International Apparel Exhibition was held in Iran from December 5 to 8, 2021. The event aimed at facilitating both domestic and international business opportunities for companies active or interested in the Iranian fashion market. The trade show saw 167 domestic exhibitors present their products, ranging from clothing and accessory retailers and manufacturers to machinery companies and yarn and textile producers. Software companies providing design and retail management solutions were also in attendance.

Over the last decade, Iran’s fashion industry has faced an increasingly unstable and unpredictable economic environment. Sanctions and the broader instability in the Iranian market led to the precipitous rise of contraband fashion imports. Western sanctions led Iranian fashion brands to source more textiles and raw materials from producers in China and Turkey. They also compelled some local fabric suppliers to produce better quality fabrics as the market increasingly demanded it. Over the course of the pandemic, Iranian consumers, like their counterparts elsewhere, flocked to buy fashion from e-commerce players and direct-to-consumer brands, accelerating the adoption of online shopping.

The Iranian fashion market is made up mainly of domestic product. The remaining 20 per cent or 30 per cent of the market is made up of either smuggled imports or goods from foreign companies produced in Iran.