Saudi Arabia’s Fashion Industry: Global Implications and Opportunities
Last week, I listened to a fascinating Business of Fashion podcast covering the nascent Saudi Arabia fashion industry. Of course, a local fashion industry already exists. However, with the country recently relaxing regulations around women’s economic participation, society’s changing expectations due to globalized social media, new funding, and creative talent, there is potential for fashion to become a channel for economic growth in the Kingdom. Furthermore, with Saudi Arabia boasting a population of nearly 40M and a GDP of over $1.6T, its ability to build the fashion industry into a regional and potentially global powerhouse has broad implications for the entire Middle East which, as I learned from the podcast, is not as homogenous as one might expect when it comes to style preferences.
One of the most interesting details from the podcast was that the government commission dedicated to building Saudi Arabia’s fashion industry is housed within the Ministry of Culture. It reminded me of an insight Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri shared on a previous B of F podcast comparing the cultural significance of fashion - a cornerstone of French culture - to its lesser significance in her home country of Italy. Italy has an incredible history in fashion. Dressing well is an important aspect of Italian culture, heightened to sky high levels in some parts like Milan. However, as Chiuri pointed out, that is the extent of fashion’s significance in Italian culture. It is not an esteemed and integral part of Italy’s artistic history, as a form of art to be preserved, honored, and inspired by, in the same way it is in France. She attributes this difference to the fact that fashion is a focus for France’s Ministry of Culture while it is not in Italy.
From an economic standpoint, host and B of F founder Imran Amed commented that infrastructure must be built to support a fashion ecosystem: essential elements include education, designers, investors, manufacturing, retail, and customers. I would add marketing expertise to this list. The marketing and PR involved in bringing fashion to the world stage is a unique discipline. Reconciling the nuances of the Middle Eastern market to develop a global marketing platform will require an authentic understanding of the regional market.
The largest economic opportunity is around data. Our world revolves around data — harnessing it, analyzing it, understanding it, actioning it. We are at the beginning of the AI revolution, technology that requires massive amounts of clean data. From an infrastucture standpoint, there’s a huge opportunity to promote the building of technical infrastructure that powers platforms used to accelerate business growth. What does building the fashion industry ecosystem from scratch look like in the 21st century? What will it take to progress the industry’s power and reach from local to regional to global? How do we best design platforms to connect essential elements of the ecosystem locally, regionally and globally? It’s a tabula rasa, without onerous legacy constraints and with the advantage of best practice knowledge.
For companies who can support the building of this industry, there is great opportunity. Partnering with local leaders at the forefront of this change to deeply understand the market, spending time in market to observe and experience it firsthand, and speaking to creators and consumers to delve into their current experience can help form the vision for what the industry can look like in 5, 10, and 15 years. There are global best practices to be leveraged, but this is a unique market and there will be localizations that will be critical to success. I can’t wait to see how things unfold.
