The biggest weakness of Iranian carpets is unfamiliarity with world tastes
Lack of marketing among consumers and unfamiliarity with global tastes is one of the problems of the carpet market; Because the needs of the global consumer change with each generation, geographical area and culture.
Mohammad Sobha, the central buyer of Iranian hand-woven carpets in Germany, said: In the past few years, the use of carpets in Germany has flourished due to the increasing consumption of stone in German homes.
He added: Now the carpet has been transformed from a capital good into a consumer good, and today’s consumer, in addition to beauty, also pays attention to the appropriate color and size of the carpet.
Referring to the existence of strong competitors such as India, he pointed to their advantages in this industry and said: In recent years, India has overtaken us a lot and one of the factors of this advantage is cheap labor and their production and we are naturally competitive. We do not have with these countries; So we have to emphasize the quality of our work; It means weaving less and better.
He said: The Indians have no design of their own and only by putting the prefix Indo next to Iranian names such as Indo Tabriz, Indo Kashan, they copy our designs.
Sobha continued: They have advanced in imitation and of course they are in harmony with fashion, but we are trapped in a closed circle by dwelling on repetitive colors and sizes.
Comparing the forms of introduction of carpets in Iran and Germany, he said: In Germany, carpets are introduced in the form of catalogs; This means that the customer requests a catalog from his home and orders after selection; But the introduction and store situation in Iran is very weak, while the Indians are very strong in this regard.
Because our production is not industrial, we can not compete with India’s high production volume and as a result we are gradually losing markets, he said.
This merchant announced the sale of paints as another problem of the country’s carpets, and referring to the decrease in the quality of carpet paints over time, said: One of the worrying problems of Iranian carpets is the type of paint used, which is not of good quality; But the interesting thing is that this lack of color durability can be seen only in new carpets and old carpets are much better.
He continued with a complaint about the type of carpets: Sometimes in carpets, materials other than silk and wool are used, which change shape in different temperature conditions.
Many of our carpets are crooked, which is very rare among our competitors, said Sabha.
Today, the tastes of the people of each country are very different from the other, and we must give more variety to the color of our carpets, he said, lamenting the lack of effective and scientific marketing among buyer countries.
He added: The basic need of this marketing is to go to the buyer countries and be aware of the colors and sizes they need.
Referring to the several months before the National Carpet Exhibition, he said: We must ask ourselves what we have done in the field of advertising and how much other countries are aware of the information and details of this exhibition.
Sabha announced the holding of the World Carpet Conference in Istanbul in the next two months and said: This is a great promotion for Turkish carpets; But do we remember when was the last World Carpet Conference in Iran?
In another part of his remarks, he mentioned the name of Iranian carpet as one of the advantages of this product and said: One of the problems of our competitors is the name and reputation of Iranian carpet and we must make the most of this point.
He continued: Another feature of Iranian carpets is our artistic and emotional view of this product; While our competitors have only a commercial view of this issue.
He continued: Another problem of Iranian carpet competitors is the use of children for weaving; Because European buyers are very sensitive about this, and fortunately we have a law banning child labor in the country.
He stated: One of the prominent features of Iranian carpets is that their value increases over time, while carpets produced in other countries are disposable goods.
In the end, he called thousands of students and graduates interested in this field a great opportunity for Iran and said: We must make the most of this opportunity.
