Pakistan's total denim industry worth $2.6 bn and growing
Established in 1949, Artistic Milliners is a denim fabric and garment manufacturing company based in Pakistan with a strong focus on technology, innovation and sustainability. It is the first denim mill in the world to develop cradle-to-cradle Gold Certified Denim Fabric in partnership with G-Star RAW and developer of 'Crystal Clear' clean indigo technology together with DyStar and G-Star RAW. Fibre2Fashion interviews Omer Ahmed, CEO of Artistic Milliners, about the factors that are going to drive the growth story of Pakistan's denim industry in the coming years and how the company is gearing up to play a major role in it.
What is the total denim market in Pakistan? Where does it rank in the world denim market?
Pakistan's total denim market in dollar terms is around $2 billion in garments and $600 million in fabric and growing. The industry is 99 per cent focused on denim fabric and garment exports. In terms of denim fabric capacity, Pakistan today is one of the biggest in Asia only behind China, and on garments side we still have some way to go when compared to Bangladesh and Vietnam, but we are foreseeing rapid growth in the next five years.
How big is your team of research and innovation in Dubai? As a location, why did you choose Dubai and not keep your R&D team inhouse in Pakistan?
Our lab in Dubai is a mirror image of our development laundry in Karachi. Our goal for the lab was to have a space where we can co-create eco-friendly products with our customers and our technical teams. It has been successful for us and majority of the customers have returned within the same year for a second trip.
What new fabric technologies and product designs is your team working on? What are the new trends in US and European markets observed by them?
Circularity in our products is at the heart of all the innovations we are working on in 2020 and beyond. We keep asking ourselves how we can minimise the use of precious resources like water and energy in our supply chain whilst at the same time add exciting new performance and aesthetic features to our product-line. For example, hemp would be one of those fibres which we feel will be extremely important to the denim eco-system in the future.
Artistic Milliners - what does the name signify? Please tell us more about your journey from a small retail store in Pakistan to a worldwide leader in premium denim fabric and apparel manufacturing.
My grandfather founded Artistic Milliners in 1949. He was born and raised in Bombay, India, where he and his brothers had a leather business. At the time of partition, my grandparents migrated to Karachi, Pakistan where he set up a couple of shops by the name of Artistic Milliners. The name was just something my grandfather picked up on one of his visits to the UK. It was an 'artisan hat shop'. Literal meaning of the name is an 'artistic hat-maker'. So, at the shop, my grandparents would sell ethnic dresses and accessories. The real big break came in the late 1960s - at that time there were many tourists traveling to Karachi including hippies who took a liking to the culture and ethnic clothing. Business picked up and at that point my father and his partners registered Artistic Milliners as an export-based company on July 18, 1969. We started with a small garment factory and over a couple of decades reverse integrated into denim dyeing, weaving and spinning.
What are the reasons for employing such a large number of women employees who make up about half of your workforce? Did you have any specific goals in mind for employing more women?
Artistic Milliners had a long-standing tradition of hiring women in the work force especially in the garment factories. We have never held a gender bias at our company and found the women in our work force to be more efficient than men.
What do you foresee about Pakistan's denim industry? What factors are going to drive its growth story?
Pakistan unlike other denim producing giants in Asia, is predominantly dependent on exports due to lack of local consumer spending power. Hence, companies like ours have no choice but to be the best in every way. This is true not only in denim but in all textiles being produced in Pakistan - be it in innovation, quality or sustainability - we are ahead of the curve. This is something more and more customers are discovering and interest in Pakistan as a major textile sourcing destination is growing by the day.
What are some of the challenges faced by denim manufacturers in Pakistan?
Like any developing country, Pakistan does have its own set of challenges - cost of energy is probably the biggest right now. However, this is not a long-term issue as alternative energy is becoming cheaper by the day and at Artistic Milliners, we have already installed renewable energy in most of our locations and will continue to offset our cost and carbon footprint by investing in renewables.
What measures have you undertaken to empower women through the years?
We've made many efforts, including building state of the art day care facilities to facilitate mothers with young kids We are providing them different trainings in well-being, micro finance and hygiene in partnership with major global retailers.
Are you catering to the domestic market or are you entirely into exports?
Currently, we are totally focused on fabric and garment exports. We are the largest denim mill as well as the largest vertically integrated denim exporter (spinning, denim, garments) in Pakistan.
What next on the agenda in your efforts towards sustainability?
Our goal is to become a carbon negative/climate positive company and we continue to aggressively invest in this space and have some incredible projects in the pipeline. For example, our company is recycling around 85 per cent of its wastewater and we will be increasing this number to 92 per cent in all our mills and factories by 2022. Moreover, we have installed a fifty-megawatt wind farm which is providing seven thousand households with renewable energy with zero emission of greenhouse gases. Based on the success and viability of our first farm, we have recently signed on another fifty megawatts of renewable wind energy and 5 megawatts of solar power to further our company's positive impact.
What are your goals for the next 5 years? How do you plan to achieve them?
For decades we have had a focus on quality, service and innovation as the driving force of our company but in the last 10 years, we have increased our efforts in community and sustainability. So, our next 5-years focus will continue to be on responsible manufacturing. This includes social wellbeing, transparency and traceability. We are collaborating with local NGO's like the 'Smile again' foundation and global institutions like UN and IFC to work on important topics like gender equality/inclusivity, poverty alleviation, healthcare, education and water stewardship. We feel the more we invest in our people and natural environment, the longer our company will survive and thrive as a leading textile manufacturer.
Other than this, we will be leveraging modern technology more than ever before including working on Industry 4.0 and artificial intelligence to improve our resource management and decision-making.
Which trade fairs you are going to participate next? Any new concept/s you will be showcasing in the new season?
We will be attending the King Pins show in Amsterdam in April 2020. More than shows, we are focusing on our in-house forums like our 'Soho Masterclass'. We started this in the first quarter of 2020 at our Soho, New York experience centre and got a great response. We will be conducting a masterclass every quarter of the year. The purpose of the class is to educate our customers on the latest in innovation, sustainability and circularity. The overall sourcing/product landscape is changing so fast that we find it our obligation to share with our customers the latest and most relevant ideas.
What are the top priorities of brands and consumers when they look for doing business with manufacturers like you?
Technology, Innovation and Sustainability.
What are your expansion plans?
We have been aggressively expanding our capacities last thirteen years in all segments of our business. We are now looking to consolidate production and turn our attention to disruptive technologies to find new solutions to traditional issues. (PC)
Published on: 11/02/2020
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
