Pakistan has a predominantly textile-based industrial scenario with almost 65 percent of the export receipts emanating from textiles and a major chunk of the workforce employed in this industry. With-in the overall textile landscape, Hosiery and Knitwear Industry constitute a major share both in terms of value-added exports and manpower employed.
The Knitwear Industry especially in the last decade made tremendous development through the induction of state-of-the-art equipment and adoption of the latest technology. However, the biggest task facing this sector was how to upgrade the export items, and that entailed the problem of how to nurture personnel with the technical expertise needed to achieve that. As the industry was already facing an acute shortage of engineers & technicians at all levels of production and management, Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association (PHMA) established the PHMA Institute of Knitwear Technology Karachi in May 2002 (this being the first of its kind in the country), a state-of-the-art training Institute in collaboration with Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Government of Pakistan, where the most modern education in the field of textiles with a specific focus on knitted fabric is being imparted.
The basic objective of this initiative was to develop human resources to meet the requirements of the industry and to keep PHMA members abreast with changing technological and economic environments. However, PHMA IKTK being a specialized Institute the emphasis was to focus on areas that directly contribute to the factors such as an increase in efficiency of labor, quality control, modern production technology & management, skill development, market development with stress on customer satisfaction, computer-based manufacturing, the factors which are essential to achieve an increase in export, and capturing & sustaining the market in post-quota era.