İTHİB Chairman Ahmet Öksüz states that the Turkish textile sector will grow in 2025 with the advantage of geographical proximity to Europe and fast supply, but that caution should be exercised in the sector. He aims to ensure the sustainability of exports by focusing more on branding and innovation. He emphasizes that Texhibition Istanbul is the motivation source of the sector and will play an important role in 2025. He also states that although the Turkish textile sector experiences difficulties due to high costs, it can be in a strong position in the future with branding, structural reforms and international collaborations.
Strengthening Türkiye’s textile sector in 2025
It is said that the pandemic is far behind, the fires of wars have begun to cool down and the economy, which has been squeezed due to all these global negative developments, is experiencing great vitality. What could be the effects of this positive atmosphere on the Turkish textile sector? What are your expectations and predictions for 2025?
“Ahmet Öksüz: We expect our textile sector to be positively affected by the end of the global contraction and recession. Our geographical proximity to Europe and our supply speed create an advantage for us. I believe that we should focus on new markets as well as Europe. However, we know that we need to be cautious as a sector. Because conditions can change rapidly in the world and in our region. We should also be cautious against these situations. That is why, as İTHİB, we will continue to support our companies in entering new markets by organizing fairs and trade delegations to countries such as Mexico, Morocco, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. I believe that our textile and ready-to-wear sectors will make a leap forward, especially from the second half of 2025, by also placing more emphasis on branding and innovation. We predict that our textile and ready-to-wear sectors will close 2025 with a production volume of over 80 billion dollars.
The important thing is to keep our companies alive with valuable projects for our country and exports. For this, we continue to work with determination and resolve in line with our sustainable export goals. Our Texhibition Istanbul fair has been the most important source of motivation for our sector during this difficult process. While the world’s largest textile fairs tend to shrink and experience losses of 30%; our Texhibition Istanbul fair has become the largest textile fair in Europe with over 500 qualified exhibitors and over 20,000 visitors! We will continue to bring together the world’s most important brands and visitors with our companies at our Texhibition Istanbul fair in 2025. During this process; we aim to achieve the export targets of our textile sector with our Texhibition Istanbul Fair, which is the pride of the Turkish textile sector, our National Participation organizations in international fairs and our trade delegations to distant markets.”
Challenges and branding in the Turkish textile industry
Recently, criticisms such as “Textiles are finished in Türkiye, production has shifted to the east and countries like Egypt” have been frequently voiced. How true do you think these comments are? What kind of roadmap should the Turkish textile sector follow in 2025 and how do you see the future of the sector?
“Ahmet Öksüz: Our sector is going through a period where costs are rapidly rising and production conditions are becoming more difficult. While the cost of an employee to an employer is around 150 dollars in countries in our vicinity, we see that the cost of minimum wages in foreign currency to an employer exceeds a thousand dollars in Türkiye. It has become difficult for our companies to overcome these costs. These conditions seriously affect sustainability in the business world. For this reason, some of our companies have started to direct their investments to countries in our vicinity; however, they are also facing productivity problems and various negativities here. On the other hand, we think that Turkey’s most important starting point is branding. We should implement structural reforms with the cooperation of all our relevant ministries and sectors regarding branding. In the short term, Türkiye will also have a say in branded exports with the widespread use of brand purchases abroad and the introduction of incentive mechanisms for business partnerships.”
