Page 16 - ITM NEWS

“The ITM Exhibition is One of the Most

Important Trademarks in the World”

Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association President Pınar Taşdelen Engin stated that they organize national participation

organizations and offer all kinds of support to companies to take part in international exhibitions. She continued

as follows: ‘‘We see the ITM Exhibition, organized by Tüyap and Teknik Fuarcılık, one of the most important
trademarks in the world, as an important event in terms of its contributions to our industry.’’

he history of the Bursa textile industry dates our goal is to move on to higher unit prices like
back to approximately 1500 years ago. It was some of our competitors achieved by branding, from
the first time that silk is brought from China which our quality is absolutely not lagging behind.
Tand produced outside of China, which took Our industry has reached a position that designs,
place around A.D. 550. Bursa continued to be the produces, and develops, but our goals and abilities
center of the textile industry during the Ottoman are well above the current situation. We want to
Empire era while being well placed in the position reach a position that leads and determines the
of one of the most important textile cities in Turkey standards and directs the world textile industry, not
today. Bursa experienced the first industrialization complying with global trends.
movement with the establishment of foreign capital Producing the highest quality products does
silk factories in the 19th century and gained an not suffice anymore. In order to increase your
important place in the national economy. Since competitiveness, you need to improve the product
the 1980s, the textile industry has grown steadily, range while focusing on the most efficient
strengthening its position in the country’s economy. production, the most environmentally friendly
The sector hosts a wide range of products from manufacture and the operations where the costs
yarn production to apparel production and is are reduced. The largest textile companies in the
divided into sub-categories such as cotton weaving, world announced that they will not use materials
synthetic yarn production, wool weaving, fancy other than 100 percent recyclable fabrics in a few
yarn production, knitting and tricotage, towels, years.
dye-finishing-printing, readymade clothing, and Fireproof or non-sudoriferous fabrics are not
garment. sufficient anymore, fabrics that produce energy or
Uludağ Textile Exporters’ Association (UTİB) is cleanse the air are discussed and we are working
one of the associations that contributed greatly to to advance our textile industry to a more innovative
the development of the textile sector and increase sector. TechXtile Start-Up Challenge is one of these
of exports in Bursa. UTİB, encouraging the textile studies. As UTİB, we have organized “UTİB Turkey
companies to participate in dozens of domestic Pınar Taşdelen Engin - UTİB President Textile and Clothing Industry in International R &
and international exhibitions, hence introducing the D Project Market Summit” event since 2009, which
Bursa textile industry to the world, has a share of 15 billion 648 million dollars with a decrease of 6 was the first time in Turkey and was presented by
percent in Turkey’s textile exports. percent. UTİB’s share in Turkey’s textile exports was TIM (Turkey Exporters Assembly) as a role model to
We conducted an interview with UTİB President 15 percent in the January-October period of 2019. other sectors. This study, which is among the most
Pınar Taşdelen Engin for ITM News. Engin explained When we look at this value and the ongoing trend important events that enhance the competitiveness
the importance of Bursa in our textile exports and in recent months, we have reached an export value of the textile sector, is an investment in the future of
the efforts of UTİB to increase the participation of of approximately 1.3 billion dollars as UTİB and 8.5 the textiles in Turkey. BUTEKOM (Bursa Technology
the companies in the exhibitions. billion dollars as a country. Coordination and R&D Center) Project Market event
The vision that we put together with our sector, the is organized 11th time this year. Together with the
■ What are the contributions of Bursa, where strategies determined, and the applied projects Bursa Technology and Coordination R&D Center, we
textile has an important volume, to our economy, that we spent an intensive effort for, contribute now have a comprehensive R&D center of our own.
exports and foreign trade volume? Can you significantly to raise the textile sector to its current We aim to cease depending on the foreign sources
explain this contribution in numbers? position and move it forward both on behalf of in this area, too.
The Bursa textile sector has a strategic importance Turkey and of Bursa. Important positive developments have been
since it is not dependent on foreign sourcing. experienced in our country especially in the last
From raw material to the final product, Bursa has “OUR TARGETS IS TO INCREASE OUR EXPORTS 10 years in terms of increasing the resources
an integrated and strong structure in this sector. WITH HIGH VALUE-ADDED PRODUCTS” allocated to research and development. In the 11th
Therefore, it has a character that carries the burden ■ What are your roadmap and projects as Uludağ Development Plan, it was aimed that our country
of the national economy on its back in times of Textile Exporters’ Association in order to increase would be one of the leading countries in the textile,
global crisis. In this respect, it possesses to be a Bursa’s contribution to our foreign trade volume leather and ready-to-wear industry that orients
strategic sector. and economy especially in the field of textile? the value chain with a focus on fashion design and
UTIB exports decreased by 6 percent compared to As UTİB, primarily, we aim to increase our exports branding. Accordingly, rapid and flexible production,
the same period of the previous year and reached with high value-added products. In order to succeed innovation, customer orientation, integrated
an amount of 991 million dollars in the January- this, we are working on a number of ways to expand manufacturing structure, social responsibility
October period in 2019. In the same period, the our export network, diversify our product range and and environmental awareness, retailing and
overall textile exports of Turkey amounted to 6 add special features to our products. In addition, organizational skills were included in the plan. In

16