In its first “State of Fashion in Saudi Arabia” report, the Saudi Fashion Commission has laid out a vision to develop a full fashion ecosystem in the following 10 years, with a shift toward more local product development and manufacturing as a key pillar for the sector’s growth. Can “Made in Saudi Arabia” sell? The commission is betting big that it’ll.

Saudi Arabia imports greater than $7 billion of fashion products annually, in accordance with data provided by the style commission. Manufacturing “even only a small fraction of this amount” would open significant opportunities for the local value chain, explained Burak Çakmak, chief executive officer of the commission.

Çakmak, who previously was the dean of fashion at Parsons School of Design in Recent York, leads the Saudi Fashion Commission, tasked with enabling the event of the industry.

“We’d like to develop the technical back end of the industry because the retail front-end grows. That features all the things from what material we produce here and the way much of it’s circular and sustainable, to what products we design, develop and even manufacture here,” said Çakmak.

The dominion’s bid to rapidly scale up capabilities in the following decade represents a chance for manufacturers, logistics providers and specialist machinery suppliers globally. Bringing back even 20 percent of fashion imports could generate additional local manufacturing sales of $1.3 billion, in accordance with the report. The commission is courting foreign direct investors to support this growing consumer demand. Fashion, an integral element of Saudi Arabia’s cultural economy, is a component of controversial Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan geared toward diversifying the economy away from petroleum.

“We’re ranging from scratch in creating this,” Çakmak told WWD. “While that has its challenges, it is also a chance. An actual advantage that the Saudi fashion sector has, being so recent, is that we have now a probability to do things otherwise and be more sustainable.”

The shortage of any large-scale legacy manufacturing operations, combined with young, tech-savvy designers, is the best environment for advanced technology adoption. “We’re investing in innovation in an enormous way in the dominion. Key focus areas for us are sustainable material solutions, from recycled materials to other alternative products,” he said.

The style commission goes deep into advanced materials science, leveraging the dominion’s expertise in the worldwide petrochemicals sector to create parallel opportunities for synthetic fibers and associated yarn and fabric production, in addition to dyeing and printing operations. They’re supporting the setup of a sustainable materials research center at King Abdulaziz University’s Science and Technology Center. The long-term goal, said Çakmak, is to make more sustainable materials not only for the good thing about Saudi Arabia but potentially for the remainder of the world.

Regionally made fashion could account for as much as 30 percent of the ready-to-wear fashion market by 2025, in accordance with the report. Modest wear continues to be a key driver throughout the regional fashion industry. “The vision is to ideate, create and develop a full array of fashion products in Saudi Arabia,” Çakmak said.

Already, a first-of-its-kind product development studio will open by the top of 2023 in Riyadh. Supported by the commission, the space is supplied with the most recent cutting-edge technology, including 3D knitting and laser-cutting machines. The production space will enable designers to provide prototypes and samples to hurry up market entry.

“Designers haven’t been capable of access the total fashion value chain — meaning there was little opportunity to show creativity into actual fashion products,” said Çakmak. “Quick response manufacturing would serve the local burgeoning design scene who struggle with manufacturing given long production lead times and enormous minimum purchase orders for factories in Europe and China.”

Manufacturing will offer local consumers the fitting mixture of quality, agility and price to make them less depending on international imports and more desirous to purchase locally made garments. The commission can also be organising a content development studio, to be launched next month, which can include photo studios and content editors to assist develop brand stories.

“We hope to draw international attention to what is going on in Saudi Arabia. The international partnerships and investment can be a very important consider our success,” said Çakmak.