In collaboration with United Brands Association (BMD) and Istanbul Ready-to-Wear Exporters Association(IHKIB), the brands that participated the India trade tour came back to Turkey with positive impressions.
United Brands Association President Sinan Öncel made an assessment about the trade tour and stated that Turkey’s prominent brands such as Avva, Colin’s, Collezione, Damat-Tween, Dufi, Kiğılı, Mavi, Network, Tuğba and Twigy participated to the tour. Öncel emphasized that they had more than 300 meetings with India’s important investors including Landmark, Major Brands, Future and Reliance. He said that Turkish brands will enter in the rivalry in the Indian market soon and continued as follows: “There are 460 malls in India. Just like in Turkey they became areas that people get socialized and in all of them instead of dollar or Euro currency, renting prices are made on rupi currency. We witnessed the initial years of developing markets that resemble the Russian market. This huge market with 1.3 billion population has entered into the radar of Western retail brands in the last few years. Some Western brands such as H&M, Zara, Massimo Dutti, GAP, Banana Republic opened their stores in the last 6-7 years.” Öncel stated that they could not imagine that they will see that much Western brands in India and said “India is not an easy target for us, but it is not a hard one either. Our two big brands are in India for a while and testing the market. It is not going to be a surprise that Turkish brands will enter into global rivalry in this huge market.”
“We Should Focus on India More”
Istanbul Ready-to-Wear Exporters Association Vice President Volkan Atik stated that India’s half of the population is under 30 years old and has a big potential in the future and said: “The event fulfilled our expectations. As Turkish exporters and brands we care about the continuous grow in the middle class which has more than 600 million children and teenager population. The religious surrender attitude of the old age population is quite contrary among the young population. Through smart phones and digital media tools, young people who do not like the place or the statue they have, they move with a desire to have different life. Instead of traditional clothes they choose modern clothes. I believe that India has many important opportunities for Turkish brands and our brands will have important successes in India.”
Atik stated that India will turn into a big consumer society and emphasized that this country which is 5-6 hours of flight away is highly important that cannot be ignored.
