In a country where the textile sector is both its lifeblood and its burden, voices of reason often get drowned out by the need to keep the industry running. But every now and then, someone emerges who doesn’t just analyse the industry, he literally lives it and feels it.

Dr. Umair Ahmed Siddiqui is one of those rare minds. A professor at TIP (Textile Institute of Pakistan) and a consultant for GIZ, he’s a researcher with the soul of an educator and the instincts of a reformer. His work spans labs, classrooms and policy rooms, yet what defines him most is the way he talks about sustainability, in plain simple truth that hits you hard and forces you to stop and think.

In a sector haunted by water stress, chemical dependency, energy volatility and global buyer pressure, Dr. Siddiqui brings clarity, beyond the buzzwords and exposes the uncomfortable, necessary conversations beneath them.

This interview dives into that mind. It explores the abundant stories he has, from living in 92 countries and the ideas the industry isn’t ready to hear.

Sarah: Dr. Umair, I want to start with something personal. Was there a moment, maybe in a classroom, a lab or on the factory floor that first convinced you that sustainability in textiles isn’t some academic concept but the actual future of this industry? What actually happened that made you pursue this as a life goal?

Dr. Umair: It’s a personal story, but my entry into sustainability was quite dramatic. When I set out to pursue my PhD, I wanted to become Pakistan’s first PhD in fashion. But at that time, the world didn’t think much of Pakistani fashion. It wasn’t popular and most people didn’t see real value or potential in it. So despite applying to several universities and institutes, I received no positive responses. They simply believed that fashion didn’t exist in Pakistan in a meaningful way.

Eventually, I got admitted to an institute in South Korea, an entirely new world for me, with new people, a new culture, everything unfamiliar. And instead of offering me a PhD in Fashion, they accepted me into a PhD program in Sustainable Fashion Design. I remember being surprised because this was 12-13 years ago, long before sustainability became the global conversation it is today.

Entering this field wasn’t part of my plan. It happened by accident. But once I stepped into it, and once the realization slowly hit that this field had enormous potential, I understood that this accident was actually a blessing from God. Looking back now, I feel that this path was meant for me all along.

S: So do you think this was the right decision? You’ve said you’re grateful for how your journey unfolded, but looking at where Pakistan stands today in its textile evolution, do you feel this field is truly relevant now? In other words, what does Pakistan’s current relationship with sustainability look like especially within the textile sector?

Dr. U: Look, this is our future now. Staying out of the sustainability conversation is nearly impossible. The term is everywhere. Visit any factory, talk to any buyer, everyone is discussing 3PLs, 3Ps, people, planet, profit. Everyone is concerned about the environment. And this won’t fade away. Ten, fifteen, even fifty years from now, the world will still be talking about sustainability. Whether someone accepts it or not, sustainability has become mandatory.

We now have due diligence laws. The EU Parliament has passed sustainability regulations. So there is no stepping back from this. You cannot dilute it. You must stay alert and implement it, whether you like it or not, because this is your future.

Where can we innovate? In garments and fashion, we already see eco-design principles, the digital product passport and supply chain traceability becoming essential and soon they will be mandatory. And this cannot be treated as just a buyer’s requirement. It is just as important for us as manufacturers. Our planet and our industry are under pressure. Our ETP plants are facing challenges, we are experiencing water shortages. Everything is connected to our own future and our own survival. That is why we must take sustainability and its practices seriously.

S: So you mentioned that you’ve travelled and lived in 92 countries and speak 17 languages! It includes countries where sustainability is really a serious point of contemplation. You’ve done the research, taught, created industry partnerships, had policy conversations.

What taught you the deepest truth about sustainability, not the technical truth, but the human one, the real one?

Dr. U: You mentioned that other countries take sustainability very seriously, but for us it has always been treated as just another part of business. The first change we need is to understand that sustainability is equally important for us. Pakistan is 78 years old now, and if you look closely, we have actually been practicing sustainability for decades. Look at our traditional system of recycling old clothes, look at our Lunda Bazaars. This entire culture of reuse and thrifting has always existed here. Today, the world calls it preloved clothing, but for us, this is nothing new. Our real weakness has been storytelling. We never knew how to present our practices to the world, while the West simply branded the same concepts with new terms.

