‘‘Panic State Decreased in the Sector, Things Will Go on Track in 2021’’
Selahattin Aygüler, Chairman of the Board of Pimms Group
The troublesome coronavirus pandemic, which has affected the whole world since December 2019, caused slowdowns in the textile industry as it did in other sectors. Pimms Group, operating in the digital printing sector, has also become one of the companies that have stagnated in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Pimms Group, which resumed machine sales in 2021, considers that things will go smoothly in the market in 2021. Pimms Group Chairman of the Board, Selahattin Aygüler stated the following regarding the situation, ‘‘We observe that the panic atmosphere in the sector is gradually decreasing. When the normalization period begins, we aim to visit our customers that we were unable to visit and covert their requests and machine demands into sales.’’
We conducted an interview with Selahattin Aygüler, the Chairman of the Board of Pimms Group, one of the leading companies in the digital printing industry, for our Tekstil Teknoloji magazine. Stating that as Pimms Group, they spent 2020 in a stagnant year due to the pandemic, Aygüler continued as follows, “Unfortunately, 2020 was a lost year for us. In terms of turnover, we couldn’t even catch up to half of the past years.”
Aygüler also explained the measures taken as a company during the pandemic period: ‘‘We postponed customer visits and face-to-face meetings during the pandemic period. We encouraged our on-site staff to use cologne and disinfectant frequently. We also welcomed our customers abiding by social distance measures. We supplied the best quality masks produced in the market and distributed to our employees 3 pieces per day. Thus, with the carefulness and susceptibility displayed by our employees and applying the social distance measures, Covid-19 cases have not been seen in our company until today.’’
Aygüler reminded that limited curfew, border closures to block international travels, in addition to the cancellation of the exhibitions that will be held in Turkey in 2020 negatively affected both the textile and the exhibition industries. Aygüler expressed, ‘‘We hope that vaccination efforts end and we can return to our regular lives until the exhibition organizations set in 2021.’’
‘‘Demands for Faster Industrial Machinery Will Increase to Keep Up with the Fashion World’’
Selahattin Aygüler stated the following assessments regarding the reflections of the pandemic on the Turkish textile industry: ‘‘As we heard and observed from the press, the troublesome Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected many sectors. The textile sector is also among this negatively affected group. Shopping centers and stores are closed on weekends due to the measures taken. Since people could not go out freely due to Covid-19 and restrictions, they did not need extra clothing and shopping. Because of this, the textile industry has generally suffered. This decrease in demand, of course, also affected the manufacturing companies. Firms postponed their new investments. This caused new sales in the printing industry to decline and to stagnate business.’’
Selahattin Aygüler, a printing veteran, also provided information about future trends in the textile printing industry. Indicating that most companies have started to use digital printing technology for a long time, Aygüler finalized his comments as the following, ‘‘Companies started to renew their technologies in line with the demand of the market. With the introduction of digital printing, I believe the demand for faster industrial machines will increase in order to keep up with the fashion world that provides faster change. In companies using sublimation transfer systems, the demand for dispersing and pigment printing machines that require less managing seems to increase.’’
