Innovative Projects will Increase Competitiveness in Textiles

The TechXtile Challenge design competition programme, which has brought innovation to the textile sector, has come to an end. Organised for the sixth time this year by the Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association (UTIB) with the support of the Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Turkiye and under the coordination of the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM), the competition saw a total of 16 participants, who made it to the finals after a month-long seminar and elimination process, compete for the top three spots in two main categories.

Textile Exporters Join Forces

The award ceremony held at the Turkish Exporters Assembly Foreign Trade Complex virtually turned into the summit of the textile sector. In addition to TİM President Mustafa Gültepe, Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (İTHİB) President Ahmet Öksüz, Mediterranean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (ATHİB) President Gürkan Çetin, Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (ETHİB) President Jak Eskinazi, Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters Association Board President Burak Sertbaş, Southeastern Anatolia Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (GATHİB) President Ahmet Fikret Kileci and many association leaders and sector representatives attended and supported the ceremony.

Level-Up Winner Faruk Olpak

In the Level Up category, where projects at the idea stage competed, Faruk Olpak won first place with his project entitled ‘Innovative Designs and Performance Increase in Leno Power’. In this category, Rıfat Buğra Bildiri and his team won second place with their project entitled ‘Naturalg: Microalgae Cultivation in Textile Wastewater and Production of Biobased Products’, and Emriye Perrin Akçakoca Kumbasar and her team won third place with their project entitled ‘Surgical Dressing with Antibacterial Nanofibres’.

Scale-Up winner Mehmet Görkem Gökoğlu

In the Scale-Up category, where projects that have passed the idea stage and have become commercialized participate, Mehmet Görkem Gökoğlu and his team came in first with their project called ‘M-Based’. In this category, Mehmet İmrak and his team came in second with their project called ‘Overtime Inline Meto Label Machine’, and Atakan Yıldız came in third with his project called ‘Soilbiom’.

Birce Avcu won the Women Entrepreneur Special Award

Birce Avcu won the Women Entrepreneur Special Award, given every year to encourage women to become entrepreneurs, with her project ‘Creative Destruction – This Project Was Created to Be Destroyed’.

Bahar Korçan Sustainability Special Award

Atakan Yıldız and his team won the ‘Sustainability Special Award’ given in the name of the famous Fashion Designer Bahar Korçan, who passed away in recent years, with their project called ‘Soilbiom’.

Pınar Taşdelen Engin: TechXtile Challenge Became a Brand

Speaking at the opening of the program moderated by Ufuk Batum, UTİB Board of Directors Chair Pınar Taşdelen Engin said the following words: “Today, we are here not only for the awards; but also to witness the emergence, development and introduction of young ideas to the sector. TechXtile Challenge is evolving and transforming every year. This year, we have chosen to simplify our perspective on entrepreneurship and move forward with a more focused and plain structure. We believe that this program, where we meet with the original ideas of young talents, carries strong messages about sustainability, technology and innovation-oriented production approach. The quality of the entries and the level of the projects have once again shown us that the steps we have taken in this direction are right. Whether they win an award or not, all our participants who have the courage to turn their ideas from dreams into reality are, in our opinion, the real winners of this journey. I would like to congratulate all of our entrepreneurs who have successfully completed an intensive seminar and competition process over several months.”

Innovation League Champions Almaxtex and Kipaş Tekstil

Almaxtex and Kipaş Tekstil were the winners of the TechXtile Innovation League, which was held under the umbrella of the TechXtile Platform and where innovation-oriented projects from companies, R&D and design centres competed against each other. Almaxtex won the ‘Most Sustainable Project’ award, while Kipaş Tekstil won the ‘Most Innovative Project’ award.