Sadly, we ended up following the vices of the West instead. We started consuming more, we embraced fast fashion. And there’s another uncomfortable truth. Look at any Western country. None of them are involved in mass manufacturing anymore. There is a reason for that. Even China is moving away from it. Meanwhile, third world countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are trapped in a price war, ignoring the real cost of it. The environmental cost, the human cost. We are paying with our health and the health of our children. We are not thinking about how we will provide clean water to the next generation. We continue cutting trees, we grow cotton in unsustainable ways and we have barely invested in organic cotton. We are not focusing on value addition. We have to ask ourselves, what exactly are we doing for our planet?

We need to keep all of this in mind and plan our future accordingly. The turning point comes when we start thinking about our next generation. Now that we have so much knowledge about sustainability, will we still choose fast fashion? One T-shirt takes around 2,700 liters of water to make. Are we willing to consume that much water? Are we prepared to continue making denim with unlimited water usage? And what about our old clothes, are we comfortable with them ending up in landfills?

Let me share an interesting example. There’s a Spanish company called Ecoalf. I recommend everyone study that brand. They were a footwear company that transformed themselves by collecting discarded fishing nets from the beaches of Spain and turning them into shoes. And people pay multiple times more for those shoes because they are essentially paying for restored oceans and responsible innovation.

Now look at a country like Pakistan. Our beaches, our fishing practices. Why can’t we build a brand like Ecoalf? It’s unfortunate that although we are the sixth most populated country in the world, we still haven’t created even one truly sustainable brand. We need to reflect on what we have done for ourselves. We keep implementing what others tell us to do, but I believe it is high time we think about what we are leaving behind for our future generations.

S: This sustainability thing that you’re talking about, I think it is cultural also. Like you mentioned the Spanish Ecoalf extracting fishing nets and making shoes. So there’s a cultural element also. Like we have always had thrifting in Pakistan, our Lunda Bazaars….

Dr. U: We couldn’t sell our own practices. We couldn’t tell our stories. We couldn’t keep pace with the world when it came to sustainable practices. Our biggest problem is that we still don’t truly understand sustainability or why it matters. I doubt that sustainability is even included as a proper topic in the curriculum of most fashion or textile institutes in Pakistan. The only reason we know about it today is because the goras tell us.

The irony is that we have always practiced sustainability, often more than the West. But the difference is that they are protecting their country, while we are harming ours by acting as their factory. We use polluted water, we fill our landfills, we discharge chemical waste into the sea. We are paying the environmental price so that they can clean up their planet.

This is what we need to understand.

S: That is so true! We are clearing up their world while destroying ours.

Dr. U: Jee Bilkul! (Absolutely). If we can raise awareness about the impact of our actions on future generations, we will be able to present ourselves much better. The most important thing to remember is that for us, none of this is new. We have been practicing sustainability for decades, but the challenge has always been that we haven’t known how to tell our story

S: So, if you had to pick three innovations, materials, processes or energy systems that can realistically scale in Pakistan within the next five years, which ones do you think are super important but are being underestimated?

Dr. U: If you look at Pakistan’s historical context, we have always chased big orders. We’ve built our industry around bulk production. When a discount retailer comes with huge volumes, brands like H&M, we automatically rise to the top, because with such orders, our factories can survive. But did we sustain our businesses with them? Did we work for our planet alongside them? The truth is, we’ve been caught in a race against our own planet.

Meanwhile, the most important innovations globally are focused on how the West manufactures. They are working with regenerated fibers, exploring value addition, and producing smarter, not just cheaper. Yet here we are, still fighting Bangladesh over a $1.5 T-shirt. The buyer drives this competition, and we remain in the race to make the cheapest product. Meanwhile, the West has moved past the $1.5–$2 T-shirt. They are selling $300 value-added products, producing smaller quantities but generating profits equivalent to six months of revenue for a local factory.

