The West hopes to help one of Afghanistan’s biggest industries. This woman is the Springfield connection

War, and the global economic recession that began in 2008, have been rough on Afghanistan’s carpet industry.

“It’s gotten harder to get the product,” said Heather Reynolds, who owns Megerian Rug Company in Springfield. “It’s gotten more expensive on their end. And then on the buying end, you know, when 2008 hit and we went into a recession, people really started spending less money on home furnishings.”

Nevertheless, the carpet industry remains Afghanistan’s second largest employer, trailing only agriculture, according to the Afghanistan Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and carpets vie with dried fruit as the country’s most important legal export. As a result, the industry’s health is seen as critical to both the country itself, and the western nations that have a vested interest in seeing Afghanistan stabilized.

Last month, Reynolds and 19 other representatives of the carpet industry in the United States, Canada and Europe traveled to Dubai to attend the Afghan Carpet Conference, where they met with 27 Afghan carpet producers. The event was organized, and the trip was paid for, by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the component of the federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid.

“Afghanistan is famous for its handwoven carpets and the sector holds tremendous potential for expansion,” Larry Sampler, USAID’s Assistant to the Administrator for Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, said in a statement.

Sourcing, or selling, products from one of the most war-torn countries on earth poses a unique business challenge. Troops from the United States and other nations entered Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. A ceremony was held last December marking the end of combat operations, but Afghan Security Forces continue to clash with the Taliban in portions of the country.

Saber Fermand, a consultant who organized the conference, said the 20 people selected to attend the conference from the West represented different facets of the industry: retailers, wholesalers and marketers, both large and small.

Reynolds is a retailer, and was the only representative from the Midwest outside of Chicago. She buys rugs from importers, usually in New York or California, that have partners overseeing production overseas. But the trip to Dubai gave her connections that will likely allow her to do some direct purchasing.

“I’m mostly a retailer, but with this product, I may evolve into being an importer,” she said. “Still, my emphasis is on local relationships and selling products that people can live on.”

Megerian specializes in hand-knotted wool rugs traditionally made in Middle Eastern and Asian nations, from Turkey in the east to China and Nepal in the west. Afghanistan has historically been a major source of the rugs, Reynolds said, but conflict has impacted the country’s transportation infrastructure. To be sold, rugs have been routed through other countries like Pakistan.

“For me, that wasn’t good because there was no control on the goods, on the quality or the consistency,” Reynolds said.

A 9-by-12 foot room size rug, which Reynolds estimated might take two or three weavers three months to make, typically retails in the $5,000 to $6,000 range at Megerian. A smaller 2.5-by-4 foot rug sells for about $700. Prices depend on size, age, colors and other variables, Reynolds said.

“Oriental rugs are expensive, but they last,” she said. “You buy them once.”

Fermand said the conference was the third phase of an industry revitalization effort by USAID’s Assistance in Building Afghanistan by Developing Enterprises. Part I and II focused on training Afghans on what the market wants — the rug designs, colors and other factors that are in demand. Efforts to bring industry officials to Kabul during these phases were derailed in part due to security concerns.

Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was settled upon as a mid-way point between the two facets of the industry for Part III — bringing buyers and sellers together. Fermand said Afghans have told him they need more industry contacts outside their home country.

Just over $4 million in deals were made at the event, the first of its kind to be hosted by USAID and ABADE. Additionally, the organizations have been able to negotiate rates with airlines that will make it feasible for shipments of rugs to be flown out of the country, Fermand said, solving a key component of the transportation challenges.

Reynolds is the third generation to manage Megerian Rug Company. Her grandfather immigrated to the United States from Armenia as a child, and opened Megerian in Springfield in 1934. For six decades — as Reynolds’ mother, and then Reynolds herself, entered the business — the store was downtown.

In 1995, the business moved to Republic Road in south Springfield. The storefront closed in 2009, although Reynolds said she remained involved in the rug industry, before reopening the business in its current storefront at 4121 S. Fremont Ave last year.

There was a language barrier at the conference — Reynolds doesn’t speak Farsi. And because she is a woman, she said, she was offered higher prices than the men who attended when it came time to negotiate.

But for the first time, Reynolds was able to meet the people who weave her products. Recounting the visit back home in Springfield last week, she focused on the commonalities.

“All of the Afghan people that I had any dealing with were kind. When you live here, and you don’t travel and see other cultures, you get a little scared of them — we naturally are fearful. But we’re all humans, we all have the same heart and they’re just anxious to get their country back to where it’s safe and secure.”