Ever since its inception almost four decades ago, Generation has been a pret staple, with almost no one being able to come close to its success. The secret? The brand’s ability to remain a market leader with sustainable fashion and local artisanal techniques complementing each collection. Naturally, this has only grown in the last decade or so, leading to Generation expanding even further. Now, charting this success, Generation has opened up its latest branch in the heart of Sindh, Hyderabad.

Known for its small and medium craft enterprises, Hyderabad has remained a city shrouded in the rich sartorial culture, which often gets obscured and dictated by its goliath neighbour to the south, Karachi. Its culture and tradition have always been divided between the local heritage of Sindh and the bustling metropolitan zeitgeist. The launch of Generation too, is a part of this amalgamation between the new, the cultural and the classic, where seemingly, the latter has won over even the biggest of names in the pret market such as Khadija Rehman’s Generation.

Opening up on a relatively cooler spring evening at Fortune Arcade – Hyderabad’s swankiest and newest address for fashion, Generation brought its fresh palette of the season to the city by the river. Out came the cool oranges with florals and a multitude of vibrant, heritage-led colours, which truly provided a nod and an ode to what the brand has come to be known for.

But just what took them so long to open up outside of Karachi?

“Our customers had been asking us for a while now to open in Hyderabad. In fact, they were annoyed by us for not opening sooner,” Khadija Rehman, the creative force behind Generation, revealed at the launch. “We have a large clientele from the city and it was quite a natural decision. It is also the eighth largest city of Pakistan, and we were already available in the other seven, so we just had to open here as well.”

Known for its small-and-medium craft enterprises, Hyderabad has remained a city shrouded in rich sartorial culture, which often becomes obscured and dictated by its goliath neighbour to the south, Karachi. Its culture and tradition have always been divided between the local heritage of Sindh and the bustling metropolitan zeitgeist. 

The launch, which was visibly a buzzing addition to Hyderabad’s fashion scene, also brought forward evidence that the city is ready to consume more fashion done sustainably. The horde of clients enquiring about which dye is used and what sort of techniques have been applied highlighted their concerns well.

But, for Generation it is much bigger than this just being yet another successful stint with the customer experience. Months – probably years in the making, the launch in Hyderabad will most definitely serve as a litmus test for its expansion further into Sindh – a province where Khadija draws major inspiration and craft from.

“The craft in Sindh is just unbelievable. In many ways, Punjab is more industrialized, and thus, has lost a lot of its cultural techniques. Since Sindh is more remote, it has been able to pass down craft, generation to generation,” Khadija explained. “The quality of work is amazing and is fully thriving in the smallest of villages – you just see the craft everywhere as their lifestyle. So, it made all the sense in the world to work with it.”

On whether this craft will translate into the brand expanding further into the province with regard to collections being more Sindh-oriented and manufactured, Khadija further explained,

“In recent years, our sheeshay ka kaam and Ajrak collections have been bestsellers. Although I can rightly claim that they are successful all over the country, our biggest footprint is in Karachi and Sindh where the collections have performed the best.

Of course, in the future too, if people like what we have created, we will expand further on to what is manufactured in Sindh.”

In a world obsessed with fast fashion and a general disregard of fashion’s carbon footprint, brands like Generation are a godsend for those who make a conscious effort to buy more responsibly. The expansion of such brands is only a good sign for the market, and one hopes that their entry into the larger sphere of Sindh will only bring forth better days.