it's custom made as we all know Saleem fabrics is pretty overpriced.
on top of that, does anyone think the embroidery design was custom made for that GS bazaar seller? everyone knows these kaarigars already have a million kaam designs and you just go a pick one. it would only be more expensive if you want them to create a completely new design. like all they have is flowers and you want something else they don't have a sample of. again, talking about thread embroidery here!
hand embriodry is beautiful, I love it, stoppit, can you please out some pictures of your hand emb. VS machine emb.
I do agree nowadays things are very expensive, and specially for ppl who live abroad, we get ripped off easily. It is hard for some people but others don't have choice because they don't have anybody to send them clothes of their choice from pak :(
hand embriodry is beautiful, I love it, stoppit, can you please out some pictures of your hand emb. VS machine emb.
I do agree nowadays things are very expensive, and specially for ppl who live abroad, we get ripped off easily. It is hard for some people but others don't have choice because they don't have anybody to send them clothes of their choice from pak :(
i love it too. but i don't have it done all over an outfit usually, just sleeve/neckline, that sort of thing. the machine embroidered stuff i have is the embroidered kapra suits (bareeze and similar stores). i have never had machine embroidery 'done' on kapra i have bought in a design i have chosen because i don't like the look of it compared to hand embroidery so i always go for the latter.
p.s. i'm not knocking anyone for choosing machine embroidery. i just think it's a shame that people are being charged so much for it!
I am not jumping in to defend myself or any other designer at bazaar at all. I just want your honest opinion on one of the embroidered suits I recently did for someone.
here is it: (this is the neckline only. it has a 4 inches border on sleeves as well) and dupatta is tied&dyed with ribbon piping all around.
I have made it for 6000rs w/o shipping to houston/US
my cost:
fabric for shirt : (self printed 70 gm pure silk shirt): 800rs
shalwar: 70 gram raw silk plain: 650rs
dupatta: medium silk: 520rs
embroidery: 1500rs (anchor work with machine and then sequins work by hand)
lining : 100rs
dyeing: 150rs for suit and 150rs for two toned dupatta
ribbon for dupatta: 85rs
stitching for a lined suit with pants: 800rs
dupatta stitching: 100rs
my trip to the markets:
1 for buying the fabric
1 to another market for giving it for embroidery
another one to pick it
2 trips to the tailor for dropping the suit and picking it up
2 for the dyer
1 for the dupatta ( I waited at the peeco wala’s stand for 25 mins in my car for him to finish with putting on ribbon on the dupatta)
1 for the shipping of the suit and packing it
Simply saying WOW ! THAT’S A LOT OF RIPPING FOR A THREADWORK MACHINE MADE SUIT wont do justice to all the effort behind it. Please note that home-based designers (except for few who have their own shops/kaarigars) have to pay for every suit fabric, stitching,dyeing on a normal rate that any of you will pay for them on your trips to markets here (maye they’d charge us 10-15 rs less for dyeing of a suit and max 50 rs less for tailoring) because unlike designers, we dont have a tailor(s) (or dyer) sitting at our place/shops , getting a salary on a monthly basis (when they can stitch from 60-250 suits per month). All of this counts (and adds to the cost of a suit) anyways.
plus it is a world full of thousands of choices and a lot of awareness now. no one can rip anyone and no one (usually) can be ripped off like thatsaying ‘oh we didnt know the rates…blah blah’ like that easily. everyone makes sure about it before paying their hard earned money to anyone-designer or non designer. in simple words: itni bhi loot nahin machi hui…aur naa he andhoan nay bazaar loota hua hai
(and I dont care if this one is below anyone's 'taste' criteria because the lady for whom I made it for, LOVED it and I am making more for her family in different colours now)
two things, first i already said i'm not here to criticise anyone's taste, it's something i really dislike doing. secondly i already said to whateverfloatsyourboat that i can see your oufits are resonably priced and i think it's great that you give your prices in rupees.
you have listed all your costs and that's great. the price of the embroidery and other things are as expected and you have added fair costs for all your troubles.
last year i needed two outfits for when i got to pak for a wedding and i knew i wouldn't have time to shop first. my friend in lahore put me in touch with her friend who was doing pretty much the same as you. she charged 5000rs/outfit for her services which was just under 1/3 of the total cost of one oufit. i was happy to pay it as i knew how many trips she had to make for them.
still, that's about $200 total at today's rate (much less last Aug) for an outfit to wear at a mehndi where the kaam was dakba, sequins and crystals and cost 8000RS.. to see some oufits being sold in the GS bazaar that are just machine threadwork for similar prices is what is causing me a problem.
well.. i just hope buyers are asking those sellers for a complete breakdown of the costs in rupees so they can see how much the seller is charging for their services and can then decide if it's fair.
