Pakistan’s leading retail brand Khaadi has risen to international prominence over the last 24 years. With stores in its home country, the UAE, and the UK, it is on the path of taking fashion worldwide. We spoke to Founder and CEO Shamoon Sultan about turning a simple idea into a multi-faceted business.
Khaadi, taken from the Urdu word khadi, means ‘handloom.’ This traditional device for interlacing two sets of yarn, forming the basis of many items of long-established clothing, evokes a sense of heritage and cultural authenticity. It is no coincidence that Shamoon Sultan chose it for the name of his nascent clothing company in Karachi, Pakistan in 1998.
Humble beginnings
In its earliest incarnation, operating out of one location in Karachi’s Zamzama district, Khaadi was a handwoven clothing brand. However, this changed quickly, and within two years of trading, further sites stores were opened and product lines diversified.
“I was a 25-year-old art school graduate who started Khaadi with very little capital,” the CEO recalls. “If I am completely honest with you, the main reason behind the inception of Khaadi was because I did not want to join the family business. Having said that, I was lucky because my family gave me a lot of support, even though I was branching out on my own. I think, to summarise, I would say that I did the right thing, at the right time and in the right place because back then, Pakistan was quite disorganised and undeveloped, in a commercial sense. So there was a lot of fertile ground for establishing a business.”
In the first instance, Shamoon had no interest in entering retail. As a designer with a particular passion for handwoven cloth, his initial concept was extremely simple. He aimed to make the world’s most beautiful fabric, then sell it to anyone who wanted to use it. However, local response was not great.
Necessary changes
This resulted in something of a crisis moment. After three months of trading, it was clear that the original business model was not going to work. Faced with this ‘adapt or die’ reality, in a moment which would encapsulate much of what he went on to do, Shamoon made a consequential decision.
“I saw that it was not possible to keep on going, selling my product like that. But I had seen a lot of gaps in the industry, and this encouraged me to open my own store and get into retail. Back then in Pakistan, there was no idea of customer service and no idea of a customer journey. I only had a 400 square foot retail space, but I felt I could introduce these things and that they would appeal to people. So that is how Khaadi, as everyone knows it today, began.
"It was not just the fabric that was my passion, it was also my customers."
“The response was unbelievable,” Shamoon states. “People had never seen a store like Khaadi before. Fabric which would have taken a year to sell under my original business model was selling in two weeks. What I realised then was something that has stayed with me ever since. It was not just the fabric that was my passion, it was also my customers. You know that sense that you are giving people what they want, that is so important. And through that first store I learned that. It was a huge revelation, and those two things, product and customer experience, have shaped Khaadi into what it is today.”
Breaking through to success
From there, the company blossomed quickly. Just four years after its inception and already operating out of multiple sites, Khaadi expanded its product line to include women’s ready-to-wear items in 2002. This elasticity and willingness to evolve was further demonstrated by the Khaadi Khaas luxury wear range, introduced in 2008. By 2012-13, Khaadi Kids and Khaadi Home were launched, followed most recently by Khaadi Fragrances in 2019. From the outside, it appears a whirlwind journey of rapid success.
However, internally the brand went through a major transformation forced by the coronavirus pandemic. Retail in general, and especially fashion, took a huge hit worldwide. Local lockdowns saw brick-and-mortar stores close their doors. Customers shopped online, if at all.
I think you learn the most from your mistakes.
“In Pakistan, we felt this very acutely,” Shamoon explains. “In some parts of the world, they were already doing thirty to forty percent of their business through e-commerce, but in Pakistan, you were talking about seven or eight percent. It took us a few months just to understand what was going on, and I used that time to assess the past two decades. I thought about what had worked and what had not worked, and so in a way, once we adapted to the new environment, we came out of the other side even stronger.”
The company closed a quarter of its stores but managed to increase revenue by fifty percent. Through that, Khaadi now sits in an extremely strong position, in which medium-term aims are to double in size within the next three to five years. The shift in consumer mindsets in terms of their purchasing habits and immediate gratification are driving Khaadi’s future strategies. It is this adaptability and agility that has made them more relevant for today’s customer.
Mature wisdom
Khaadi’s commitment to fostering creative momentum and harnessing data for out-of-the-box thinking results in continuous enhancements in both their in-store and online experiences. Over the next two years, they plan to open approximately 40 new Experience Stores globally while also enhancing their e-commerce platform. Their strategic vision includes entering the US brick-and-mortar market and pursuing further international expansion opportunities, positioning them as a prominent player in the global retail landscape. Yet despite its track record of sustained, impressive, and ongoing success, there is no sense of complacency or even ego with Khaadi. The youthful-looking 50-year-old CEO admits to working 12-14 hours a day. However, he is also keen to espouse a philosophy of humility and balance.
“Along the way, I made so many decisions, and not all of them were good. In fact, I think I made more bad decisions than good ones, but you know, I hope I keep doing that, because I think you learn the most from your mistakes. So yes, I work hard, because Khaadi is my baby. To be honest, I still think of it as a startup, as I did when I began. I work every day, even weekends, but I try to take care of myself, too,” he explains. “I am careful with my diet, and I take myself to the park on a daily basis for exercise. I make a point of this. It is so important. It is good to focus on your work, but not at the exclusion of your health. This is something I have always kept in mind.”
This approach is reflected in the company he has created: a young, vibrant business, able to shift and adapt to changing market conditions, which has progressively learned as it has grown.
“Do what you are passionate about,” the CEO concludes. “That way it’s never ‘Thank God it’s Friday’; it’s always, ‘Thank God it’s Monday.’ If your work is the most exciting part of your life, you can always succeed.”
Click here to read and download the full article.
