This 15th of Feb 2012
marked a significant day in the Fashion Industry of Pakistan as Pakistan's
first ever Rural Women Brand called Sughar was launched by Rural Women from
Sindh and Balochistan facilitated by Sughar Empowerment Society A national nonprofit in Pakistan.
Sughar Empowerment society
is a social enterprise which operates in more than 20 villages
in Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan is aimed at ending the negative customs of exchange marriages, child
marriages, honour killings by promoting the beautiful traditions and providing
socio-economic empowerment to women in tribal communities of Pakistan.
After having been operating in Balochistan for a few years Sughar is
recently supported by International Labour Organization (ILO) to scale in Sindh
where Sughar under its innovative strategy establishes Women Centers in each
village offering a 6 month course to tribal women. The course involves
value-adding the traditional embroidery and provides basic education and
literacy skills. It raises awareness of rural women on their equal status and
rights. Each course offers a minimum loan to each woman after graduating
to initiate Primary Production Units at their homes thus promoting women
entrepreneurship which greatly influences their power to ownership and decision
making and hence changes their status in the society.
This Fashion Show was part of the Sughar’s strategy to launch Pakistan’s
first ever Rural Women Brand named Sughar (English Translation: Skilled and
Confident Woman) under the Sughar Women Program starting via an exhibition of
the products which included stylish Hand Clutches, hand bags, and traditional-cum
modern dresses from Sindh and Balochistan. The fashionable and fabulously
designed products were the source of attraction to many who were amazed at the
talent and skills of rural women, some of whom were present at the event
enjoying each compliment and talking happily.
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“The idea behind launching a brand and not sticking to traditional
methods of marketing the embroidery is to give women and their skills the space
that they deserve”. Says the Sughar team, “Brands, fashions and new trends have
become more of a culture now, why not use our older and beautiful culture to
become a part of this new culture, which would not only become a way to empower
these women but to prove to the world that Pakistan is a country full of
colorful traditions and folklore.
Each Sughar product depicted a folk story or a tradition that is followed
in diverse communities of Pakistan. In the Brand Launch the story of Umer Marvi
had its best place where Dancing Camels and Water Pots of Umer Marvi on Hand
Clutches as well as Marvi herself was beautifully embroidered on a wall hanger.
Working with 500 women already in the two provinces, Sughar says its next
stop is Umerkot District of Sindh where ancient folklores and traditions are a
treasure of all times, while the Sughar Products apart from being easily
available in Pakistan are now available in the US as well as in London through
valuable partnerships with core persons and organizations.
According to Sughar Empowerment Society, the power of persistence on our
path comes right from the fact that the team that operates Sughar also belongs
to villages like those we work in, the struggle that they already have done to
change their own lives is a strong force for us to try that once again for each
women in rural and tribal areas of Pakistan to unleash that “Sughar” in each of
them!
