On the Origins and Development of Pakistan's Soccer-Ball Cluster

Sialkot, Pakistan is the world center of hand-stitched soccer-ball production, home to roughly 130 firms, which produce for all major brands (Atkin et al 2015a, 2015b). At first blush, the existence of this cluster is puzzling. Pakistanis’ sporting passion is cricket; soccer has always been of marginal interest in the country.1 One might be tempted to dismiss the existence of a cluster where there is no apparent local demand as an anomaly, curious in itself but not indicative of a deeper pattern. But the phenomenon is not uncommon. For example, Sialkot is also a leading world producer of another not-particularly-Pakistani product: bagpipes (BBC, 2012).