HOMETEX Home Textile Fair, one of the world’s most important fairs in home textiles, will host industry professionals at Istanbul Expo Center (IFM) on May 17-21. It will host more than 600 national and international companies in 11 halls, on an area of 160 thousand square metres and will be held with a rich concept from new products offered to world markets to fashion talks, from trend areas to industry meetings. It is aimed to improve the foreign trade volume of the sector with foreign procurement delegation organizations and B2B events supported by UR-GE projects within the scope of the HOMETEX, where buyers and participants from different parts of the world, from Europe to Asia, from the USA to North Africa and the Arab geography to be included.
EVTEKS, cancelled unilaterally by CNR last year due to pandemic conditions, will be organized for the 26th time this year, with its new name ‘HOMETEX’, by the Turkish Home Textile Association (TETSIAD) and Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTSO) subsidiary KFA Fair Organization for the first time. You can find the details of the news on this issue here.
The press conference hosted by TETSIAD President Hasan Hüseyin Bayram and BTSO President İbrahim Burkay was attended by Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) President Şekib Avdagic, Istanbul Chamber of Industry (İSO) Chairman Erdal Bahçıvan, İTHİB President Ahmet Öksüz, İHKİB President Mustafa Gültepe, UTİB President Deputy Ufuk Oçak, Former TETSİAD President Recep Tanrıverdi and TÜGİAD President Nilüfer Çevikel, as well as exporter associations presidents and sector representatives.
HOMETEX will contribute to the Turkish home textile industry
BTSO President İbrahim Burkay, making the opening speech of the meeting, said that the Turkish home textile industry has reached an annual export capacity of 3.2 billion dollars to more than 190 countries. He stated that it is a strong industry which provides the most added value to the national income by increasing its export value per kg to over 8 dollars. Burkay disclosed; “While our share in global textile exports is 3 percent today, this rate has reached 4.5 percent in home and contract textiles. Turkish home textiles now have the power to set trends in all areas from production to promotion, from quality to marketing with the importance it attaches to R&D, innovation and design”.
Burkay stated that the textile industry was seen as a cheap employment warehouse 20-30 years ago, but has now risen to a strategic position with its qualified production, labour and high export potential, saying; “As you know, as a country, we aim to increase the average export unit price of Türkiye from 1.3 dollars to 4 dollars with investments in the field of medium-high and advanced technology, which is at the top of our economic agenda. Our textile industry, on the other hand, continues its pioneering role in the development of the country by succeeding in increasing this figure to the level of 15-20 dollars with technological transformation, creative approaches and brand investments. Our fair, followed closely by the world home textile industry, has an important role in our country’s becoming one of the centres that steer the world textile trade, that is followed and shown as an example with its own designs and creations”.
“The surrounding hotels are 100 percent occupied because of the fairs”
TETSIAD President Hasan Hüseyin Bayram noted that the world’s largest organizations and fairs could not be held for a while due to the pandemic and the financial loss reached trillions of dollars. He stated that HOMETEX gained even more importance after the Heimtextil, which was planned to be held in Germany in January, was also postponed due to the pandemic. Bayram, stating that there is a great demand for HOMETEX, one of the two largest home textile fairs in the world, from home and abroad, remarked that the occupancy rate of the hotels around the fair reached 100 percent on the dates of the organization. He continued his words as follows:
“The fair, which we will organize with the motto of “Stronger and More Inclusive HOMETEX”, will be an event where crises are turned into opportunities. We expect 150 – 200 thousand visitors to the fair with the purchasing committee of thousands of brands from hundreds of countries from Europe to the Middle East, from Central Asia to the Turkic Republics, and from North Africa to the USA. Professional purchasing committees will have the opportunity to see the world’s latest collections, environmentally friendly products produced with the latest technology, and new colours, trends and designs at this fair. Another important feature that will make HOMETEX different is that it will act within the framework of the Green Reconciliation Action Plan. We continue our strategy in every field from production to investment in line with the Green Reconciliation Action Plan, as the industry. Thus, this will be an environmentally friendly fair where recyclable products are exhibited in abundance”.