In Faisalabad, there are over 250,000 home based power looms and most of them are producing grey fabrics for local consumption with very limited capital and are not aware of the international market requirements. These small millers with the support of the textile tycoon are now turning to exporters.

Pakistan is one of the major exporters of grey fabric after Chinese exporters opted out due to closure of weaving factories in China due to expensive labour and expensive raw material, the buyers were moving to the regional countries for the import of grey cloth.

Crescent Cotton Mills is a of the largest manufacturer and exporter of Home textile in Pakistan has started a mission of helping small loom owners increase their capacity in an effort to fulfil international market requirements by providing them technological upgradation alongwith easy access to export orders from international market.

Naveed Gulzar, Executive Director at Crescent Cotton Mills Limited said that they are working to help these small millers build contacts in the international market. They aim to enable at least 100 small millers to become exporters. Local markets do not offer good returns that can be gained by becoming a player, even of a small scale in the international market.

These millers have now starting installing auto looms, which make the grey cloth according to the international standard, and then export it. With the strengthening of the weaving sector as per the international standard will definitely help Pakistan bring more foreign exchange.

Tanveer Iqbal, once who run a small power loom factory has a good setup to export the fabric to international market with the help of Crescent, as they are helping small business increase their production by upgrading their machines. Iqbal, who exclusively dealt with the local market for decades, was not aware of the requirements of the international market. After support from Crescent extended during the last year, Iqbal expanded his production capacity.

These small exporters are now penetrating markets where once China was a leading player in fabric exports. China has now moved to value addition areas and is earning more profits.