This is exactly where we need to focus. We need to strengthen product development. Everything from material exploration and fibers to regenerated fibers. Pakistan has the potential for this. We have organic cotton fields, vast untapped land in Balochistan, and examples of successful exploration by companies like Artistic Mills. If we invest in product development, from fibers to made-ups and value-added products, we can step out of the price war. Our goal should be to create high-value products where revenue and business growth move in a productive, sustainable direction.

S: So when you talk about the buyer driving the price war, I, as a manufacturer am a witness to this. Infact, one of our Italian buyers openly told us that this sustainability goes out the window for most garment companies in Italy if you offer even 10 cents less than the other person. In this scenario, if you were to advise any mid-sized textile / garment manufacturer in Pakistan, that wants to become more sustainable and stay profitable, what are the top three investments that do not cost an arm and a leg but have a very positive impact on their sustainability journey?

Dr. U: In this scenario, product development can be a game changer. You mentioned three areas, but let’s start with dyeing. If we shift to natural dyes, the possibilities are huge. South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka) is the backbone of textiles and we consume vast amounts of tea. So why not use brown shades from tea and coffee instead of hazardous chemical dyes? Reds from pomegranate, yellows from turmeric, these natural alternatives can reduce our environmental footprint and landfills while creating value added products.

Another opportunity lies in cutting waste. Factories produce tonnes of scrap fabric every day. Why not turn this waste into small products like scrunchies, jewellery, even shoes? With mainstream operations, factories can create new revenue streams while reducing landfill and preventing the environmental harm caused when waste is burned.

If factories themselves cannot manage this, they can collaborate with university students and textile institutes. Donate the waste and students can turn it into products and businesses. These small initiatives might not make a huge difference for a factory, but they can help a student pay university fees, spark innovation and build a new generation of entrepreneurs.

The industry must collaborate with academia. Students are eager and willing to invest their energy into sustainability. By sharing waste and resources, factories can support students, clean the environment and help build the next generation of sustainable business leaders. In short, be a part of producing not just products but new entrepreneurs who care for the future.

S: This brings us to circularity, the industry’s new favorite buzzword. Almost every factory now claims their garments are circular, yet many don’t even understand what circularity truly means. As you mentioned, we talk about waste, but in reality, most factories simply sell their waste without knowing where it ends up. In many cases, it’s converted into rags and exported to the Middle East.

But if we talk about actual circularity, then in your view, what does a truly circular garment factory look like? And on the product side, what truly defines a circular garment?”

Dr. U: Let’s take the example of H&M’s circular model. If you return an old garment, they give you a 30% discount. On the surface, it looks like sustainability in action. But in reality, they’re increasing their business. They buy a pair of jeans from the manufacturer for $5-$8 and sell the new one for $40. Even after the discount, they’re still making a profit. The customer feels rewarded, the brand boosts its sales and the old garment is shipped back into the recycling loop.

But here’s the part we don’t talk about enough. The logistics behind this system. Every step of collecting garments, transporting them across borders, shredding, re-spinning, re-weaving, re-dyeing adds carbon emissions. This so called circular economy is designed for the Western world, not for the countries producing the garments in the first place.

In Pakistan, we often end up buying back our own manufactured but used products, shredding them in machines, making the fabric again, dyeing, washing, finishing, it’s an entire cycle of resource consumption all over again. So the question is, in this entire chain, who is actually benefitting from the circular model?

From my experience inside this industry, I believe it’s time we think for ourselves. When you talk about rags and recycling, many of those rags still end up in landfills. Factories are throwing away tonnes of cutting waste every single day. Why not give this waste to students, designers and young entrepreneurs who can turn it into something meaningful?

I’ve seen it with my own students who make jewellery, bags, patchwork bedspreads, denim rallies, accessories. The creativity is already here. And if you look at global trends, patchwork is everywhere right now. In Pakistan, patchwork is not a trend, it’s part of our heritage. Imagine collaborating with village women. Give them denim cuttings and let them create value-added products using natural dyes and block printing. The results can be stunning.

