By: Janina Akporavbare
To connect entrepreneurs, investors, influencers, and educators in Austin’s thriving startup community to their counterparts in Pakistan. The ATX+PAK program offers two diverse paths for people to embark on. Americans can either collaborate with people in the fashion industry or in the global market. Both programs offer participants a unique opportunity to get their voice heard internationally, collaborate with businesses, and increase import/export activity between Pakistan and the United States. The fashion forward initiative, in particular, has been gaining popularity. The debut, called ATX+PAK, happened in November 2019 in Pakistan. It was also hosted in Austin, Texas in July of 2019. This gave fashion designers a chance to showcase goods, fashion brands, textiles, and artisans from Pakistan in a prime retail spot. The event was very beneficial to all parties involved and soon became a tradition.
Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ATX +Pakistan Shop Asia was forced to adapt to hard circumstances. The show was originally planned as an in-person event at the League of Rebels Flagship store during the last week of June. Designers were going to have two weeks to interact with consumers and participate in business development.
Luckily, a group of smart and motivated people got together and was able to make the show a reality. On June 24, 2021, held a preview event at the Omni Hotel, Downtown Austin, to offer a sneak peek at the 2021 Shop South Asia Virtual Experience —A curated, limited run pop-up shop on shopsouthasia.com—which kicks off the final phase of funded programming of the Fashion Forward Initiative track.
The ATX+PAK launched virtually on June28th on Shopsouthasia.com. Site visitors are able to fully explore Pakistan and learn about all the brands and goods on sale. They are also able to easily purchase from the designers. Notable designers featured are Talat Khan and Asif Chaudhry. Khan created a bold line of clothing and jewelry, named Tanias. The products feature vibrant shapes and patterns. Chaudry created Golmohar. This clothing line incorporates fashion styles of South Asia, but has a unique twist. Regardless of the designer, all of the products featured were a success. The show’s easy accessibility gave it a unique advantage. Now, the ATX+PAK program can be accessed by anyone, not just people in Pakistan or Texas. The pandemic turned out to be helpful; switching the show online may be more advantageous. Through a collaboration with Austin based Fireshow Media, 13 international startups will receive advanced Business Expansion Curriculum including: Marketing through establishing Thought Leadership in the US, Content Creation Training for Marketing, Online Customer Acquisition Channels, Advanced Leadership & Company Management, Revenue Generation & Scaling in the US as well as customized business content creation, and customized mentoring and blueprints to help them scale their businesses into the U.S. via the Austin market.
See some of the Beautiful Fashion from ATX+PAK in Soul and Salsa Magazine