Re: Experience ordering from Shakeelz Couture online/ internationally ?
I don't have the number and my aunt who did is not in Pak anymore.
Salesman's name is Sikandar. The store is across the street from the corner of Dollmen mall.
Name of store is spelled with a Z not an S. Shakeel'z Couture.
Haris Shakeel is using the same name on his FB page but if you look at the pics of his store on FB, the store's name as can be seen on the shopping bags is "Haris Shakeel". I messaged him and he confirmed the store I'm speaking of is a different store and he declined to comment on which is original.
I will confirm that the place I went to was originally a little rude. They showed me like 5 samples and expected me to be floored. My aunt knows how to speak to them to get them to perform but I'd have walked out too. In comparison, Haris is on FB and responds fast himself. His designs and work also looks good on the website so he may be a good resource.
My family just has been going to the one I went to for a number of brides so they're used to Sikandar's salesmanship and they know how to counter it. I definitely felt rushed to pick a design and although I am happy with the quality of the kaam and the tailoring, I wish I had more selection. I literally went to the stores and decided on the first day because we needed it done in like 6 weeks so it could be brought back to the US by an aunt that was traveling.
Also try Sampson's at Zamzama. I didn't go there but my family did. Customer service is good and they reliably parcel. My mom just didn't see anything that stuck out to her.
Also try Sea Green on Tariq Road. It's in the same shopping center as Africawala which is an extension of Sampson's on Tariq Road.
Try Makkah Bridals. Good prices, kaam is done, you just pick up and go. Just wasn't impressed with the Kapra quality and thought the kaam was too glitchy.
Rhim Jhim , Jabeen's , PLK are all beautiful quality work but out of my price range and those stores are staffed with sales guys who don't personally cater to you, or get to know your style, or give a crap if you buy. No effort on their part really.
So I liked Sikandar. I warmed up to him as I chatted about random things and explained what I was looking for.
I wish he showed me more samples but he didn't seem interested in digging through old samples to show me work. He has a book of drawings for motifs and you pick a few and he gets them done and shows you. Urgh...so many things wrong with their business model it's not funny.
These stores all should have a catalog with real samples of the work on a piece of cloth in a book or something that you can flip through. But I think it's based on the karigars.
You can go to Kehkashaan and get the kaam done direct from the karigar and he will charge you 200 dollars per formal outfit. Retail store then turn around and sell the pieces for 300-400. Dunno if they are a good resource for bridals though. The pro of going to a place like rhim Jhim is that the formals are done in terms of kaam. They're just unstitched so you take to the tailor and get it stitched. So it saves a lot of time and headache compared to buying silk, then dyeing it, then giving it to th karigar. They will delay each process and you need someone in pak to follow up. Otherwise you'll end up with the incorrect design.
These folks are all disorganized. They take your order, and screw it up 20-60 percent of the time. Even with my bridal the neckline shape was different although I could see based on the kaam why. They gave me a U shape instead of a round shape. The motifs I thought were going to be huge but they were small. So stuff like that is unavoidable.
With bridals you have no choice but to order. They don't have pret wear in bridals. Very few shops had a dress you could pick up and take and I'd say Makah was the only one. They will show you 20,000 dresses if you let them. They all were overdone though and too glittery and heavy and the kaam was sticking to itself so when they'd open up the skirt , you could see parts of the chiffon getting yanked and that damages the piece. But it's cheap and you get what you pay for.
I went with shakeel's because he uses pure quality cloth. And his kaam is fairly clean and doesn't stick to itself upon being folded and doesn't yank on the chiffon. He doubles his chiffon also to give a deeper color and also to prevent the yanking when you fold and unfold.
I think you just need to go in there and be specific. I gathered he hated wasting his time on showing piece after piece and having noses up in the air about it. So I told him look this is what I had in mind, what can you do. Then he stopped being an arse; and started being helpful and sketching designs and showing me different ways of modifying the one piece we did like. I do wish I had seen other samples of kaam but I just don't think they keep a lot of variety.
Sorta bummed I didn't go to Haris Shakeel. He seems like he has a lot of variety. I may go there next time for formals.