The Apparel-Producing Center After Import Liberalization

Abstract

Many wholesale shops that specialized in foreign apparel (mainly Chinese) had emerged in late 2000s in Tehran. Traders who engaged in bringing Chinese goods include the bonak-dār s, Tehran Bazaar apprentices who invested money in purchasing Chinese goods in partnership with others, and ex-producers who used to run apparel firms. Surprisingly, those who engaged in the import business after deregulation were not the established merchants under the existing distribution system but rather “newcomers” to the field. In particular, those who are involved in production activities demonstrate a high mobility between various business fields. Such an elastic relationship between the production and distribution functions as a safety valve for each firm under Iran’s weakly organized system , where no vertical and horizontal relationships exist among firms. The Chinese system remarkably resembles the prototype forms of market trading, which may indicate a high affinity for the needs of firms operating under the Iran’s weakly organized system, where there are no formal barriers to entry.