I have been sending my own designed and ready made suits to my relatives living abroad. the response has been good so far. I basically sent them to Norway. Now I am wanting to take it up as a regular business. I sent some hand painted kaftans as well which can be worn on top of jeans. Can ladies especially, guide me what do they look for while ordering clothes from Pakistan? I will be uploading my collection in a week inshAllah but I need ideas so that I can start working on it.
Trends depend on where you're planning to sell it to basically. In Norway everyone prefers darker colored semi formals, which is also the case in Denmark. If you're selling to the Netherlands, they're looking for something brighter and with more emphasis on the fabrics used. White, black and red are very risky colors in Canada, as very few people like those colors in the first place. But do go for a deep hue such as purple or teal and place brightly colored contrast embroidery on the dress if you're catering to them.
UK has the best market to understand in the first place. We have Manchester, where people prefer brightly colored funky outfits, and then London, where people emphasize on the tailoring (the details matter a lot) rather than just embroidery. Materials are also of utmost importance to Londoners. Then there is USA's market. They prefer different cuts over the traditional styles, and they're color preferences vary over the states. Houston is a lot like London when it comes to fashion choices. Australia (Mainly sydney), is all about the tailoring. No amount of embroidery will make them happy unless your tailoring is excellent.
Painted outfits don't have a very big market in terms of low end range or medium range outfits. High ends outfits with hand painted details sell better, but those markets take time to penetrate in the first place. Out of all of this, the main thing to remember is that if your tailoring is right, then you've done more than half of the work. Little details like diamonte or dabka buttons on the cuffs, or chatta patti piping detail on the paincha make a difference. Make sure you place a lot of emphasis on the fabric you use to finish the outfit with (don't have it hand hemmed without a fabric on the inside ever). Study materials as you would be very surprised with what you will find in the market, and try to keep the dress in as many pure portions as possible. And price them well, but not too low that you won't be able to complete the outfit on time!