“We Must Take Great Care of the Ready-to-Wear Industry”

The Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association organized the “Stars of Export Award Ceremony” for its 67 members that realized exports of 2 million dollars and above, accounting for 75% of its 1 billion 268 million dollars of exports in 2025.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Turkish Exporters Assembly President Mustafa Gültepe stated that despite the 4.4 billion dollar erosion in exports in the apparel sector over the last three years, the sector generated a current account surplus of 12 billion dollars and continued to be the locomotive of the Turkish economy in production and exports. Gültepe said, “Even this figure alone shows the importance of ready-to-wear for the national economy. Therefore, we must take great care of ready-to-wear and all our sectors. We must not give up on any sector. We cannot sacrifice any of our sectors.”

“Half of the Growth Should Come from Exports”

Emphasizing that they believe healthy and sustainable economic growth can be achieved through production and exports, Gültepe continued as follows: “If our economy has grown by 5%, we say that half of this should come from exports. However, today we are faced with a very different picture. For a year now, net exports have not contributed to Türkiye’s growth. On the contrary, they have been pulling it down. Yes, our exports increased by 4.5% in 2025. We reached the highest annual value in goods exports with 273.4 billion dollars. Together with services exports, we exceeded 396 billion dollars. But all this data does not mean that things are going well. On the contrary, the color of the alarm is increasingly turning red. Because many of our sectors, especially ready-to-wear, are falling out of the game.”

“We Ran Out of Breath in January”

Underlining that exports in 2025 were dominated by the automotive, chemicals, defense industry and jewelry sectors, Gültepe said, “More precisely, we posted positive figures thanks to 5 companies in these sectors. In addition, the parity effect provided a very significant contribution of 5.4 billion dollars. However, in the first month of 2026, so to speak, we ran out of breath. Despite the 1.1 billion dollar contribution from parity, we completed January with a 3.9% decrease. Last month, only 10 out of our 26 sectors were able to increase their exports. Because we cannot expand exports to the base. We cannot revive the weakening sectors.”

Drawing attention to the support provided to maintain the competitiveness of exports, TİM President Gültepe continued: “There is a 3% foreign exchange conversion support. Employment support has been increased to 3,500 liras, and the minimum wage support to 1,270 liras. On behalf of our export family, we thank you. But we all know that under current conditions, these supports are not sufficient. The foreign exchange conversion support should be increased to at least 8%, employment support to 6,000 liras, and minimum wage support to 2,500 liras. We are not asking for privileges. We are confident that we will give back to this country many times more than the support we receive. Indeed, we have given in previous years and we continue to give. Ready-to-wear is the most vivid example of this. Look, our ready-to-wear exports have shrunk by 4.4 billion dollars in three years. We have experienced a loss of 235,000 jobs. Despite all these negative conditions, we have a current account surplus exceeding 12 billion dollars in 2025. Even this figure alone shows the importance of ready-to-wear for the national economy. Therefore, we must protect ready-to-wear and all our sectors like the apple of our eye. We must not give up on any sector. We cannot sacrifice any of our sectors,” he concluded.

Sertbaş: Our Average Export Price Exceeded 21 Dollars

Burak Sertbaş, Chairman of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association, stated that they positioned their 2025 year-end targets not on absolute growth but on strengthening value-based exports without losing markets, and that they aimed to remain balanced and maintain competitiveness in a challenging year.

“Our contribution to employment and our value-added exports are extremely valuable,” said Sertbaş, adding, “Indeed, the average export price of our sector performs well above the Turkish average. While the average export unit price across all sectors in Türkiye is 1.6 USD/kg, the 2025 ready-to-wear Türkiye average export unit price is 16.21 USD/kg, and the EHKIB export unit price stands at 21.19 USD/kg. Throughout 2025, as EHKIB, our 1,191 member companies exported to 163 countries and regions. Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Italy were the countries to which we exported the most. Our goal for 2026 will be to initiate a recovery trend in exports by accelerating value-added production, design and branding, compliance with sustainable transformation, and digitalization investments.”

67 Companies Received Awards in 4 Categories

Awards were presented in the bronze category to 39 companies exporting between 2 and 5 million dollars, in the silver category to 19 companies exporting between 5 and 20 million dollars, in the gold category to 7 companies exporting between 20 and 100 million dollars, and in the platinum category to 2 companies exporting 100 million dollars and above. These 67 companies contributed 940 million dollars to the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association’s 1 billion 268 million dollars of exports in 2025.

Companies receiving awards in the platinum category:

• Sun Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Üniteks Tekstil Gıda Sanayi Dış Ticaret A.Ş.

Companies receiving awards in the gold category:

• Era Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Fb Dış Ticaret A.Ş.
• Maseksport Gıda ve İhtiyaç Maddeleri Tekstil Tarım İhr. İth. San. ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Narkonteks Tekstil İhr. İth. San. ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Roteks Tekstil İhr. San. ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Spot Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.
• Yavuzçehre Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş.