- The document describes the story of an Iranian man who had an idea to import wedding shirts and rifles from Afghanistan to sell in the US to fund his graduate studies. - His initial business ventures importing the wedding shirts and rifles failed, but he was able to have some success selling the occasional wedding shirt in boutiques. - This led to expanding the business with a partner, bringing Afghan clothing and textiles to fashion shows in New York which was a retail hit, launching the brand into 35 stores nationwide and gaining significant press coverage. - Over 7 years the business expanded production between Kabul and Boston, establishing leadership and a retail following, but ultimately faced difficulties due to the Iran revolution

2.  Born & raised in Iran
 Colgate, development
studies, and idealism…
hard winter
 Spring fling trip to Florida
with David Angell
 Meet Archie, pre-med
student, and #1 US vacuum
cleaner salesman
 The Scheme & $5,000

4.  1,000 Wedding shirts $ 800
 184 Afghan rifles (used) $1,800
 1 Bengal tiger skin $2,600

5. Guns Clothes
… and a Fantastic summer!

6.  US student visa delayed…Grad school deferred
 Failure 1: Bengal tiger skin: Confiscated by US Customs
 Failure 2: Guns: No one wants them
 Failure 3: Wedding shirts: Quality a disaster

7.  Occasional clean wedding shirt sellable at boutiques
 Customer Payment Problem  NY Show Opportunity

8. • Amateur city… Late night…
• Major backing by one key fashion pub…

9.  Retail hit: 35 stores
nationwide
 Bloomingdales
 Bendell„s,
 Many emerging new
“boutiques”
 …and TONS of more
press

10. Not Guns… Not Tigers…

11.  Bringing 2 radically different worlds together:
Production Nightmare
 Mired in complex high friction negotiations
Producers
VS.
Buyers

12.  Try raising purchase price…
 Experiment w/ direct hire… 1 tailor on salary…
 ... to 3 tailors...
 … to a team of 20 … in a rented house

13. Shift to collaborative environment…
…. Transformative!

14.  Hire our first
designer in Boston…
 ... and the editorial
support rockets
Anne Sheldon

15.  ...and further rockets

18.  Development Dream:
“Afghanistan, Iran of 100 years
ago”
 20‟s Dream: New York / LA
fashion scene

19. A team of close friends
Eli KarimSaddiq Tom Pat Jim Anne Eli David Ellyn
O‟DaySala Hathaway Sheldon Zelkha Angell Hessler

20. Demand goes CRAZY!!
Yves San Lauren goes Ethnic…

21.  Enter the major European exhibitions:
Pret a Porter, Igedo, London Fashion Week
 Starting with press offensive…
The Sunday TimesElle German Vogue

22.  7 years of expansion in Kabul & Boston
 Establishing clear leadership & retail following
 Wealth effect
 Strategic sloth and growing cost structure
 Aging of the trend

23.  Iran revolution & fall of the Shah
 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
 Logistical difficulties

26.  Failure to diversify production
 Cataclysmic failure for Afghan teams…
 Failure to build nest egg .. Family in jeopardy
 Self worth in tatters
 Unable to make a living!!!
 Wandering the desert for a couple of years…

27.  Attempt at salvaging something…
 A year of convulsions…
 “Kick of the dying mule”

28.  Failure?
 Opportunity
 Chinese farmer