Watch the complete MADE HERE

video series on YouTube. MADE HERE

We cut, press, and laminate synthetic leather panels—often 24 or 32, but the

count depends on the ball type—then use a polyester-cotton thread to stitch them

together, either by hand or by machine. Panels for thermal-bonded balls fuse inside

a mold, via an adhesive applied to the panel edges. Next, the panels envelop a bladder made of

top-quality rubber from our manufacturing unit in Lahore, Pakistan. We then perform a series

of tests, including shooting the ball against metal plates to assess strength, before inspection.

HOW

IT’S

DONE

S

IALKOT, PAKISTAN, HAS

been a worldwide hub of

football, or soccer ball,

production since the late

1800s. British colonials

paid local cobblers to re-

create the balls they used at

home, and production never stopped.

I established Forward Sports in

1991. In our first year, we manu-
      ally produced 1,000 hand-stitched
      balls per month. I consider this form
      most effective—due to the strength
      of each hand stitch—but I explored
      new materials, panel shapes, and
      ways of production. By 2004, we
      implemented lean manufacturing
      principles that reduced waste and
      modernized production with auto-
      matic lamination, printing, and
      panel-cutting machines.
      Now, we make hand-stitched,
      machine-stitched, thermal-bonded,
      and even airless mini balls (which
      never def late), and gradually have
      grown production to 1 million balls
      per month. Our clients include Adi-
      das and Diadora, and in 2014 and
      ’18, we produced the official FIFA
      World Cup match ball. Through the
      hardworking staff who has supported
      me for generations, Forward Sports
      remains one of the most reputable
      football manufacturers in the world.

96 November/December 2021

15

// KHAWAJA MASOOD AKTHAR, 69, CEO OF FORWARD SPORTS, SIALKOT, PAKISTAN //

WASIM QADRI/POP MECH VIDEO