Tehran, Iran, Feb. 20
Trend:
Over the past few years, Iran has experienced an increase in Turkish clothing in domestic markets, which are mostly sold at a higher price than domestic ones.
The presence of foreign clothing has made it harder for local manufacturers, so some of them even preferred to stop dealing with the competition.
"When the US dollar rate jumped, the prices on imported clothes increased significantly. This resulted in decline of purchasing of foreign clothing, and people turned to domestic brands," the Chairman of Iran Textile Exporter & Manufacturers Association (ITEMA) Saeed Jalali-Ghadiri told Trend.
"Our domestic manufacturers are moving towards branding and industrial production, which makes the local clothing better and more attractive to consumers," he said.
Also, according to Jalali-Ghadiri, about 98 percent of foreign clothes at Iran's market - are smuggled goods.
“The estimates of the Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency are about $2.5 billion in clothing imports, but our ordering for a legal import in the same period is close to $60 million, which shows a sharp difference between the two figures,” he said.
He said that people should support domestic producers as much as they can.
"We are currently witnessing an increase in apparel exports, and foreign companies are keen to bring Iranian production to their countries,” Jalali-Ghadiri said.
“Domestic products cover 60 percent of the domestic demand, and 40 percent of it is covered by imports,” he said. "Of the total imports, only 2 percent are legally imported into the country and 98 percent are smuggled.”