TEHRAN -- The large vibrant stores filled with domestically-produced textile and their special odor has created a common memory for people in Iran over the past decades.

However, those lovely shops have been either replaced by other stores or limited trays of Iranian-made fabrics, arguing to offer imported textile with ‘higher quality’.

The first national textile exhibition, entitled Tar-o-Pood (meaning warp and weft), which is currently underway at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla, is a great opportunity to remind us of the colorful Iranian textiles.

The first national textile exhibition, entitled Tar-o-Pood, which is currently underway at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla, is a great opportunity to remind us of the colorful Iranian textiles.

The exhibition is currently underway at the venue and runs until January 19. 

Textile mills and garment factories, textile wholesalers and producers and manufacturers attend the event, which is organized by the National Islamic-Iranian Fashion and Clothes Foundation.

Textile and apparel industry in Iran

Like some other Asian countries, Iran boasts ancient history of textile. The country was amongst the first exporters of textiles to other parts of world.
However things go into the reverse during past decades. The textile and apparel industry in Iran was unable to capture the national market as a textile and garment hub. 

According to Trade Promotion Organization of Iran during the fiscal year ended March 20, 2017, Iran’s textile and apparel exports grew up by 8.1%.

According to the statistics, nearly 5,700 tons of hand-woven Iran carpets, valued at U.S. $ 345.7 million, were exported during the period.

The country exported with 3,800 tons of apparel items worth US $ 46.2 million, up 2.6 per cent in volume and 3.9 per cent in value when compared to previous fiscal in 2017.

The Iranian Textile and apparel industry has over 9,000 active units, constituting 11% of all the industrial entities in the country. These units have created more than 2,90,000 direct jobs in Iran.

However, Iran’s development plan Vision 2025 has identified textile and clothing as one of the industries, which has a great potential for expansion. The urge for technological advancements and improvement in productivity is mentioned in the plan.

Raw material availability and cheap labor in Iran are great motivation for foreign investors to benefit from this potential in textile industry.

A recent article published in Fiber to Fashion mentioned Ali Yazdani (Chairman of Iran’s Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization) quoting “The private sector of Iran is responsible for developing the manufacturing and trading spaces, while the public sector will

develop its infrastructure. About 3,000 to 5,000 square meters of area is dedicated to each of the service and production unit. Close to 30 trillion rials ($791.139 million) will be invested to develop an area of 1 million square meters”.

SB/MG