Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

Lifestyle Wedding, Fashion & Beauty
21

where in anarkali u get a copy of the stlye that u like? have no idea but still intressted ;)

22

I got s/k with more kaam on them than yours recently from paks, and it cost approx £65, and that was a serious RIP OFF price cos they knew we were from abroad. Apparently it should have cost at least half that.

Go to paks yourself, armed with a local aunty and let her do the talking. When choosing fabric, go armed with a box of matches, and if anyone ells u its silk, check it first by holding the lit match to the frayed edge of a little piece of the material. If it melts and goes sticky / clogs at the edges, its sythetic. If it crumbles easily and smells like burnt hair, its silk.

Maybe your cousin is a bit lazy when it comes to bargaining, or just dont trust anyone from there again.

I've found karachi to b the best place for clothes shopping.

Time Out
23

Oh God! 6-8k for these outfits? YES u've been ripped-off big-time! You can get the most gorgeous fabrics in Pak organza's, crepe's, jamawar's, chiffon jamawar's! And then get pretty n dainty work done on them.. like a turquoise jamawar outfit with dull-gold kaam and sequins etc! Sorry but neither the fabric is nice, nor the work!

You'll find better stuff at local boutique's!

24

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

Errr, I just brought my two tez tez chachiyaaN with me while doing wedding shopping in lahore and I got the most amazing prices for the most amazing kappray. At the end I became a bit of an expert at bargaining myself :D Honestly, you got ripped off with these two suits! I had the lovliest silver kadhai done on one of my royal green velvet shalwaar kameez and it cost me barely Rs. 2000! I bought a lot of khulla kappra from Orega and got them stiched in Karachi, the tailor was my mumani's friend and a true professional! So yeah it really helps when you have family/friends out there that KNOW where to get everything from/done.
I say definitely worth going to Pakistan!

25

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

I dont think the outfits are that bad but i honestly dont think they are worth what you paid for. I got a lehanga with gorgeous full kaam on it on katan silk from karachi for 8000 Rs. If you can go for the wedding shopping, Karachi is the place to go. I loved the shops at Tariq Rd, esp at Rabi center.

26

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

Actually now thats what you get for Rs. 6,000... your cousin didn't loot you.. she could have done some bargaining but there is no way taht you will find something like this for less than Rs. 5000. I was in Pakistan last year for my wedding shopping.. I got ripped off by darzis in peshawar... I ordered an outfit there for 10,000.. and he was supposed to mail it to me in Pindi.. total rip off.. he didnt use the fabric that I selected, he didn;t do the karhai that I wanted, he even used the "aarha" kapra for qameez that is not straight qameez.. you should have seen my face when I opened the parcel, I never got that stitched and we will take it back to them whenever someone from my family goes to Peshawar!

Same thing for Mohsins and sons in Rawalpindi.. I ordered 3 outfits for Rs. 9000 each with karhai on gala,bazoo, and duppata border and paid 400 for stitching.. they did an awful job.. I was shocked and disappointed! I never say anything in the bazar but that day I almost cried and told my mom, "you brought me to mohsins and sons because you have been using them for past 30 years, look what did they do" even the dukan wala upset by seeing what his "karegars" did.. in the nutshell, I didnt have a good experience with orders.. I loved the ready made outfits that I got from Zardozi, Lahore and couple of shawal qameez from Maria B...

After shadi I moved to Karachi and I helped my husband's cousin shadi shopping.. she got the best karhai from Gulf and paposh for a very reasonable price and rabi center on Tariq road had some really good variety for unstitched karhai wale kapray.. I liked those better and not to mention, Karachi is cheaper than Islamabad and Peshawar!!!

I dun like any of these outfits but still I would say for Rs. 6000.. this is not bad!

27

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

I think you should give your cousin the benefit of doubt.Everything is super-expensive there nowadays.Embroidery-walay,darzis, all of them have nearly doubled their prices , theres no bijli there and they have generators that they need more money to run.
And in addition to that , it's a huge hassle going to the bazaar a million times, going to and fro the tailor in the heat and the rush.
Seriously , if i was living there , I wouldn't do that for anyone.And plus people are ungrateful.They will never like what you send them.

These outfits are not something I would pick out necessarily, but if someone had them sent to me , I would've worn them.

28

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

just got back from pak last month.
the price is right if it was made in liberty lahore, but that would be the price for the fabric, the embroidery, the tailoring, the dyeing, all if it.
choice you cant do anything about it anymore, so it sucks

obviously its better if you go in person, however, when u look at the cost of the trip, tickets/accommodations/shopping/etc then it might not be. i dont know where you are, but in toronto, and vancouver, as well as new york, dallas, london, you can get some DAMN good outfits, of the latest trends which are going to cost you almost the same (sometimes a little bit more) if you were purchasing them from pakistan directly.

