A total of 206 companies, 148 from the textile industry and 58 from the ready-to-wear and apparel industry, received their awards at the ‘2021 İpek Böceği Export Awards’ ceremony, organized jointly by Uludağ Textile Exporters Association (UTİB) and Uludağ Apparel and Clothing Exporters’ Association (UHKİB). Yeşim Satış Mağazaları ve Tekstil Fabrikaları A.Ş. maintained the first place in the textile sector, while Fistaş Dış Ticaret Pazarlama A.Ş. and Zorlu Dış Ticaret A.Ş. became the most successful companies in the ceremony held at the Uludag Exporters’ Association headquarters in Bursa. Yeşim Satış Mağazaları ve Tekstil Fabrikaları A.Ş., EDT Dış Ticaret A.Ş. and Öz Tekstil Sanayi ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. took the top three places by realizing the most exports in ready-to-wear and apparel.
UTİB awarded the top 3 exporters with platinum, 13 companies with gold, 25 with silver, and 26 with bronze export success awards in the textile sector. It gave 81 companies a ‘Certificate of Contribution to Export’ for their successful work. UHKİB, on the other hand, awarded platinum to the top 3 exporters in the ready-to-wear and apparel industry, gold to 11 companies, silver to 19 companies, and bronze to 23 companies.
“There are great opportunities for Türkiye in textile and apparel in the coming years”
UHKİB Chairperson of the Board Nüvit Gündemir, speaking at the ceremony, said that UHKİB, which reached an export figure of 1 billion dollars with an increase of 32 percent in 2021, broke the record of all time and stated that this point is the result of investments made in R&D, innovation, brand and fashion. Gündemir noted that there are great opportunities for Türkiye in textile and apparel in the coming years, saying; “In order for us to turn this situation into an opportunity, we need to attach importance to design and digitalization in production. The industry’s integration with Industry 4.0 in the recent period, in particular, will contribute to the competitiveness of our companies in the international arena, increase the market share and make it easier to adapt to the world.”
“Our priority is green production and sustainability”
UTİB Chairperson of the Board Pınar Taşdelen Engin stated that they will continue to contribute to Turkish textile in 2022 and said that they give priority to projects that will raise awareness about green production and sustainability. Engin disclosed; “We will continue our efforts to include technology and innovative methods in production, to design innovative products, to strengthen university-industry cooperation, and ultimately to increase added value in textile exports, with our TechXtile Platform, Turkey Home Textile Design Competition and P&D projects.”
“We must eliminate the need for positive discrimination”
Pınar Taşdelen Engin stated that another issue they attach importance to as UTİB is women’s employment and gender equality and said; “Our women are the pillars of this country and should get the praise they deserve in every field. I will say it at every opportunity until I see that it has turned from rhetoric to action and there is no need for positive discrimination in my country.” Engin explained that they have started a special award for the women representatives of the business world for the last two years in the Techxtile Start-Up Challenge programs in order to encourage the increase in the number of women in the sector and continued; “We saw that this award encouraged our women even more. Even in 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, we received 174 project applications, an increase of 66 percent compared to the previous year. Not only 64 of the projects came from our women entrepreneurs, a woman entrepreneur won first place as well. We will continue to have more of these awards.”
“Turkish textile and apparel industry has a say in global design”
BTSO Chairperson of the Board İbrahim Burkay stated that Bursa was the second largest city in Türkiye in terms of exports with an export figure of 16 billion dollars last year, despite the lack of 2 billion dollars in the automotive sector due to the chip crisis. Burkay disclosed; “Based on the motto that ‘if Bursa grows, Türkiye grows’, our city, which attaches importance to production and exports, has once again demonstrated its success by generating an annual foreign trade surplus of 8 billion dollars,” and added that Turkish textile and apparel industry not only sets trends but also has a say in global design by exporting more than 30 billion dollars. Burkay said; “I congratulate our unions, who have made great contributions to this success, and all our companies that have accelerated Türkiye’s exports.”
“Textile and ready-to-wear industry leads all sector stakeholders”
TİM President Mustafa Gültepe, who took office recently, said that he has been talking only about textiles for 32 years, but from now on, as TİM President, they will put a different signature on Türkiye’s export future together with all sectors. Gültepe said; “The textile and ready-to-wear industry is one of the leading sectors in Türkiye with an export figure of over 30 billion dollars. These two sectors lead all sector stakeholders with their successful work as well as their ability to produce common strategies and projects. We should always strive to carry our achievements further by protecting our dynamism and motivation.”