Factories are busy, I understand that. But that’s precisely why they should outsource innovation to the new generation. Their minds are sharper, more experimental and more connected to global design movements than ours ever were. Let them build sustainable businesses from your waste. Let them turn what you throw away into something that carries culture, creativity and income.

That, to me, is real circularity, rooted in our land, our people and our future.

S: So our students are definitely ready. But do you think our workforce, our factories are ready for this change or they’re ready to run a low impact factory? Both in terms of circularity and sustainability.

Dr. U: See, sustainability has become a compulsion for us, not a conviction. Whatever we invest in, certifications, systems, fibers, processes, we do it because the West tells us to. If an American buyer doesn’t care about sustainability, why would a factory here bother? Why would anyone spend on certifications? Why buy Oeko-Tex approved fabrics? Why experiment with regenerated fibers? The buyer won’t share the cost, and there’s no direct business impact. So we follow their priorities, not our own.

But when it comes to European buyers, suddenly sustainability becomes the center of our universe, because their guidelines demand it. And let’s be honest. Most of these investments are not for us. They’re for them. We do it to secure orders, not because we’re protecting our land, our water, our people.

We are so focused on complying with Western checklists that we forget we are destroying our own side of the planet in the process. We obey their sustainability rules while standing blind to the environmental damage happening right here at home. What we desperately need is a mindset shift. Sustainability is not a Western trend. It’s not a European condition for business. It’s a survival requirement for Pakistan. Right now, we are busy protecting their planet while ruining our own.

S: So do you think sustainability can be profitable in the long run? When even the buyers are not willing to invest?

Dr. U: Yes. Absolutely. However, it’s deeply unfortunate that we’re still not exploring our own potential. Take the footwear industry, for example. In Pakistan, our shoe sector revolves almost entirely around leather, largely because we have an abundance of hides due to our religious tradition of Qurbani. But beyond that, we have barely ventured into alternatives. We haven’t experimented with vegan leathers, we haven’t pursued meaningful R&D, and we’ve mostly operated on a reactive model, doing only what buyers require, rather than innovating for ourselves.

But the world is wide open to us right now. Imagine a small startup that begins making shoes out of denim waste and ends up exporting them. That alone could spark an entire ecosystem. New jobs, new entrepreneurs, reduced landfill waste, and genuine circularity. You’re giving discarded material a second life and earning from it.

Look at our own cultural context. Brides invest heavily in elaborate wedding joras that are worn only three or four times. Does the cost justify the wear? There are incredible business models to address this. Internationally, platforms exist for exchange, styling and rental systems. Why can’t we harness the talent of our students to build similar platforms here? Imagine a digital space where people can exchange or rotate outfits. Unlimited variety at a fraction of the cost, all while strengthening circularity.

Of course, there’s a flip side. Such models could reduce the demand for designers, which is why we need balance. We cannot destroy one industry to build another. The goal should be a system where every stakeholder benefits, where innovation, sustainability and economic opportunity coexist without cannibalizing each other

S: So you talk a lot about your students. Do you think they’re getting the relevant industry education, especially in terms of sustainability? And is there anything that you think should be added to the curriculum?

Dr. U: It’s incredibly unfortunate that sustainability still has no real place in our academic curriculums. I consider myself privileged that I had access to that education abroad, but even then, before that exposure, I never truly thought about my environment, my future or the next generation. I never questioned how much water is used to wash a pair of jeans. My own home might struggle with running water, yet I consume thousands of litres to produce a T-shirt for someone else. When you look at this contrast, it becomes clear. Our curriculums urgently need an upgrade.

Our Higher Education Commission (HEC) must embed sustainability as a core subject across all textile and fashion programs. And beyond that, I have a very strong wish. The industry must start working hand-in-hand with academia. We need open dialogue, shared expertise and real collaboration.