29

its always hard when u ask someone else to do this sort of job for you.... this sort of thing happens a lot when you ask someone else to prepare/buy outfits for you, no matter how close they are to you...they didn't know your vision, if they did, they would have tried to get as close to it as they could... prices are high in pak, but still much much much better variety, much better quality, and much lower prices when compared to the desi (pakistani/indian) clothing stores in US, UK, or Canada...
plus you can really do a "complete" job of shopping, with coordinated shoes, coordinated jewelry etc, in pakistan...you can do a lot of customization, can ask the workers/darzi etc, to make alterations in kaam or what not ....

speaking from personal experience from my wedding....
it is totally worth the price of ticket you pay to go to pakistan to shop for wedding outfits from there.....
you will see when you go there, and do the shopping, bargaining, searching your self, you will find, what you are looking for, its gonna cost you, but not more than what it would in for example US...you would actually save...and get much better looking stuff

(i shopped both in US and pak) and pak shopping much more worthwhile...
i wish i could post pics of my outfits from pak, (its not possible, i dont have them where i am right now)...but they were damn good (also all non designer stuff from lahore liberty, anarkali, but look no less than any designer heavy formals).
i got few really nice ones from US too, but definitely rare finds and not as good in quality of fabric, also pricier than in pak.... plus no chance of customization etc in terms of clours, kaam, lenght of sleeves...etc.

oh if you are making bari for your brothers wife, then trust me the bari will have much more ruaab (presence), and will look much much better, if you do shopping from pak.
also from personal wedding shopping experience lahore tends to be a lil cheaper than karachi, lahore lahore hei, jo shopping lahore mein hei voh pakistan kei kisi aur city mein nahi, not even the other big cities like karachi or islamabad (personal experience)

30

My friends get their clothes done from there... some of my cousins too. I don't know where personally. I'm from the US.

31

Shop in Pak for everything! (except makeup!) they have gorgeous clothes, jewellery, shoes, clutches etc!

32

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

Ophy you should go to Pak. for your wedding shopping.

33

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

okay..i havent yet read what others have said so incase i repeat. so here are my two cents.

firstly, i dont think the suits should hav cost u this much cuz the kam doesnt look so neat. (based on my personal recent experience) u could have gotten better kam done on better kpra. to me it doenst look like jamawar silk or watever but that could be cuz i cant see it well in the picture. now the price justification part; i think it depends on where ur cousin got it done from as in which area. e.g if u get some work done from liberty market in lhr, it is generally expensive compared to the same kind of work done from someone doing business in icchra market.

secondly, those might be in fashion or available in faisalabad. i m nt sure how 'advanced' faisalabad is when it comes to fashion like this. i say this cuz i read an article online few days ago tht islamabad does not get such designer clothes and variety like ppl do in lahore or karachi and to think tis the CAPITAL city.

thirdly, i would go to pk for my wedding shopping. but here is how i would look at it. compare the tatal estimated cost of clothes u could buy from wherever it is u live in. vs the cost of going to pk and buying clothes from there. if the cost is the same then u can think abt things like if u really would liek to do more shopping other than clothes and get to see relatives and visit places. OR u dont want to bother going ot pk cuz u might end up getting sick (i always do but still go) and have no interest in going to pk.

i hope i havent confused u..lol

34

i see... :(

i go to pk in the end of september and need some affordable suits that y i asked.

35

I'm planning to go end of the year too - perhaps around the same time as you. Need a shopping buddy? :)

Hai Dua Ki Yehi Khabar Seedhi
36

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

I would go to india for shopping, just don't let them find out your an nri, then might as well buy a designers!

37

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

I have just come vack from Pakistan after a 3 week trip, and I have learned that if I do get married I will most certainly not be relying on solely Pakistan to do my shopping. I could not find one decent outfit to wear to a friends forthcoming wedding!!!

I honestly think the although the UK has a smaller selection, but nevertheless has the better collection in terms of style and quality. So I would advise you to look around here first.

And in terms of those suits, no I don't think you have been ripped off.

38

I seriously wish I knew how to take decent pics, transfer them onto my laptop and then post them here, I wud've shown u several decent outfits that all my friends are "oohing and aahing" over for less than Rs. 6,000!

You have to get out in the small "galli's" and find whatever u want..look thru and decide the kaam for urself! And I cud step into Karma and purchase anything and LOVE it.. even Maria B has some really nice outfits at times. I bought a nickie & nina outfit for Rs. 7,000 and it has gorgeous fabric (jamawar) it's a lavender and has very delicate turquoise stones and work on it.

You really have to look hard if u don't want to go to designers, or rely on designers!

39

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

ur suits dont seem of jamawar fabrik ...first of all....n according to price these r xpensive watever other ppl r saying dat prices r high or this dat n quality of work is rough.

40

Re: Is there any point going to Pakistan for shopping?

Gina u know we'd love to see those pictures ;-)