The beginning of Sports goods Industry in Pakistan can be traced back to as early as 1870. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir the Muslims invaded this city and Sialkot became an integral part of the Great Mughal Empire. The affiliation with Greater Empire enhanced its trade activities and Sialkot expanded its links to various parts of India.
During the years of progress, Sialkot had accommodated the settlement of Mughal artisans as well, as the British soldiers and was esteemed for the products manufactured by hand locally.
It was 1918 when the first football supplied by a British Army personnel, was re-stitched in Sialkot followed by its local production. However, the first Muslim Artisan working with UBEROI Syed Sahib, pioneered the production of Footballs in his own small manufacturing unit. The leather was processed manually in small tanks and workers used to stand knee deep into the water tanks for hours to tan the raw leather.
n 1922, Sayed Sahib, was awarded first Export Award from the British Empire for his outstanding venture to supply (Export) footballs to British Army camped in Singapore. Todays, Sialkot has an important position in Pakistan. The industry is concentrated by far in the city of Sialkot, though some production units are located also in other towns. The Government is alive to the necessity of improvement in Quality and export of quality Sports Goods to foreign countries. In order to achieve this objective, the Government has established the Pakistan Sports Goods Cooperative Export Corporation Limited which performs a number of specific functions in respect of the production of quality sports goods and their export promotion.
The seasoning and fabrication of the woods for quality sports goods was being done mostly by traditional methods; but new facilities for modern method of seasoning and fabrication has been made available through the installation of the most modern wood working machines at the Sports Goods Service Centre, Sialkot.
Facilities in respect of leather sports goods are available with the Sports Goods Service Centre, which is equipped with modern leather shaving, buffing and cutting machines along with the football specifying machines of the latest design.
In order to further facilitate the exporters of Sports Goods and Sports Wears the high ups of the industry managed to form an Association in the style and name of “Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association to represent the exporters of various items of Sports Goods and Sports Wears of Pakistan with its Head Office at Sialkot, the main hub of Sports Goods Industry in Pakistan. This Association was established in the year 1945 i.e two years before the creation of Pakistan.
