While the global economy recovering after the pandemic offers new opportunities to the Turkish textile industry; sustainability, innovation and digitalization investments carry the industry into the future. Türkiye continues to be a key player in the global market with its strong infrastructure.
2025 Outlook
It is said that the pandemic is far behind, the fires of wars have started to cool down, and there is a great vitality in the economy, which has been squeezed due to all these global negative developments. What are the effects of this positive atmosphere on the Turkish textile industry? What are your expectations and predictions for 2025?
Özgür Aydınlı: “Türkiye’s textile industry has been welcomed with significant opportunities and positive effects with the pandemic and global economic troubles behind us. In the post-pandemic period, customer traffic in the retail sector increased and there was a revival in the textile sector. The recovery in demand, especially in major markets such as Europe and America in retail sales, has also increased the demand for Turkish textile products. This may increase the sector’s export revenues and increase Türkiye’s strength in the textile sector.
In addition, changes in consumer habits following the pandemic have increased the demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products. The textile industry in Türkiye has accelerated its investments in environmentally friendly production techniques and sustainable products by adapting to new trends. This has made Turkish manufacturers more preferred in international markets.
In addition, although the global supply chain has been experiencing difficulties, Türkiye has not been affected much by these difficulties thanks to its geographical location. There were significant disruptions in the supply chains from Asia to Europe as a result of serious problems such as the periodic halt in maritime transportation in the region due to the problems in the Red Sea and the accompanying increase in transportation prices and prolongation of operation processes. In the process, manufacturers in Türkiye filled this supply chain gap, enabling textile products in particular to reach the European market faster and at affordable costs.
The Turkish textile industry can increase its competitiveness in the coming period with investments in digital transformation and innovation. Digitalization can increase the efficiency of production processes and enable faster response to customer demands. This, in turn, can help companies in the sector become more competitive in international markets.
Alongside these positive developments, challenges, regulations and risks that the sector may face should not be ignored. The Turkish textile sector may face some challenges despite the global economic recovery. Increasing input costs in our country is one of the biggest problems of the sector. The increase in energy and raw material costs in particular raises production costs, which adversely affects the competitiveness of firms in the sector.
Intense competition challenges the Turkish textile sector in both local and international markets. Especially competing with countries such as China, India and Bangladesh, where labor, raw material and energy costs are more affordable, is a competitive disadvantage for Turkish firms.
In addition to all these, fluctuations in exchange rates are an important risk factor for exporting companies. Sudden changes or prolonged stagnation in exchange rates affected export revenues and made financial planning difficult.
Changes in consumer habits in the post-pandemic period also tested the adaptability of companies in the sector. In particular, the increasing demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly products required companies to reconsider their production processes and product portfolios.
The textile industry in our country can overcome these problems and increase its competitiveness by turning towards sustainable, environmentally friendly production and investing in innovation and digital transformation. In order to increase competitiveness especially in global markets, the focus should be on high value-added technical textiles and smart textile products.”
Recently, criticisms such as “textile in Türkiye is over, production has shifted to the east and to countries like Egypt” have been frequently voiced. How accurate do you think these comments are?
Özgür Aydınlı: “Such statements may partially reflect the difficulties and changes that the textile industry in Türkiye has experienced in recent years. The increases in labor, raw material and energy costs in our country have also led to an increase in production costs and negatively affected the textile industry as in other sectors. Naturally, this situation caused some producers to turn to countries such as Egypt, where they foresee cost advantages, albeit partially.
However, when viewed in its entirety, the statement “textile in Türkiye is over” does not make sense for the textile sector in our country. Turkish manufacturers are determined to maintain their competitive advantage thanks to the production transformations and innovations they have realized in the sector. Thanks to this, our country is still in a key position in the global textile export market.
In addition, Türkiye’s branding and innovation capacity in the textile sector and the emerging domestic brands have been among the important factors shaping the sector. The long-term experience of Türkiye’s manufacturers in the textile sector and the experiences gained from these experiences guide us in maintaining our global competitiveness.
Although it is true that the textile sector in Türkiye has partially shifted to the east or to countries such as Egypt, this does not mean that the sector has completely ended in our country.
With its know-how and sector experience, textile manufacturers in Türkiye have the competence to turn crises into opportunities and to further enhance its position as a “major player” in the global arena.”
