FIRST PAKISTAN FASHION WEEK

ARY Digital Network to organize mega event


FIRST PAKISTAN FASHION WEEK

AT LAHORE IN OCTOBER 2005



The first Pakistan Fashion Week will be held at Lahore in October 2005 where top designers from Pakistan and India are expected to showcase their latest collections. Pakistan Fashion Week is the maiden concerted effort to bring Pakistani designers under one roof and showcase the immense talent that they possess to the world.





Pakistan’s leading television channel, ARY Digital Network, will be organizing Pakistan Fashion Week. IMG, the world’s premier sports, leisure and lifestyle management and marketing agency, which also has been managing the hugely successful Lakme India Fashion Week since its inception in 2000, will be the International Consultant for Pakistan Fashion Week.





Mr. Salman Iqbal, President & CEO, ARY Digital Network, said, “Over the years ARY has been promoting Pakistani talent from the music and television industry around the world and we are now proud to pioneer the effort to popularize Pakistani fashion to the world. We expect this initiative to help grow and support the evolving fashion industry through a structured approach. Pakistan Fashion Week will bring together all the important elements of the fashion industry in an integrated manner. Pakistan has the potential for becoming a significant player in the booming fashion sector and Pakistan Fashion Week will play a critical role to help achieve this position.”





Pakistan Fashion Week is expected to provide a platform to develop business opportunities for designers, encourage investments and professional input in design labels, and aid the growth of the designer ready-to-wear lines. The development of an entire fashion supply chain through backward linkages with suppliers and textile mills and forward linkages with the retail and distribution network is estimated to create employment for a large number of youth in Pakistan. The event will also provide Indian designers to highlight their creativity and tap a new market.



The participating designers will showcase their ready-to-wear and bridallines at the country's largest fashion event. The four-day event will include 16 shows, exhibition stalls, and business seminars. Thirty designers, 25 from Pakistan and 5 others from India are expected to participate. The participation of Indian designers is likely to cater to the increasing demand in Pakistan for their products. Pakistan Fashion Week has been conceived with the primary objective of creating business relationships and facilitating a dialogue between designers, trade buyers and media.





ARY Digital Network has appointed IMG as the International Consultant for organizing Pakistan Fashion Week. IMG today owns New York Fashion Week, Los Angeles Fashion Week and commercially represents London Fashion Week, Milan Fashion Week, Sao Paolo Fashion Week, the British Style Awards and IMG Models is considered the world’s No.1 agency. IMG commercially manages and implements Lakme India Fashion Week, which is the country’s largest fashion industry event.



Ravi Krishnan, Managing Director - IMG/TWI, South Asia and Senior Vice President, IMG said, “We are excited that ARY Digital Networks has taken the initiative to organize Pakistan Fashion Week. We hope this will be the catalyst for the Pakistan Fashion Industry to make its mark and also provide an opportunity for Indian Designers to open up what could be a significant market for them. IMG is proud to be playing a role in this historic initiative.”



Pakistan Fashion Week will be open to visitors by invitation only. It is expected to have more than 12,000 visitors ranging from individual buyers to institutional buyers, retailers, exporters, the textile industry, print and electronic media, as well as sponsors' guests. Attendees will not only witness the latest collections from Pakistan and India's top designers, but also get to see the best models, make-up trends, hairstyles and accessories for the upcoming season.




About ARY Digital Network




As the flagship channel of the network, ARY Digital is a channel designed to present viewers quality entertainment that can be watched by the entire family. The channel provides wholesome entertainment that includes exciting cricket tournaments, world-class music and film based events starring the biggest celebrities from India and Pakistan, region specific television programs of all genres targeting diverse age groups and market segments. ARY Digital boasts of six region specific beams broadcasting as customized channels: ARY Digital - Pakistan, ARY Digital - Middle East, ARY Digital - UK, ARY Digital - Europe, ARY Digital - India and ARY Digital – USA. The network recently acquired the license for DTH (Direct-to-Home), becoming the leading Electronic Media Company all set to bring a revolution in Pakistan’s media market by introducing the DTH platform for a number of channels across the globe, so that they may explore the Pakistani Market and fulfill the demand of 20 million viewers. Recently the channel acquired the international rights to beam Lakme India Fashion Week 2005 to millions of viewers across Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe.



About IMG/TWI in India




With offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, IMG India has continually achieved pioneering milestones in sports and entertainment management and marketing in the country. Combining its international network, experience and expertise with local resources in every area of sport and entertainment, IMG offers customized solutions that are aligned with the business needs of its clients in India. These include the Lakme India Fashion Week, Samsung Cup (Indo-Pak series), the Sahara Cup, the Chennai Open (formerly Tata Open), the Royal Challenge Indian Open (formerly the Wills Indian Open), ESPN presents Scorpio Speedster (the hunt for India’s fastest bowler), the ABN AMRO Tennis Challenge, BILT Skins with Vijay Singh, the LG Cup, the Mercedes Trophy, the Colour Plus National Bowling League and the Florsheim World Billiards Championship. In 2000, IMG acquired the rights to the Indian cricket team from the BCCI, and brought in Sahara India Parivar as the team sponsor in the largest cricket team deal ever done in the world. TWI is India’s largest independent producer of sports television programming, both in Hindi and English.


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