Despite the pandemic, Turkey’s ready-to-wear and apparel sector, which exported 17 billion 143 million 441 thousand dollars last year, aims to increase the figure by 10 percent this year to 19 billion dollars.
Although there was a serious decrease in the exports of the Turkish ready-to-wear sector in March, April and May due to the coronavirus that affected the whole world, production and exports started to rise again with the normalization period.
According to the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association, the sector, which exported to 203 countries and 14 free zones last year, contributed 17 billion 143 million 441 thousand dollars to the country’s economy from these sales. 11 billion 760 million 85 thousand dollars of exports were made to the top 10 countries, 7 from Europe, 2 from Asia and 1 from America.
Most exports to Germany
The country with the highest exports in the ready-to-wear sector was Germany with 3 billion 140 million 531 thousand dollars. This country was followed by Spain with 2 billion 20 million 776 thousand dollars and the United Kingdom with 1 billion 897 million 245 thousand dollars. Last year, exports of ready-to-wear garments made of plastic, rubber plastered, impregnated fibers increased by 4 thousand 613 percent compared to the previous year and reached 903 million 634 thousand dollars.
The exports of other ready-made goods, including the disposable medical masks product group, increased from 118 million 867 thousand dollars in 2019 to 493 million 818 thousand dollars with an increase of 315.4 percent in 2020. During the epidemic period, these two sectors provided a driving force to ready-to-wear and apparel exports with a total of 1 billion 397 million 452 thousand dollars in 2020.
The sector employs 600 thousand people
Commenting on the sector’s targets for this year, Mustafa Gültepe, Vice President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) and President of the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association (İHKİB), said that as the sector, they set a growth target of 10 percent for 2020, they achieved an increase of more than 8 percent in January-February, but due to the pandemic, there were dramatic decreases in March-April-May.
Stating that the performance after June has made a note in history, Gültepe said, “Especially in June-July-August, we broke records that have not been in history so far. In addition, with the performance in August, we became the leading sector in exports. While we expected an average shrinkage of 15-20 percent after the pandemic, there was a shrinkage of 3.3 percent in total, which I think was a great success.” Gültepe stated that they were the sector that increased employment during the pandemic period and noted that approximately 600 thousand people were employed in the ready-to-wear sector, this number reached 1 million with the textile sector and 2 million with retail.
“Health products contribute to the increase in exports”
Referring to the factors that led to their success in exports despite the pandemic, Gültepe stated that there was a change in the supply chain, especially during the pandemic. “Health products have a great contribution to the increase in exports,” said Gültepe and continued as follows: “We should not ignore the export figures of the masks and overalls we currently use. There was an export of approximately 1 billion 400 million dollars in 2020, there was no such export in previous years. In fact, the driving force of ready-to-wear is entirely due to the export of protective clothing and masks. When you remove them, there is a 10 percent shrinkage in total. This 7 percent contribution from masks and protective clothing created an acceleration effect on exports. In this sense, especially the investments made by the sector cannot be ignored. It shows how strong Turkey’s textile and garment power and infrastructure is.”
Stating that he does not expect growth in the ready-to-wear sector in the first quarter, Gültepe said that they will sign different figures after the second quarter with the normalization of life again, and noted that Turkey’s structural and geopolitical position offers a different service compared to other countries, which is an advantage for the sector.
“The sector is making big investments in digitalization”
Gültepe stated that the sector has kept up with online channels and e-commerce, investments have been made, and said, “We think that we can export close to 19 billion dollars with at least 10 percent growth in 2021.” Stating that the sector has made great investments in terms of digitalization, Gültepe said that they will turn Istanbul into a fashion center and Anatolia into a production base.
