Bossa Makes a Difference in the Textile Industry with its Innovative and Eco-Friendly Structure

Onur Duru
Bossa’s General Manager
Having a structured and widespread marketing network, Bossa remains one of the leading companies in the industry with its right market positioning and competitive prices.
Founded in 1951, Bossa is one of the biggest textile companies for integrated denim and sportswear with production facilities in Adana, Turkey. Acquired by the Uçurum family, also the founder of Oğuz Tekstil, which is one of the leading companies in the textile industry for 43 years, the company aims to expand with new investments.
Drawing attention for its trending role in the industry and its collaborations with the fashion-maker global brands in its production areas, Bossa continues to capture market trends in its P&D and R&D activities.
Proving to be dominant in the industry with its innovative and pioneering structure, the company accelerates its operations with new investments and the powerful staff.
Bossa owes this success to its strong financial structure as well as qualified human resources, wide sales network, product quality, rich collection, advanced production and information systems technology. We held an interview with Bossa’s General Manager, Onur Duru, for Tekstil Teknoloji magazine, and talked about the latest technological innovations in the weaving industry.
Bossa is among Turkey’s largest manufacturers in the textile industry. What are the most important features that distinguish your products from other brands?
Having made ground-breaking achievements in denim production, our company stands out with its efforts towards environmental sustainability. Our company is one of the leading organizations both in Turkey and in the world with the completely ecological Re-Set collection that started in 2006. I believe, we are standing out especially thanks to this initiative.
Could you tell us about Bossa’s dominance in Turkish market and its export figures? Which countries do you export?
Bossa’s annual production capacity is 36 million meters. With new investments, we have increased our capacity to 50 million meters this year. We have many domestic customers who have a corner in the domestic market. As for exports, we are working mainly in Europe and taking steps towards growth in the US, the Far East and North African markets.
What are your criteria in your machinery and technology investments to maintain your competitiveness and quality?
Bossa uses state-of-the-art technology in production and is constantly keeping up with innovations. Following the new technologies, we are constantly updating our existing machinery to achieve more efficient and better quality products. When choosing new machines, we are making choices with the aim of accelerating the production and creating different innovative products.
BOSSA PRODUCES 100% RECYCLED FABRIC FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE WORLD
As a company, you pay particular attention to sustainability. Can you tell us about your activities and future projects in this field?
Recycling is crucial for our world with finite resources. As in the paper, plastic and iron and steel industries, the textile industry also turns to recycling. As Bossa, we recycle our waste yarns and fibers as raw materials, which are disposed of in our facilities. In addition, we use the fibers obtained from plastic bottle wastes as textile raw material with the r-PET project. With the Re-Set collection, we have managed to become the first textile company in the world to produce 100% recycled fabrics.
We also have certification for the products in our collection with LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) project by calculating all environmental impacts on a product basis.
The first thing that comes to mind avbout environment is ‘Water’. Water is life. Working also on water conservation, Bossa created the ‘Saveblue’ concept. Being sensitive to energy and water consumption, our company has taken a big step in terms of sustainability by combining this concept with the use of natural fiber. We save up to 87% water while dyeing with the ‘Saveblue’ concept. Speaking of water, we also have another project. We have taken another significant step for the environment in the neutralization of the basic wastewater by using carbon dioxide instead of sulfuric acid. In the first stage of this project, we bought the liquid carbon dioxide to use in the process of neutralizing our wastewater. We are currently working on the second phase of this project. Our goal now is to use the carbon dioxide filtered at our chimneys.
We also have a project about energy. In our enterprise, we produce our own energy with the co-generation facility, thus save 20% energy. The installation of the co-generation facility also contributes to the reduction of environmental pollution as well as reducing our energy costs.
We are starting a new project every season with innovative approaches. We have developed a new eco-friendly dyeing process, offering a new understanding on the production of colored denim fabrics. In tihs concept, that we call ‘Dyeart’, we produce denim fabrics high-quality in color and environment. We also carry out innovative developments on the fabric feel and continue to work on this project without slowing down.
Bossa has also taken the first steps to create a new recycling project. Our company is working on the used trousers taken from consumers and turned them back into fabric. We will cooperate with many customers in this project, known as the ‘Post-Consumer Denim’ in the world.
While we continue our process and product development activities, on the other hand, we have been collaborating with many fashion designers, and attach great importance to sustainability in the fields of environment, energy efficiency and customer satisfaction.
There are new developments each with the advent of technology in the weaving industry. In this sense, what impact do your P&D and R&D activities have on your production?
In the technological sense, increasing the speed of machinery and decreasing the energy consumptions seriously reduce our costs. The impact of R&D and P&D on the products, especially with the use of different fibers, functionality has gained a significant importance. In this sense, the issue of environment and sustainability have reached an even more important level. In addition, with the exponential growth in artificial synthetic fibers, technical textiles are expected to reach very serious dimensions.
How do you assess the weaving industry in the world and in our country?
In the last decade, the world textile exports reached 300 billion dollars. Woven fabric exports comprise 25-30% of this figure. This share has a very high ratio in the total textile industry, in which cotton fabrics have the first place, and the synthetic fabrics the second place. China is the biggest weaving exporter in the world. Turkey ranks the 6th. As in other areas of textiles, our country has a significant trade surplus.
Woven fabrics are the most basic raw material in the ready-to-wear and apparel industries for many years. With the increasing world population, the need for clothing and home textiles is increasing too every day. Thus, the weaving industry continues to develop further. In addition to cotton, artificial synthetic fiber woven products have also greatly diversified with the mixed with natural fibers, the effects of R&D and P&D activities, new investments and new technological developments. At this point, as in the denim industry, our country has a trendsetter position in fashion.
What kind of activities and innovations do you think should be made in terms of making headway in the Turkish textile industry? What do you do about this?
The main agenda in the industry is the low-priced fabrics from countries like Pakistan, China, Egypt and India. We offer a solution to protect manufacturers and the industry against unfair competition. As in all industries, there is a competitive environment in the denims. As Bossa, we participate in ten exhibitions every year with our innovative products displayed at our booths in order to be innovative, pioneer and trendsetter in a competitive environment. We are cooperating with many successful consultants who have a wide recognition in the denim industry. We participate in exhibitions and events around the world in order to keep up with the market trends. We carry out joint projects with universities in our R&D center. With our wide sales and marketing network, we continue to be in cooperation with the most important brands in the industry.
Can you tell us about your 2019 targets and investments?
We closed the last year better than 2017. In 2019, we aim to continue our growth for the better with our investments. Our biggest goal is to carry the Bossa brand one step further every year, following the for 68-year experience of being a leader in the industry.
Interview: Kübra Karaca