Pakistani should set up high-level marketing agencies in foreign countries to educate the buyers about the quality of Pakistani products, mainly apparels, said Vice-President Global Sourcing-Steve and Barry's University Sportswear Avi Sonpal, who recently visited Karachi to attend the Pakistan Expo-2005. In a fax message from US, he said that Pakistan was the leading force in the apparel manufacturing industry, and urged the exporters to enhance productivity along with proper marketing to become a world class producer.
Sonpal said that Pakistan needed to develop a tremendous competitive edge, security and stability of merchandise flow, besides price competitiveness, which both were the direct outcomes of economies of scale.
He further said that Pakistan was an ideal place for production of apparel, but it needed a change in the mindset. He regretted that factories in Pakistan lacked vision and buyers' taste.
To a query about export prospects of Pakistani products in the post-quota period, he said that his company was looking at Pakistan as one of the top three sourcing areas. Pakistan would be one of the contenders, he said, and added that infrastructure available in the garment and its ancillary industries here was much better than its competitors like India and Bangladesh.
About increase in Pakistani textile exports, Sonpal said that incentives should be provided to the factories to attend trade shows overseas, besides holding of frequent Expos in the country, he suggested, and desired the more training institutes be set up for textile students.
About doing business with Pakistan, the Global Sourcing Vice-President recalled that Pakistan had been one of the most crucial suppliers of apparel to his company. "At one point, it made up 60 percent to 70 percent of our total purchases and played a key role in the US and European apparel imports, especially in cotton apparel".