I interviewed Salman Parekh, the Managing Director of Manto, a fashion label.
I asked him what inspired him to start this brand. He shared a story that when he was pursuing higher education in the UK, he liked wearing Pakistani clothes to feel close to home, to connect to culture, and to represent, but not cultural clothes that were “in your face”. What this means is that he wanted to wear cultural clothes but not very cultural, rather something that had a contemporary touch. He mentioned that he did research and development to find a comfortable fabric and wanted to incorporate Urdu poetry.
Once the brand started, a lot of designs came at the request of customers. For instance, families of certain famous Pakistani poets reached out and said that they wanted to see particular verses of Urdu poetry. This, in part, gave Manto the identity of a contemporary fashion label that is embracing Urdu poetry and certain famous Pakistani folk tales in its products.
What really spoke to me about Mr. Parekh’s approach and speaks to my inspiration with my project for this MA is that he said, “I was extremely clear that I want to make culture/poetry cool again!” He further added that he wanted to re-define what is cool, as each culture can create its place in such an industry. Mr. Parekh mentioned that people who are not necessarily fond of poetry also sometimes buy Manto’s products. This shows that when culturally exciting products are in the market, people will automatically buy, given that people wanted to identify as cultural, given that such products spoke to people’s hybrid identity of being modern and cultural at the same time.
Mr. Parekh mentioned that 20-30% of customers belong to the diaspora community. They are the most passionate and give the most generous feedback. Individuals from the diaspora community have shared stories about how wearing Manto’s clothes and accessories make them feel attached to culture and contribute to their Pakistani identity.