Turkish Garment Body Chief Shows Path To Attain $40bn Export Target
Speaking at a summit, Mustafa Gültepe, President of the Istanbul Apparel Exporters’ Association (IHKIB) laid down the path to achieving US $40 billion in apparel exports from the current $20 billion.
Mustafa Gültepe was speaking at a summit organised by the IGKIB, where Turkish garment manufacturers and global brands and purchasing groups came together.
“The path of $40 billion in clothing exports passes through European and US markets and so we need to focus more on these two markets,” he said.
Türkiye exports 60 percent of its garments to the countries of the EU and when other European countries and the US are added, the ratio approaches 75 percent.
“We have collaborations with brands in Europe and America. With our knowledge, speed, production quality, design power, and proximity to Europe, we distinguish ourselves from competitors,” Gültepe added.
“We also shared our action plan on January 30, 2023, which is a road map for our fashion industry’s compliance with going green,” he stated.
He noted that they have moved to the implementation phase in 13 of the 40 actions determined in the road map, but that there is still a long way to go and much work needs to be done.
“We know that we need to add sustainability to our existing advantages. We believe that we can turn the green transformation process into an opportunity with the ‘partnership chain approach,” he noted.
“We want to be an indispensable part of the ‘partnership chain’ rather than just being a link. This is where the criteria of ‘compliance’, ‘competitiveness’ and ‘sustainability’ come to the fore,” he observed.
Türkiye has a market share of approximately 3.5 percent of worldwide clothing exports.
