In the past few years, several other online sari retailers have popped up in Pakistan, including Lahore-based Saareeka and Karachi-based Haseen Saree by Sidra. Lahore-based writer and sari aficionado Mina Malik-Hussain, 38, who claims to own at least 80 saris, is thrilled. “The mindset around sari-wearing is changing, and I do think supply is informing demand,” Malik-Hussain told Rest of World. “The sari is no longer a fancy Banarsi number you only wear at weddings, because you can buy a cute cotton one for a quarter of the price and wear it with a peplum [blouse] you already have.”
She said that Instagram has helped enormously, by creating access to ideas and innovations in the sari-wearing community.