Interloop’s road ahead

A piece of barren land. Sand, dust and grit gently blowing over. Lack of moisture and rain has made it immune and incapable of growing or supporting life. Is it the fault of the land that it has become that way or does the blame lie with the conditions that surround it? Welcome to the corporate dessert. With a lack of infrastructure and development opportunities, it is the skill and talent alone that is able to produce giants that dot Pakistan’s corporate ecosystem.

 In a world of Tatas, Ambanis and Adanis, there is a perception that the entrepreneurial spirit in Pakistan is something that has failed to materialize. This perception is wrong. With names like Syed Babar Ali and Mian Mansha, there is a failure to recognize business acumen and genius when it is present in the country. If the nationalization disaster of the 1970s had not been carried out, there might have been more names that could have matched the achievements of their Indian counterparts. 

Still, the spirit lives on. It might come as a surprise to some that one of the biggest hosiery manufacturers in the world had its humble beginnings in Faisalabad. Read that again. One of the largest hosiery manufacturers in the world is from this country.

What started out as a brainchild of Musadaq Zulqarnain and Navid Fazil now counts international giants like Nike, Adidas and Puma as their clients in just the active wear space. Once Wilson, Levi’s, Amazon, Uniqlo, H&M and Target are added to this list, the size and scope of the company starts to become apparent. With sales of more than Rs 156 billion in 2024 and profits of Rs 16 billion, the company has come a long way in a period of just 33 years. But now it seems that Interloop has hit a hitch.

There is an old saying that one man’s trash is the next man’s treasure. What is considered good for one is bad for another. The corporate world also falls prey to the same idiom. Pakistan has gone from being on the precipice of default to now seeing a prolonged period of stability.