Iranian Claims Pakistani Weavers Imitating Persian
London, England, June 17--An expert on carpet affairs said that Pakistan has taken full advantage of poor state support for the industry in Iran to imitate the designs of Persian carpets and export them to international markets, according to IranMania.
Roqayyieh Almasi, a member of Scientific Association of Persian Carpet, told ISNA that Pakistani weavers make use of Iranian designs in their carpets. "They weave Persian carpets and then export them under (world-famous) Iranian brands of Haris, Afshar, Kashan, Kerman, etc. to other countries," she said, adding that poor support by the Iranian government has discouraged high-quality carpet production in Iran.
As Persian carpet production continues to decline, labor costs have gone up drastically, posing a serious threat to the future of the once thriving industry.
India, Pakistan, China, Nepal and Turkey are Iran's major rivals in the carpet industry. Experts warn that the failure to combat the smuggling of Persian rugs from Iran would place Afghanistan as the country's top rival.
The main challenge facing the industry is that Persian carpet weavers are still incapable of working in an organized manner.
Some 90% of Iran's carpets are produced in rural areas and the weavers know very little about the taste of international customers.
More than 70% of revenues from domestic sales of Persian carpets go to the weavers, while rival countries have access to far more inexpensive workforce.
Persian carpets are currently exported to 100 countries.
