Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH – Chairman of the Textiles Committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Muhammad Al-Shihri estimated the total spending by Saudi families on clothes and ready-made wedding dresses to be SR6 billion during the past two months. He said statistics confirm that Saudi textile imports are estimated at SR10 billion annually. Sixty percent of textile sales occur during the months of Shaaban and Ramadan in preparation for Eid Al-Fitr. He added that low local investment in the fashion sector provides productive families bigger opportunities to enter the market professionally through the “Kisaa” program launched by the committee he chairs, Alsharq Arabic daily reported. Al-Shihri called on 600 productive families to join the initiative that was launched by the committee in cooperation with a tailors' group to train and qualify hundreds of young men and women to be skillful in craftsmanship. He said 80 percent of productive families focus their activity on clothes, fashion and design. They can play an effective role in the Saudi economy if they join “Kisaa,” which aims to provide 30,000 craftsmen opportunities so that Saudi workers replace expatriates. The aim is to transfer international technology and expertise to the Kingdom's 20,000 shops for tailoring, fashion and embroidery. He said machines and equipment will be provided to those who join the program. Al-Shihri confirmed that the project will contribute to helping owners of existing facilities in fashion and dressmaking to gradually replace expatriate workers with skilled male and female Saudi tailors. “They will focus on Saudization of these occupations through employment of Saudi women because the field of tailoring and fashion mainly caters to women. There are ambitious plans to set up an academy and institute for training Saudi nationals in fashion and design and production lines for clothes and abayas,” he said. “There are plans to restore craftsmanship by training skilled Saudi nationals so that it becomes a trade for them and they can earn a living through the factories or even from their homes. International experts and trainers will be brought in from different parts of the world for training purposes,” he added.
