Hasan Keleşer / News Center
Burak Sertbaş, President of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association (EHKİB), stated that as garment exporters from İzmir, an export level of 1.5 billion dollars in 2021 was made possible adding to the adding to the export figures recorded from Denizli which was 1.4 billion dollars, from Balıkesir 75 million dollars and from Uşak 48 million dollars in apparel classification.
While emphasizing on the increase in demand for comfortable clothing in 2021 within pandemic and while giving information about the global suppliers whom shifting their market from Far Eastern to Turkey because of its close proximity and its flexibility to fill their demand, Sertbaş said the following, ''While experiencing 20 per cent rise in apparel-outerwear product group in Turkey overall, this figure on the other hand was reported as 40 per cent in sportswear. Furthermore, amongst the sportswear products made of cotton and knit that are incorporated in EHKİB exports, released 141 per cent rise. In specifics, t-shirts that was amongst the leading export product range alone could reveal an increase by 15 per cent. These figures indicated that our target markets shifting their preferences to more comfortable clothing that has been on the rise.’’
2022 Target set as 22 Billion Dollars
While emphasizing that, as the Turkish fashion industry, meeting successfully the expectations of European nations in relation to sustainable production, as said their biggest export markets, Sertbaş said that many European countries namely France specifically and Switzerland and Denmark, all have turned their attention to Turkey in the recent past period, as the market stability achieved in exchange rates and interest rates in 2022. While further stating that they are aiming to reach an export level of 22 billion dollars in Turkey and 1.6 billion dollars in EHKİB, if they can solve problems associated with the access to finance for exporters.
While stating that the Turkish ready-to-wear industry exceeded the 1 billion dollar threshold in exports to Germany, Spain, England, the Netherlands and France, ranked as the top 5 exporting countries in 2021, Sertbaş said the following, "We have exported over 100 million dollars from Turkey to 33 countries. The number of countries we export to is 214 in total. As EHKİB, the countries we export to the most were Spain, Germany, England, the Netherlands and Italy."
The Average Export Price of Aegean Confectioners is 16 dollars
While expressing that Turkey average in export price around 1.3 dollars that has risen to 13 dollars in the ready-to-wear industry, EHKİB President Burak Sertbaş said that the average export price of Aegean apparel exporters is around 16 dollars, and that in order to increase the added value in exports, their focus will be on projects based on design, innovation and sustainability that they will embark on.’’
