Outlook for Iran’s Apparel Industry

The production and business environment for Iran’s apparel industry as well as that for its parent textile industryTextile industry was never quite stable. It had been ranked as the national mainstay industry from the modernization era through to oil nationalizationOil nationalization as a way to realize import substitutionImport substitution . However, the government’s industrializationIndustrialization strategy was de facto abandoned owing to the rapid growth in oil income. The restrictions and subsequent relaxations of textile and apparel imports were repeated in turn in response to changes in terms of trade arising from political circumstances. Meanwhile, strong demand backed by one of the biggest markets in the Middle East has continuously attracted private investment. Consequently, it never absolutely disappeared despite repeated rises and falls, and instead maintained a certain presence in Iran’s manufacturing industries. It is rather noticeable that Iran’s apparel industry has managed to supply products to the domestic market so far despite its minute scale under the aforementioned unstable business environment.