Right now, Pakistan has only a handful of proper textile universities. Fashion education has grown more, but even then we’re talking about roughly 18 or 19 institutions in a country with more than 4,000 sizeable factories. These 4,000 factories can transform the entire landscape if they come forward to help design university curriculums based on their global exposure. They can train professors, take them along on buying trips, help them see the world beyond the classroom and then integrate that learning directly into academic courses.

Let me give you an example. When a company like Gul Ahmed travels to Heimtex with a team of 70 employees, imagine the impact if they took 69 employees and one university professor instead. That one gesture could change the trajectory of hundreds of students. It would be an investment in the next generation and ultimately, a step toward transforming Pakistan’s entire textile ecosystem.

S: I noticed many of your students at Texpo, showcasing some truly impressive projects. Is there any particular project that has stayed with you, something you still remember even now?

Dr. U: It hasn’t been very long since I returned to Pakistan. Just about two years. In this time I’ve taught two product development courses. In my last course, two student projects really stood out to me.

The first was a project on solar tents. It was funded by Nizam Sons along with a solar company that preferred not to be named. Now just imagine the caliber of students who worked on this. In a country where we haven’t truly promoted tourism or even hiking, these students designed and developed hiking tents powered by solar energy. The project turned out to be incredibly successful.

The second project that stayed close to my heart was linked to one of Pakistan’s biggest industries, football manufacturing. We collaborated with a company that provided us with waste footballs. Our students transformed that discarded material into wallets, lamp chandeliers, flower pots and beautifully designed coasters. Footballs take nearly 4,000 years to break down, so they sit in landfills for generations. Now imagine this. If I had a football I played with when I was three years old and someone turned it into a mousepad for me today, it would carry an emotional memory. That is the kind of storytelling that truly sells.

S: You’re talking about storytelling. If you get a chance to write an open letter, completely unfiltered to the Western buyer, what would you write, regarding Pakistan’s industry?

Dr. U: This planet belongs to us just as much as it belongs to you. So what are you doing for us? You’ve pulled us into endless price wars, shifted orders over a few cents and yet you demand the highest standards and certifications. You expect full compliance with BSCI, Oeko-Tex, and all the regulatory frameworks but on your side, are you truly investing in what these regulations require? Are you paying $8 for a pair of jeans that used to cost you $6 because sustainability has a cost? Are you genuinely concerned about the human rights, health issues, social conditions and grievance mechanisms inside our factories?

Are you willing to partner with us on chemical-free dyeing or regenerated fibers?

We also need to raise our expectations from our buyers. We must educate them, bring them here, and show them openly what we face. Our landfills filling up, our water being consumed and contaminated, our environment taking the burden. To produce their products, we are risking our own people and our own ecosystem.

So I would ask them one simple question. Is your planet and ours any different?

S: So is there any change or any practice that a Western buyer adopts that can have a positive ripple effect in Pakistan’s textile industry?

Dr. U: Recently, because of my involvement in the industry, I finally had the chance to speak directly to buyers and ask them to actually study Pakistan, to understand the consequences of their demands on us. They speak endlessly about the environment, about carbon footprints but always their carbon footprints, never ours. So we invited them to conduct a comparative analysis. And once that dialogue began, they were genuinely shocked. On record, they admitted that what is happening to third world manufacturing countries like Pakistan is deeply unfair.

This is why awareness has to go both ways. We need to educate them as well. Price wars still exist. Hyper fast fashion brands like Shein are still wildly popular in the West. And while the West enjoys cheap, disposable fashion, we are the ones paying the environmental and human cost.

So we need to raise our voices and clearly show them the negative impact their consumption patterns are having on our people, our water, our land and our future. Only then will the conversation become honest.

S: Do you think our factories are also resisting this change? If you look at the environmental impact on the cost of production and then the factories resisting… isn’t it justified?

Dr. U: Absolutely. Factories are already struggling with price wars. If they want to retain their buyers, they are also expected to comply with Accord, Oeko-Tex, GRS and other certifications. But think about it. Who actually owns these certification bodies? Are any of them Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi? No. These are not our standards and we are not the real stakeholders. Sure, employees from these countries may help shape policies, but the regulations are designed and controlled elsewhere.

