Giant Brands Prefers Yeşim Group’s Sustainable Product
Şenol Sankaya, CEO of Yeşim Group
We interviewed Şenol Sankaya, CEO of Yeşim Group for the “Turkish Textile Industry” Special Issue of our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Sankaya, who answered our questions, evaluated the sector, and communicated investment projects.
Can you talk about your product portfolio, usage areas, and production capacity (a separate evaluation should be made for yarn and fabric)?
As Yeşim Group, we have been continuing our production in textiles and ready-to-wear with quality and social compliance certificates registered on international platforms for many years. We produce for companies such as Nike in ready-to-wear and Matheis-Schlafgut in home textiles. Among the other brands that our group produces are; Under Armor, Zara, Pull&Bear, Bershka, Tommy Hilfiger, Tommy Jeans, Lacoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Kappa, Guess, Mudo, Aldi, Horizonte and Tchibo. The our daily production capacity consists of 115 tons of knitting, 125 tons of dyeing, 100 thousand meters of printing, 250 thousand ready-to-wear, 100 thousand hometextiles. We export almost 100% of our production. We mainly export to European countries, American and Russian markets.
How did the increasing demand for textile products during the pandemic period affect your company in terms of orders?
After the first recession experienced at a certain rate during the pandemic period, growth in production capacities came to the fore. We can say that the demand for sustainable products has increased in recent years when evaluated on a product basis in terms of yarn and weaving properties. We believe that the demand for products with longer life, sustainable production methods and more environmentally friendly raw materials will increase in the future, instead of a “single-use” consumption habit. In this process, the desire to work at home in more comfortable clothes has become an important trend and this affected the industry as a whole. Therefore, there was a tendency towards home textile products due to the increasing hygiene sensitivity. We also produced cloth masks that comply with the required quality standards and certificates for a short period of time in this process.
“We work with the principle of Human First”
We can say that sustainability, digitalization, and environmentally friendly production are among the most important agendas in the world in recent years. What steps do you take as a company on these issues?
Digitalization- automation, and the understanding of sustainable-environmentally friendly production are the main agenda topics of our industry, as in every other industry. The requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Green Deal, carbon footprint regulations, and green transformation studies will continue to be on the agenda of sectors and companies for a long time. In line with our “Green Factory” approach, we take important actions, primarily solar energy investment programs, in order to reduce our carbon footprint.
We developed the concept of sustainability in our company with the principle “Human First” and applied this to all business processes. This structure we have created is based on a transparent, systematic basis that has been audited and maintained by world brands for years.
For the management of waste from production: “Zero Waste Policy”
We are the first company to have the “SA 8000:2014 Sustainability Certificate” in 2005 and the “OEKO-TEX SteP Certificate” in 2015 in the ready-to-wear sector in Türkiye. Our company, which is constantly audited for the continuity of the mentioned documents, also has GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), OCS (Organic Content Standard), GRS (Global Recycled Standard), RCS (Recycled Claim Standard), and BCI (Better Cotton Initiative) documents. These documents support our sustainable textile production. We attach great importance to ensuring the necessary cycle by having an important organization for the management of wastes originating from production. In addition, we also adopt the “Zero Waste” approach.
Yeşim Group is also the first ready-to-wear and textile company in Türkiye to sign the Global Compact (GC) in 2006. In addition, the company, which signed its 13th sustainability report in 2022, has been taking part in the GC Board of Directors since 2014 and pioneering sustainability studies. Another important feature is that it is the first company in its sector in Türkiye to sign WEPs in 2015. Therefore, our company, which is among the founders of the Business World Platform Against Violence against Women, is also in the TÜSİAD Gender Equality Working Group. Our group company, which also pioneered the establishment of the Global Compact Türkiye Women’s Empowerment Working Group, also served as the co-chairman between 2016-2019. In addition, our company assumed the role of coordinator in the process of establishing the Women’s Empowerment Bursa Platform.
“We contribute to gender equality with Yeşim Kindergarten”
One of the issues that makes our Yeşim Group special is the kindergarten, which has been serving since 1988. Yeşim Kindergarten has been deemed worthy of many awards by being shown as the best example on various platforms in Türkiye and around the world for its contribution to gender equality. Another important issue for our group’s sustainability steps is the treatment facility, which has been operating since 2002 and is inspected online 24 hours a day. Special projects for energy and water savings support our sustainable production and care about a cleaner environment. We shape our energy management and environmentally friendly production activities according to the Energy and Environment Policy. Since the first day it was founded, we have been taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint by aiming to produce in line with the ‘Green Factory’ approach, to set an example for all our stakeholders and to raise awareness in the society. In this regard, we have signed another environmental initiative. In order to obtain the International Renewable Energy Certificate (I-REC), we cooperated with Max Energy and supplied the electricity consumed in 2022 from renewable energy sources. We ensure the recycling of such wastes by properly sorting them in a defined area with our Zero Waste Certificate. Increasing capacity with automation will become very important for us in the near future. From this point of view, we aim to undertake very serious work that will be revolutionary in the digital field.
“We are trying to eliminate the problem of qualified personnel with our trainings”
How do problems such as the lack of qualified personnel and the energy crisis in the sector affect your company? What are your solutions for these problems?
As it is known, the ready-to-wear and garment industry with its value-added production, contribution to employment and export power, it has a strategic importance for the Turkish economy. The sector closed the first half of 2022 with positive symptoms and grew by 15% in exports compared to the same period of the previous year.
However, the risk of recession in the economies of developed countries, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the deepening energy crisis, that due to Russia’s cutting off the natural gas flow to Europe as a reflection of this war, high inflation in Türkiye, and high input costs, especially energy, have affected negatively many sectors in the second half of the year. These negative processes showed themselves in our company as well as in this sector. By renewing our plans for the future and taking additional measures, we try not to be affected by the situations experienced by both the country and the world economy. We hope that conditions will improve in the second half of 2023. As for the lack of qualified personnel, it has been on the agenda of the industry world for many years. Demands in this direction are also on the agenda in our sector, but we are trying to close this gap, especially in on-the job training. With the protocols we have arranged with the Provincial Directorate of National Education, we carry out activities to help our co-workers who have just started work and who have been working for a while become more equipped.
“The Solar Energy Project will meet 30% of our electricity needs”
As the Yeşim Group, do you have new product projects and investments on your agenda in the near future? Can you talk about your expectations for 2023 and your goals for 2023?
As Yeşim Group, we have a production facility that we put into use after the investment programs we carried out in Ağrı. Our production continues from the region to world brands. In addition, we are taking steps to increase production power and competence within Jade Tekstil, which continues its activities in Egypt under our group. With the solar energy project, which we commissioned at the Ismailia Facility last December, we will meet 30% of the facility’s current electrical energy needs here. The project is of particular importance as it is the first and largest study in the ready-to-wear industry in Egypt, where solar energy is used with a capacity of over 1.5 MW. Within the scope of the project, which was completed after 4.5 months of work, 3,022 solar panels were placed on a total area of 7 thousand 869 m2. We plan to expand the solar modules further in the coming years, in parallel with the increasing production capacity at the Jade Tekstil Ismailia Facility.
Interview: Özge Çağıl Sütcü
