KARACHI, May 25: The Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PLGMEA) has asked the government to support the leather garment industry which is unable to compete with cheaper Chinese goods on the world markets. In a statement issued here on Wednesday, PLGMEA Chairman Fawad Ijaz Khan said the leather garment industry would have to go for aggressive research and development task to be taken in areas of information collection, garment designing, use of new and better imported accessories, quality improvement and innovative new leather qualities for boosting its exports.

He said that the future of leather garment industry would depend on product differentiation and not on price. “This change of marketing strategy is needed because of high cost of production in Pakistan and low cost of production in China. Therefore, it is obvious that we cannot compete with Chinese exporters on cost of production,” he added.

The PLGMEA chief said most of leather garment units were spending huge amounts on Research and Development (R&D).