Textile is the biggest organized industrial sector in Pakistan contributing 58% to exports, 8.5% to the GDP, and 45% to the total employment throughout the country. After Bangladesh, Pakistan is the second most textile-dependent country in terms of exports. During the last ten years, the growth in Pakistan’s textile exports was 28% which is quite lower compared to the regional countries. During this period, the textile exports of Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, and China increased by 177%, 256%, 64%, and 48%, respectively. The slow growth in the textile sector is affecting the overall exports and current account deficit adversely and is also limiting the generation of new employment.
As per International Trade Center’s export potential map, Pakistan has an untapped export potential of 12.2 billion USD out of which the major portion (about 7.0 billion USD) is related to the textile and clothing sector only. Pakistan has a very narrow range of textile and clothing exports, with 97% of the exports in 4 product groups only. In the biggest export categories (HS code 61 and 62 of worth 474 billion USD), Pakistan stands at 18th and 17th position respectively, with a combined share of 5.4 billion USD. Pakistan exports its textile and clothing products mainly to USA (22%) and European Union (>40%). To date, we are unable to tap the markets of Japan, Russia, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, etc. which are importing textiles and clothing of worth more than 100 billion USD. The major reasons for stagnant textiles and clothing sector include:
- lack of innovation,
- no focus on product and market diversification,
- ignoring the importance of value addition,
- low productivity,
- absence of Pakistani brands in the global market, and
- inconsistent government policies
Instead of addressing these issues, the focus remained on providing subsidies to the textile sector, to make it competitive globally, which further made the industry “cheap, not unique”. Keeping in view these weaknesses and export potential of Pakistan’s textile and clothing sector, this project was designed to facilitate the shift towards a knowledge-based textile industry for a sustainable enhancement of exports.
The project is divided into 8 work packages:
WP1 Exploration of high value indigenous natural fibers
WP2 Value-added textiles from Pakistani wool
WP3 Upgradation of indigenous Power looms
WP4 Transformation to manmade fibers’-based textiles
WP5 Indigenous development of novel and high-end textile value chains
WP6 Capacity Building using SMOT
WP7 Market Research, Branding, Marketing
WP8 Dissemination & Implementation
This project, Knowtex was started with an aim of improving the global competitiveness of Pakistan’s textile exports by using high-value indigenous resources, through well-trained manpower, product diversification, and the development of high-end textiles. This joint venture was initiated to enhance the socio-economic growth of Pakistan by establishing a strong linkage between academia and industry and other stakeholders such as textile associations and government institutions were also taken on board. The consortium for this project is composed of two universities at an earlier stage (NEDUET, and BUITEMs) & one research institute supported by the Ministry of Commerce, SMEDA, TUSDEC, Textile Associations (including All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, Pakistan Ready Made Garments, and CLOA) and 15 major textile industries. Twenty-two (22) researchers belonging to textile engineering, chemistry, management sciences, agricultural science, computer science, and mechanical engineering are working on the various aspects impacting textile exports. It is expected that this project, once implemented completely nationwide, will create a positive impact on the lives of at least 500,000 Pakistanis and may create an export enhancement of about 1.0 billion USD within 3-5 years.
In this project, each work package is being led by a senior faculty member who is responsible for the timely execution of the tasks with the support of other team members. Regular meetings played an important role in achieving the set goals timely. The PI has constituted Operational Committees, Executive Committee, and Advisory Committee with the participation of mid-level to top-level management from the industry. Meetings of these committees are being arranged regularly, with active participation from the industry. We trained people both from academia and industry by conducting twelve (12) training sessions which ranged from technical processing of textile to capacity building and environmental protection and occupational health. This activity enhanced the basic understanding of the innovative processes going on and the feedback from the industry people was tremendous.
A first-ever consolidated platform to showcase the capacity of the export-oriented textile industry of Pakistan has also been launched (www.textilpk.com). We have also developed a website dedicated to Knowtex (https://knowtex.pk/) which presents complete information about the project team, partners, regularly updated findings, etc. Dissemination is an important aspect of the research process to showcase the success stories to a larger audience. In this aspect, we have published three (3) research papers in prestigious journals so far and participated in four (4) conferences/seminars and three (3) exhibitions. In these events, we shared the knowledge and showcased our products to a larger audience from academia, industry, and government/non-government organizations.
To realize the knowledge-based economy concept, we have signed the technology transfer agreements with three organizations. One major highlight of this project is comprised of the development of a technology to convert Banana fiber (agro-waste) to textile fibers and finished goods. A patent has been filed in IPO Pakistan for this technology. The said technology has been transferred to Interloop Ltd for a license fee of Rs. 10 million. Four other value-added products have also been developed and the discussion with the industry is in progress for commercialization. We have successfully filed three (3) patents so far and other patents applications for the developments are in process as well. SMOT trainings are conducted to train the industrial employees. WP-6 conducted SMOT trainings for three different industries like Styler, Mahmood Group, Masood Textile Mills. And two SMOT trainings are under process (home-textiles, knitwear/workwear).