We haven’t even developed our own standards. Was it really so difficult to implement a human rights system here in Pakistan? Yet the moment a buyer requires it, suddenly we are obligated to comply. From our perspective, none of these certification bodies belong to us.

We have always been at a disadvantage, simply because we are a manufacturing country, forced to accommodate the demands of others. And that is why we continue to bear the cost while others reap the benefit.

S: And when we talk about these certifications, GRS, OEKO-TEX and now Accord, the list grows every year. In your experience, do certifications actually bring change, or have they become a kind of compliance theatre? Don’t you think buyers simply issue compliance requirements to shift all accountability onto us, freeing themselves from any real responsibility?

Dr. U: Exactly. Again, there’s a fundamental difference between their parliament and ours. When their parliament passes a law, compliance is mandatory for them. For us, however, it often comes down to just providing a piece of paper, a certificate. We need to think critically and ask ourselves, what real value that piece of paper holds. Is there genuine implementation? Does it contribute meaningfully to society or our industry or is it merely a formality?

S: So three quick questions now:

Is there any material that you personally love and feel should be used more?

Dr. U: We have our sugar industry and a lot of research is now being conducted on sugarcane husks, though it’s still in the early stages. We’re also exploring coconut husks and banana fibers. Specifically with sugarcane husks, which are usually just burned after use, the goal is to create non-woven fabrics. We’re even experimenting with natural dyes, like pomegranate, to make the end product completely sustainable. Imagine the potential. Turning waste materials into value-added products would be a huge success.

This kind of research is happening across various universities in Pakistan, such as TIP, MUT and NTU. NTU, in particular, is working on a fascinating project similar to what’s being done in India. They are extracting fibers from used cigarette butts and turning them into yarns. I found this project incredibly innovative and inspiring. It’s the kind of work that could redefine sustainability in our industry.

S: The biggest sustainability myth?

Dr. U: Sustainability itself is often misunderstood, almost a myth. If we conducted a survey in Pakistan today, how many people would truly know the meaning of sustainability? How many understand regenerated fibers, recycling, or upcycling? Sure, people within the textile industry are aware, but only because their buyers are instructing them. The truth is, we’ve been practicing sustainable methods for years without even knowing the proper terms.

Fast fashion combined with sustainability is another myth. Buyers drag us into price wars, demand certifications, push for Digital Product Passports and full traceability but rarely are they willing to take ownership themselves. On the surface, it all looks like a hollow exercise.

Yet the key takeaway is even small steps from our side can create a huge impact. We don’t have to wait for others to act. Our actions, however small, matter greatly for our industry, our environment and our future.

S: One book, paper or documentary everyone in the textile industry should consume this year?

Dr. U: One book that I’d suggest is Start with Why by Simon Sinek. This book is all about purpose. And for kids in the garment industry, I would suggest a book that we read ourselves as part of our curriculum 22 years ago, The Goal by Adil Moosajee (owner of Ego, a well-known Pakistani brand) who taught us this book in his own course on Product Development. It was a very interesting book.

I am also in talks with Euro Centra where we want to publish a book for our next generation, based on the success stories from our textile industry.

S: To end, where do you see Pakistan’s textile industry 10 years from now?

Dr. U: I believe that the measures we couldn’t implement for ourselves will eventually be enforced by the West. Even if it’s for their benefit, the impact will ultimately reach us. The next generation, however, will grasp the concept of sustainability far better than we do. Gen Z and Alpha, growing up with immense awareness in the digital world, will have a stronger, more informed hold on building a truly sustainable textile industry in Pakistan.

As our conversation wrapped up, one thing became unmistakably clear. Sustainability, for Dr. Umair Ahmed Siddiqui, is not a department, not a certification, not a branding exercise. It’s a worldview. It’s a belief that the textile sector can grow without the collapse of the land or the dignity of the people who keep it running. His ideas aren’t simply theories, they’re blueprints for a future that feels both urgent and reachable.

Walking out of this conversation, you don’t just understand the future of textiles, you feel accountable to it.