Speaking at the organization organized as two separate competitions as 'FutureTech' and 'FutureBase International', İTHİB President Ahmet Öksüz said, “We are the 5th largest exporter in the world. However, our rival countries such as the US, Germany, and South Korea are amongst the world's largest exporters both in the textile industry in general and in technical textiles. These countries are not only leaving the textile industry; they transformed the sector with innovation, design and technical textiles. The market size of the technical textile industry, which was 165 billion dollars in 2020, is projected to reach 222 billion dollars in 2025. So, today here our valuable finalists that compete with the most stylish designs and innovative projects will bring in products with the high design power to the Turkish economy successfully. Design shapes not only today but also our future. So, the biggest winner of this competition will be the Turkish textile industry.’’
At Futuretex Istanbul, organized to support young talents and bring them into the industry, the finalists, selected among hundreds of competitor, exhibited their designs at the award night. In the FutureBase category, in which dream power of designers are converting into authentic fabrics to compete, the competition coaching appointed to designer Tuvana Büyükçınar and in the FutureTech category, an innovation and idea competition taking place first time this year, the competition coaching appointed to designer Özlem Süer. Following the evaluations of the jury, in the FutureBase International category, the winner was Kemal Özpınar with ''Troublesome Shine’’ design who was awarded as the winner and to the title of İpekyol Special Award, the second stage was awarded to Fatemeh Khosravi with ''Space’’ design, the third place was awarded to İrem Levent with ''Pure Converd of Cynara’’, and finally, Jury Special Award was appointed to Zeynep Esra Telli with ''Kutnu Bridge’’ design. In the Futuretech competition, Elif Tekcan and Melis Baloğlu awarded as winners with their project ''Other Leather’’, Janset Öztemur ve Semih Özkür awarded as the follower with their projects ''Biotexcover’’, and Bilge Koyuncu was awarded as the competitor with the project ''Smart Drysuit.’’
We Will Rise to the Top in the Champions League
While expressing that design and innovation carry special importance for export, Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) President Mustafa Gültepe said, “Because design adds extra value to the product. When innovation is added onto this, the added value increases even more. Furthermore, when we turn into brand the same product, the price even triples to quintuple. Therefore, we need to focus much more on these issues. I wholeheartedly believe in the potential of this country, especially in our young and well-equipped human resources.” While also emphasizing that Turkey is getting better every year in design, Mustafa Gültepe continued as follows: “Every year, we bring together hundreds of talented young designers with our sectors. Competitions have a distinct place in bringing young talents into production. In this regard, our textile and ready-to-wear sectors are achieving exemplary projects with the support of our Ministry of Commerce. Most of the talents coming out from these competitions are now design and prepare collections for our brands. We are proud of those designers who are with us tonight. With their contribution, we have our global voice in ready-made clothing and textiles. To say, we are brand manufacturers in both sectors. Our two sectors are exporting 32-33 billion dollars in total. I believe that we will talk about 60 billion dollars in the mid-term. With our design capacity getting bigger every year, we will carry our country to higher ranks in the champion’s league of the textile and ready-made clothing.”
Design Shapes Our Future
While expressing that the Turkey's first and foremost International Fabric Design Competition has been transformed into two different competitions under the Futuretex brand this year, İTHİB President Ahmet Öksüz said, “Futurebase International is in the form of keeping our fabric design competition alive. Futuretech, on the other hand, in the technical textiles classification, is the first innovation and idea competition which we organize first time this year. Both of our competitions excite us on behalf of our industry.” While emphasizing that the success of the textile and ready-to-wear sectors, which achieves export over 30 billion dollars a year in Turkey and this success made possible with the importance given to design and with the value-added exports attached to this, Ahmet Öksüz said, “Design creates culture, culture shapes values, then values shape the future. In other words, design shapes not only today but also our future. So, here, our designers who proceeded to the finals today are our human capital that will shape our future. As sectors that realize 6 times more value-added exports than Turkey's general exports, with the support of our Ministry of Commerce, we will continue to support our talents, as said our future, and will continue to bring them in to our sector.’’
Turkey Will Be the Biggest Winner of the Competition
While noting that they are the 5th largest exporter in the world, Ahmet Öksüz said, “However, our closest competitors are the US and Germany. The US is the world's 3rd largest exporter both in the textile industry in general and in technical textiles. Germany is the second largest technical textile exporter in the world. These countries have never diminished the importance they give to the textile sector. Instead, these just transformed the industry with innovation, design and with technical textiles.” While stating the market size of the technical textile industry, which was 165 billion dollars in 2020, is projected to reach 222 billion dollars in 2025, Ahmet Öksüz continued as follows: “The countries that invest the most in the technical textile industry are also known as developed economies such as the US, Germany and South Korea. So, today here our valuable finalists that compete with the most stylish designs and innovative projects will bring in products with the high design power to the Turkish economy successfully. Our jury members selected winners amongst 11 finalists in our Futurebase International competition and 10 finalists in our Futuretech competition. However, the biggest winner of this competition will be the Turkish textile industry. Because I believe that numerous valuable projects and designs will be the richness of our economy in a very near future.”
