The Netherlands and Bursa Strengthen Sustainable Cooperation in Cycling Textile

Having sector-related application centers in the fields of R&D, education, design, and digital transformation, Bursa Technology Coordination and R&D Center (BUTEKOM) visited Bursa Model Factory and BTSO Energy Efficiency Center. In the bilateral business meetings held after the visits, the companies of both countries took the first steps toward cooperation.

In order to develop cyclical textile cooperation, bilateral business meetings were held within the scope of the Circular Textile Economy Delegation visit, which was held in partnership with the Netherlands Consulate General in Istanbul, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UTİB and UHKİB.

Pınar Taşdelen Engin, Chairman of the Board of UTİB said; “We play an important role in our members’ communication with institutions and organizations in the textile industry, locally and worldwide. In this context, we were happy to host the Dutch Delegation in Bursa. We can easily say that Bursa textile sector, which exports to 195 countries, offers important opportunities not only in terms of product range but also in terms of market. As UTİB, we organize both physical and virtual B2B meetings and trade delegations with participation from many parts of the world. The Netherlands is at the forefront of these plans and we will create a comprehensive program to visit this country in the near future. We held bilateral meetings to increase the level of cooperation between our companies. In this context, I believe that we have laid the foundations for a stable trade bridge between the textile sectors of our countries.

“We ranked sixth worldwide and third in Europe in exports”

Pınar Taşdelen Engin continued her words as follows: “The reason behind this success is that we can combine our years of knowledge with a continuous effort to understand and predict the future of our industry. Our passion to achieve this ensures that our wide portfolio of buyers at home and abroad are reliable business partners. The growth of textiles in recent years increases our hopes and excitement for the future of our industry.  The textile and apparel industries, which we have combined, reached a total export value of 32 billion dollars in 2022. We ranked sixth worldwide and third in Europe in exports.”

Nüvit Gündemir, Chairman of the Board of Directors of UHKİB, said, “Thanks to our agile structure with our 1,150 active members, we have adapted to the conditions despite the economic difficulties and the recent disasters, despite the pandemic. Recently, we have achieved steady increases in sales as well. Our association took a 5% share of Turkey’s total ready-to-wear exports, which were worth 21.2 billion dollars with an export figure of 1.1 billion dollars in 2021. Our biggest markets are; Spain, Netherlands, Germany, England and France. I would like to state that we are determined to fulfill our duties so that the momentum we have achieved continues to increase. In this context, I hope that the visit of the Dutch delegation will make significant contributions to the economy of both the country and our companies.”

He also underlined that they observed the rapid development of the consumer-friendly ‘slow fashion’ trend, produced from natural materials, as an alternative to the fast fashion trend, in terms of price/performance. Gündemir said: “Our companies follow good practice examples in subjects such as reuse, recycling, sustainable design, resource and process optimization, and innovative raw materials. In addition, cooperation with specialist organizations will enable us to fulfill our environmental responsibility and contribute to the increase of Turkey’s export share. A series of measures and action plans are being implemented in Turkey to adapt to the transition to a sustainable economy and the comprehensive changes envisaged by the European Green Deal. For this purpose, we make more calls to our members for circular textile solutions that highlight issues such as sustainable design for repair, reuse, and recycling as a whole.

“The Netherlands seeks Turkish partners for circular textile solutions and investments”

Paul Zwetsloot, Chief Economics Counselor from the Dutch Embassy in Ankara, delivered a short thank you speech on behalf of the Dutch delegation. Zwetsloot said: The Turkish textile and apparel industry is an important ally for Dutch companies with its industrial experience, product variety, flexible production capacity, a structure that supports entrepreneurship, continuous investments in the sector, and deep-rooted logistics infrastructure. The Netherlands seeks Turkish partners for circular textile solutions and investments. During the delegation visit with our partners UTİB and UHKİB, we prepared a program that will provide useful information about business opportunities in Turkey’s textile and ready-to-wear sectors for our Dutch companies.