Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does ready-made garments trading cover?
It covers the retail sale of factory-cut, off-the-rack clothing in standard sizes, including ready-made garments for men, women, and children across categories.
2. Is custom tailoring included?
No. Custom tailoring and made-to-measure clothing are classified as separate activities. Ready-made garments are pre-made, off-the-rack pieces.
3. Are second-hand or used clothes included?
No. Second-hand or used garment retail is a separate activity. This activity covers new, ready-made clothing only.
4. Can I sell ready-made garments for men, women, and children together?
Yes. The activity covers ready-made clothing across demographics, suiting general or family-oriented retail stores.
5. Does this include school wear and uniforms?
Yes, where retailed as ready-made garments. Schoolwear, uniforms, and similar standardised clothing fall within the scope of this activity.
How to Start a Ready-Made Garments Trading Business with Meydan Free Zone
Almost every major clothing name in the UAE sells the same way. Zara, H&M, Max, Splash, Uniqlo, and the big sportswear chains all stock garments produced abroad, shipped in volume, hung on racks in fixed sizes, and bought off the shelf. Ready-made is how the country dresses, and it is a far bigger slice of UAE retail than tailoring or made-to-measure has ever been.
Ready-made garments sit at the core of UAE retail. Dubai retail contributes around 23 percent to the emirate's GDP, and the UAE retail sector grew around 4.5 percent in the first quarter of 2025, according to Khaleej Times¹. The country's near-universal internet access at around 99 percent and over 11 million active social media users mean ready-made retailers can reach customers across both physical and digital channels, according to DataReportal².
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Why Ready-Made Wins the Volume
Ready-made garments are the largest slice of UAE clothing retail by volume, sold to a customer base that spans residents and visitors, families and professionals, physical stores and digital screens.
Sources: Khaleej Times (2025); DataReportal (2025).
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A ready-made garments retail business sells off-the-rack clothing to the mass market. It is a focused retail business: factory-cut, standard-sized clothing displayed for immediate purchase, with the range and price points that everyday shoppers want. Families, working professionals, parents shopping for kids, and weekend wardrobe-refreshers all rely on ready-made garment stores for the basics and standards of everyday dress.
Walk down a high street in any UAE emirate on a weekend and the ready-made garment store is what people actually walk into. Not the bespoke tailor on the corner. Not the made-to-order atelier upstairs. The store with twenty styles in five colours and seven sizes, where a decision can be made in fifteen minutes and the shopping bag is heavy by the time you leave.
School uniforms in August. Work trousers in January. A new dress before a family wedding. Trainers for the kids. Ready-made garments are how most of the country dresses, most of the time, and a UAE retailer in this space has both the residents who buy steadily and the visitors who shop while they're here.
From everyday basics to weekend looks, ready-made garments are how most of the UAE actually dresses, every day.
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Who is this for?
- Ready-made garment retailers: Owners of stores selling off-the-rack clothing across men's, women's, and children's lines.
- Family clothing store operators: Operators of multi-segment retail stores serving men, women, and children together.
- Mass-market fashion retailers: Owners of high-volume, everyday clothing retail in mall or high-street formats.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a ready-made garments retail business in the UAE's growing mass-market fashion segment.
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4771.95 - Ready-Made Garments Trading
Under this activity, your business is licensed to sell ready-made garments at retail.
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The activity is specifically for ready-made garments at retail. Custom tailoring and made-to-measure clothing, the retail sale of second-hand or used garments, the manufacture of clothing, and wholesale rather than retail all fall under different activities.
The line is precise. If your business sells ready-made garments at retail, you are in. If you do custom tailoring, sell second-hand garments, manufacture clothing, or operate as a wholesaler, a different activity applies.
Third-Party Approval: No third-party approval is required for this business activity.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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Footnotes
¹ Khaleej Times. UAE Retail Sector Continues to Attract Global Players. Khaleej Times. 2025.
² DataReportal. Digital 2025: United Arab Emirates. DataReportal, 2025.
