ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/KARACHI – In a bid to monetarily harm the clothing brand, in the news for the alleged exploitation of its labour force, many local activist groups will only purchase Khaadi products on sale, The Dependent has learnt.
According to reports many groups of social media activists that have come together against Khaadi through collaboration via Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags have decided to boycott all of the brand’s clothing products that do not offer discount.
“We will be looking out for the cross over the original price, right next to the new price #BoycottKhaadi,” tweeted Parveen Pirzada, 22, a university student.
“#BoycottKhaadi and only buy the clothes on sale so that they know what it feels like to be paid less,” tweeted Maham Bukhari, 29, an entrepreneur herself.
It is pertinent to mention here that these activists didn’t only include women; a lot of the groups were spearheaded by men.
“I will not buy a single dress that costs more than 1,000 rupees for my wife,” wrote Afzal Ahmed, 31, a chartered accountant, on his Facebook account. According to reports, the post has been edited five times over the past three hours at the time of filing, with the numerical figure now standing at Rs 5,000.
Meanwhile, some other groups of activists are calling for complete boycott of the brand altogether.
“I don’t think we should buy Khaadi again after we’re done with the Eid shopping this year,” wrote Amina Aslam, 32, a housewife, on her Facebook account. “If you really want to stretch it maybe extend it to Eid-ul-Azha, but if you buy Khaadi after that you’re a mean, callous, exploitative capitalist,” she added.
Furthermore, social media analysts have been asked to suggest alternative brand names that do not exploit their workers.
According to The Dependent’s investigation this year’s lawn collections would feature Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez in various prints.
“We would’ve gone for Dilma Rousseff as well, but not many would know who she is or would have heard her name. Her image definitely won’t be as relatable as Che for our regular customers,” said the CEO of a leading clothing brand.