Award to the Stars of Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exports from EHKİB
Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association (EHKİB) organized the ‘Stars of 2023 Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exports’ award ceremony for its 80 members, who contributed 87% to the exports of 1 billion 340 million dollars in 2023.
Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association Chairman Burak Sertbaş: “Our sector; In terms of women’s labor force participation rate, it is well above the average of Turkey. When we consider the ready-to-wear and textile sectors together, the rate of female employees is around 50-55%. I hope that this structure will set an example for other sectors.”
Sertbaş: “When we look at our ready-to-wear and garment exports in Turkey, we see that we exported 19.2 billion dollars with a decrease of 9% compared to the previous year due to the difficulty of access to financing in the country, increases in labor/energy costs, high inflation, recession in Europe, and the uncertainties created by the Russia-Ukraine war. With this export amount, our sector exports 19.2 billion dollars in 2023 and a share of 8.7% in general exports; I can say that we have managed to become the 3rd sector that contributes the most after the automotive sector and the chemicals sector.” he said.
Burak Sertbaş: “Our region’s garment exports in 2023 decreased by 9% compared to the previous year and amounted to 1.3 billion dollars. 2023 has been a difficult year for our industry. We started the new year with ongoing problems from 2023, the fact that high inflation has not yet been brought under control and there is no increase in external demand shows that 2024 will not be an easy year. In line with these studies; As EHKİB, we have applied to the Clustering Support program of the Ministry of Industry and Technology together with 38 companies and 6 partners and we expect a positive response. Following our application for Clustering Support, we started our preparations for the Interreg NEXT Cross-border Cooperation Program in the Mediterranean Basin without slowing down, and we aim to apply for the project in April.”
“We aim to implement our new P&D project in 2024”
Burak Sertbaş said, “As all Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Associations, we applied to the Ministry of Commerce for the Turquality/Turkish Apparel Promotion Project. We aim to implement our new P&D project in 2024. Last year, the contribution of our sector to economic growth was limited. This shows that it has been a challenging year for our industry. We know that the decrease in our competitiveness is due to the contraction in foreign demand. In this context, the preparations for the 2024-2028 Sectoral Export Strategy Report have started by the Turkish Exporters Assembly. The report is expected to be presented to the public in May 2024. In order for our sector to reach its 2028 export targets, comprehensive studies on medium/long-term needs will be shared with ministries and institutions after comprehensive studies are completed.”
