Hamedi Embroidery Mills was set up by Mr. J. A. Zaman in 1972 with two German Schiffi embroidery machines. He was soon joined by his son Mr. Hamid Zaman. The focus of the business was to embroider cloth for the local wholesalers, according to their specifications. These wholesalers were mainly geared for cheaper embroidery that was either being sold in the rural areas of Pakistan, or exported to Afghanistan and iran. Hamedi was  very successful, and by 1978 it had already doubled its capacity. However, the Iran revolution war and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979-80 deprived Pakistani embroiderers of two substantial markets. The ensuing conditions of early eighties forced many factory owners to sell their machines at 'scrap'  value to foreign buyers. Subsequently the embroidery industry was officially declared as "Sick Industry" by the Pakistani Government, and more that 60% was completely shut down.

It was then, in 1984, that Mr. Hamid Zaman pushed forward his idea that instead of marking lower end products for the rural areas, we should make the highest quality product for the more sophisticated urban market to compete with high class fabric which was only imported at that time. Since such embroidered fabric could not be sold through normal channels, it entailed that this premium product be retailed through self run retail outlets that would also provide quality service. He was then joined by his sister Mrs. Seema Aziz, his mother Mrs. Surriya Zaman and his wife Sarah. Together they formed Sefam (Pvt.) Ltd. and branded the fabric Bareezé. Shortly thereafter, the first  Bareezé  outlet opened in 1985 in Lahore. The product was well received and Bareezé   grew at a phenomenal speed.

In the mid nineties, the remaining two sibling Ms. Ambreen Zaman and Mr. Tariq Zaman also joined the business on the retail and production sides respectively. Sefam, after becoming the clear industry leader in fashion fabric with its brand  Bareezé  moved on to launch its ready-to-wear brands of  Leisure Club, Minnie Minors, Chinyere, and a home furnishing brand known as Home Expressions. Today Sefam runs the largest textile retail chain in Pakistan, and also has outlets in London, Delhi, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

The success of  Bareezé translated into many expansions on the production side as all of the embroidery was done in- house because no other embroiderer could meet the high quality standards..

Hamedi Embroidery Mills (Pvt.) Ltd. was renamed Ali Embroidery Mills (Pvt.) Ltd. and is today the largest embroidery production unit in Pakistan with many latest machines and designing systems.

Sarena dyeing and finishing plant was commissioned in 2001, once again, because other fabric processors could not provider adequate quality and secrecy for Sefam's cutting-edge concept. Today, Sarena's state of the art production facility is ISO and Oko Tex certified, and has a capacity of 2 million meters a month.

Our success lies in our consistency in delivering the best in quality to our clients be it in our embroidery mills, the finishing plant or in retail. Our philosophy is reflected our extensive investment in modernization and certification of facilities as well as our heavy reliance on competent, quality-minded and highly motivated human resources. At the Sefam, Sarena and Ali group of companies, we believe that quality is the only way to survive in today's competitive environment. We invite you to come and share our quality experience.