The fabric that holds Morocco together

ESITH not only trains capable textile engineers ready for the competitive global textile trade, but also works together with manufacturers to respond to industry crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

MOROCCO’S TEXTILE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY has long been a pillar of the country’s economy; according to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and the Digital Economy, the sector accounts for 7% all industrial added value and 5% of all industrial production, employing around 165,000 people or 27% of all industrial employment. And, like any other industry, it relies on a slew of experts to keep the industry on its toes and ready for competition. The Higher School of Textile and Clothing Industries (ESITH) is a learning institution dedicated to producing expert textile engineers for a stronger Moroccan textile industry in the face of increasing international competition.

ESITH was established as a public-private partnership in 1996 through a collaboration between the government and l’Association Marocaine des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement (AMITH). The school is dedicated to the formation of textile engineers and professionals able to navigate Morocco’s burgeoning textile industry through a future of intense international competition. With Europe established as its main trading partner, Morocco has long exported its textiles to the continent. However, as the bloc increased the number of free trade agreements with other countries specializing in the textile industry (notably Egypt and Turkey), Moroccan textile leaders, unions, and the government together realized the importance of preparing industry leaders, managers, and workers who could ensure best practices would be used in Moroccan factories, keeping Morocco ahead of its competition.

To ensure it not only produces capable engineers but also innovation in the industry, ESITH offers three cycles of engineering training, specialized master’s, and professional bachelor's. This, according to its President of the Board Mohamed Lahlou has resulted in a “real diversification of training and … a real opening of all industrial and service sectors.” To further students’ ideas, its R&D department, created in 2007, features two labs: a research lab specializing in textile materials (known as REMTEX) and a center specializing in logistics (known as CELOG). With the labs has come the arrival of both national and international partnerships with various Moroccan, European, and Canadian research centers and 24 patents registered nationally and internationally. The institution’s international ties have only grown with its International Conference on Intelligent Textile and Mass Customization (ITMC) made in tandem with ENSAIT France. The biannual fair now has three new partners—Ghent University, Shinshu University, and the CTT Group—and will be held in Canada in 2021 and Japan in 2023.

That is not to say the institution’s reach has been limited to countries other than Morocco. ESITH has always found partners in local companies, especially through students, who spend 1,400 days of their education gaining on-site work experience. ESITH’s strong ties to its community made itself even more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic: the institution immediately organized its resources to support industrialists in their retraining to manufacture masks and gowns. In conjunction with the Ministry of Industry (IMANOR), its LEC laboratory actively participated in developing mask standards and technical specifications. As mask-making was new to most companies, ESITH created educational courses explaining the technical characteristics of the materials and methods of manufacturing barrier masks according to IMANOR standards, making it available to all local manufacturers. While developing and sharing innovative methods to optimize the production of masks, ESITH, through its R&D department, created new tissue functionalization processes to meet the stringent requirements of barrier masks. This was in addition to free online training cycles to equip companies and hospitals with better crisis management skills.

As Morocco moves past crisis mode, its textile industry will need to adapt yet again to the world’s changing demands and innovations, especially as Industry 4.0 threatens to change the entire face of the industry through increasing digitalization and automation. But with ESITH by its side, Morocco’s textile industry has nothing to fear from the future. Indeed, with optimism, Lahlou told TBY, “The mobilization of industrialists and the appropriate support from public authorities could generate real momentum by the long-awaited deployment of the upstream sector and technical textiles, which represent a major source of development.”