۲۷Year Import to observe Islamic dress code

Bahman Ahmadi Amouie*

amouee@yahoo.com

For the last 27 years sine the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran, Iranian women have been witness to the government imports of clothing material from Japan and Korea to make an obligatory Islamic dress code, referred to as “chador”, for them.

Last month, there was news that a Japanese company had expressed interest to invest in Iran”s lucrative market of producing black cloth for Iranian women”s chador. But despite the excellent market and economic benefit of such an investment, the Japanese investor is reported to have withdrawn its offer! The exact reasons are not clear. It seems that despite its large imports and a lucrative domestic market, the Iranian economy lost a $30 million of business.

Based on statistics, Iran annually imports about 30 million square meter of clothing material from Japan and Korea in order to make sure Iranian women observe their Islamic chador. With such a lucrative market, one wonders why does Iran not produce the cloth domestically.

After the 1979 Islamic revolution, a number of Iranian factories and companies expressed interest to launch “chador” clothing production lines. But it never happened. While the Korean and Japanese imported materials were taking over Iran”s market with the chador clothing, an Isfahan textile plant that produced chador material set up a production line for the “Iranian chador” and has been exporting its clothing product to Arab countries.

In 1988, the Ministry of Industries licensed five factories to produce material for the chador. Two out of five belonged to Bonyad Mostazafan (the Foundation for the Oppressed), a mega-million dollar investor and one affiliated to the hard-line camp. One was bought out by the private sector while the thirsty domestic market continues to depend on imports. Two other plants launched their production lines. Still the market demands more!

The clothing material imported from Korea and Japan undoubtedly are of the highest quality in the Iranian market. On the other hand, a very quick calculation shows that the exporters are enjoying great profits too. Experts believe that by spending $30 million to import chador textile plants, the government could have built 10 factories, which would also help the unemployment situation.

Informed sources in Tehran”s bazaar believe that the fantastic windfall profits that importers reap from their imports is the main reason for the absence of larger domestic production. More than 200 import request are annually sent to Iran”s Customs and $40 million worth of black chador material has been imported into the country in recent years. Most of the imports are through Dubai and other Persian Gulf countries

*Iranian journalist in Tehran