Elyaf Tekstil Makes a Difference with the Fabrics It Coloured with Natural Dyes
Elif Bilge Olağaner, Elyaf Tekstil Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors
Elyaf Tekstil, which has garment of garment with its twisting, warp preparation, weaving, dyeing, finishing, digital printing, transfer printing and apparel departments, produces outerwear fabrics such as trousers, shirts, jackets, blouses, dresses, etc.
The company continues its activities in Bursa, one of the traditional textile centres of Türkiye and is among the trendsetters of the industry with its fabric collections exclusively prepared for its customers. Elyaf Tekstil, with its own design and R&D departments, puts its signature on high-quality, functional, exclusive woven fabrics fashionable from ready-to-wear to haute couture collections.
Elyaf Tekstil Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors Elif Bilge Olağaner explaining the development process of the company as follows: “Elyaf Tekstil was founded in 1987 in Bursa, one of the traditional centres of our industry, with the initiatives of two young entrepreneurs, Sami Bilge and Şeref Yoldaş. As of today, our company, continuing its activities with 430 employees in its 27 thousand m2 facility in Bursa, is a fully integrated facility. In other words, processes starting from the purchase of the yarn raw material, twisting, warp preparation, weaving, dyeing, digital printing, transfer printing, finishing and apparel are carried out in the relevant departments with the latest technologies.”
90% of our fabrics are exported to developed markets
Elif Bilge Olağaner emphasized that Elyaf Tekstil has a wide product range and noted that they produce fabrics for dresses, blouses, shirts, jackets and trousers using regenerated viscose fibre, lyocell, modal, polyamide, polyester, cotton and their elastane blends. Remarking that they export 90% of the fabrics they produce to developed markets, Olağaner said: “EU countries, the United Kingdom and the USA stand out among the main markets of our company. Among the brands we provide solutions to are the companies that operating at the global market such as Inditex Group, H&M Group, Marks & Spencer, Marco Polo, Reiss, Mango, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Michael Kors.”
She stated that sustainability has been determined as the base criterion in all links of the supply chain and continued her words as follows: “Investments have been and continue to be made that minimize our carbon footprint in numerous areas from reducing the use of raw materials to saving energy in order to show that eco-friendly textile production is possible. We further improved our processes with technological investments and reduced our environmental footprint with the installation of SPP. We focused on the utilization of waste in order to reduce the use of natural resources. For example, we produced notebook covers by putting our waste fabrics into the upcycle process. We carried out the ‘This Waste Writes Code’ project in schools and increased awareness about the collection of electronic waste in cooperation with Vodafone. In addition, studies are carried out to contribute to social development by collaborating with institutions and organizations such as TEMA and Kızılay.”
Olağaner noted that they approach sustainability with the principle of cradle to cradle by using raw materials with certificates such as OCS, GRS, RCS and FSC; explaining that almost all of the collections they have prepared in the last 3 years have been designed using the most sustainable materials. She stated that the chemicals they use in the production meet the ZDHC rules and that independent inspections are carried out at the finishing, dyeing and printing stages. Olağaner also relayed that the company has the Oekotex 100 Standard Label, which shows that all fabrics used in production are harmless to human health.
“Our naturally dyed fabric collections were met with great interest in the market”
She stated that they developed the natural dyeing project as an alternative to synthetic dyeing, which is harmful to the environment and human health, and noted that naturally dyed fabric collections were met with great interest in the market.
Olağaner explained that they use plant and plant residues that meet various criteria in the natural dyeing project and disclosed: “We preferred plants and plant residues grown in our country, especially in order to prevent the carbon footprint that would occur during the transportation process. We used plants that do not affect different sectors such as medicine and food, are not in danger of extinction, do not have allergen and toxic side effects, have continuity, grow annually or every 2 years and have GOTS certificate.”
She said that the natural dyeing process provides significant benefits when compared to conventional dyeing and told: “Compared to conventional dyeing, we achieved savings of 77% in chemical consumption, 44% in electricity consumption and 34% in steam consumption. We started our studies this year in order to reveal the environmental effects of natural dyeing with objective data compared to conventional dyeing, and we will complete the results of this LCA study in 2023 and share it with the public.”
