İTHİB President Ahmet Öksüz said, “As an industry; we proved to all our international brands and stakeholders that Turkey is the safest port in the global trade and supply chain. Now, we underline that the Turkish textile industry will again be the most successful port of the 'European Green Deal' and circular economy model in global trade with the awareness it has created on sustainability, with its energy efficiency, zero waste principle, and with its recycling approach.’’
'Sustainability Talks', organized for the third time this year in the strategic partnership of Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Association (İTHİB) and in cooperation with Orbit Consulting and Kipaş Textiles hosted the world's leading names in the field of sustainability in fashion and textiles such as Arnoud Passenier from the International Department of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Hugo Boss Global Corporate Responsibility and Public Relations Senior Vice-President Andreas Streubig, Tommy Hilfiger (PVH Corp) Supply, Manufacturing, Innovation and Denim Vice-President Nicolas Prophte, and , H&M Group Head of Sustainability Leyla Ertur. Within the scope of the event; 5 different panels were organized such as Traceability and Transparency, Circularity and Recycling, Innovative Production Solutions and Climate, New Generation Cotton and Long-Term Thinking Ahead for the World. More than 1,800 people attended the event, where more than 40 national and international speakers presented important outputs. At the conference, all of the challenges and solution proposals faced by the industry, from the climate emergency to traceability, from the responsible supply of raw materials to the minimum use of resources were all discussed at the conference.
"We are the First Sector to Reveal the Sustainability Action Plan"
Making the opening speech of the event, Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Association (İTHİB) President Ahmet Öksüz said, "As the textile industry, we see the issue of sustainability not as a choice but as a necessity and responsibility. Demand and sensitivity for sustainable products are increasing justifiably in the eyes of both producers and consumers. A decade ago, quality, design, logistics, diversity, and capacity and alike were composing of data to form the basis of the approaches of global brands. However, facilities that do not have a sustainability approach are not even worth for consideration. Therefore, we as İTHİB, in this direction, said that ‘Everyone should take part in the solution immediately.’ So, we have become the first and foremost sector to disclose its Sustainability Action Plan.’’
“We are in Contact with Ministries for Support Mechanisms”
Stating that they closely follow national-international cooperation studies on finance mechanisms for carbon-neutral sectors within the scope of their action plans, Ahmet Öksüz said, “In this context, we have outlined ISTKA, P&D and IPA III 'Detecting and Reducing Carbon Footprint' projects. We are proud of being on the field with a full staff for 3 big projects. Again, as part of our action plan, we held our sustainable textiles training with 29 speakers, which lasted for 4 months and reached 28 thousand listeners. Our training series, which was attended by a total of 15 different countries, was followed with interest. We have published the 'Textile Industry Sustainability Roadmap' in order to increase the competencies of our industry within the scope of sustainability.” Stating that their goals within the scope of the 'Sustainability Action Plan' can only be achieved with the common vision of public-private cooperation, Ahmet Öksüz continued his words as follows: “In this context, we cooperate with our ministries to take steps on to increase sustainable fiber production, to make legislative regulations in the production of recycled textile products, and to establishing a separate support mechanism on sustainability.’’
"Turkey's Safest Port"
The 'Sustainability Talks' program, which was held for the third time this year, which announced within the scope of the sector's action plan and which nurtures the industry as the most comprehensive operation that bring together all stakeholders together, Ahmet Öksüz said, “As a sector that taken further steps with its breakthrough in production and exports; we proved to all our international brands and stakeholders that Turkey is the safest port in the global trade and supply chain. Now, we underline that the Turkish textile industry will again be the most successful port of the 'European Green Deal' and circular economy model in global trade with the awareness it has created on sustainability, with its energy efficiency, zero waste principle, and with its recycling approach.’’
‘'Everyone Should Act With the Awareness of Their Responsibilities'’
Stating that they held a meeting with the upper management of one of the world's biggest fashion brands a week ago, Ahmet Öksüz said, “One of the most important agenda items of the meeting was sustainability. The brand under pressure underlined that all decisions are made on the basis of sustainability. Adding, we also highlighted on sustainability as the essential topic for Turkish textile industry at the meeting. We explained in detail our efforts on sustainability. The sustainability initiative is not a decision that manufacturers, brands or suppliers can take alone. Therefore, we must reach a joint decision on all of our works and create a common roadmap. By establishing sub-committees in all of our processes, starting from detect anxiety and followed by green washing and energy crisis; we must act together as suppliers and brands.” Stating that it is everyone's responsibility to sustainably improve life for future generations, Ahmet Öksüz said, "The use of water to produce one kilogram of textile products can vary between 95 and 400 liters. It is in our hands to reduce all these figures. Case studies support our point since with the investments we can make, it will be possible to reduce these figures up to 90 per cent. We should be able to leave a greener world to our future by acting with this sense of responsibility. However, this responsibility is not only the responsibility of the manufacturer, but also of the designer, global brands and even of the consumers."
Trade Target between Turkey-Finland is 3 Billion Euros
Providing information on the trade volume between Finland and Turkey, Finnish Ambassador to Turkey Ari Mäki said, “Last year, our trade reached an all-time high with almost 2 billion Euros. This year, we are also heading towards a new record. Our goal is to reach a trade volume of 3 billion Euros by 2024. Digitalization and sustainability topics are at the forefront for commercial growth and deeper cooperation between the two countries. It is one of the most important and hot topics especially in the textile sector. Some leading Finnish companies in this field will come together with Turkish companies at the event. We are looking forward to partners with whom we can make innovation partnerships in Turkey. Global collaborations are of great importance as the volume of Finnish brands cannot meet Finnish raw material resources. Sharing information is very valuable in order to increase the sustainability of the sector.”
