Turkish textiles should grow with fashion designs

Turkey’s textile industry needs a new strategy in order to compete globally, according to Murat Yalçıntaş, chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, or İTO.

“It is time for Turkey to be a trendsetter and not a follower,” Yalçıntaş said, speaking during the İTO’s textile-industry group meeting Wednesday in Istanbul.

“Turkey should become a trendsetter with its fashion designs and designers,” the İTO chairman added. “We should have done this earlier, so that we would not lose our market share in the world.”

Referring to the debate over whether competition from countries such as China is “killing” Turkish textiles, Yalçıntaş said he does not believe that the industry is dead in Turkey.

“[Textiles] is still one of the most important sectors in Turkey with its added-value services and the employment it provides,” he said. “Turkey has the potential to grow further in terms of textiles.”

To do so, Yalçıntaş said, Turkey needs to present an image of growth to the world. “The Turkish textile [sector] has everything: a good background, qualified employees and a suitable geographical situation,” he said. “But we have to use all these features better.”

Turkish fashion designer Bahar Korçan emphasized the importance of design in such efforts and said designers should act in sync with other parts of the sector.

Arzu Kaprol, another fashion designer, noted the influence of Louis Vuitton Möet Hennesey, or LVMH, and Gucci PPR in Turkey and around the world. “LVMH is a French group, but 60 percent of its income comes from other countries,” Kaprol said. “Since they have the important brands in their companies, they also direct global fashion.”