The strong textile industry has always been a source of pride and a measure of success for Turkey. With over 121 billion U.S. dollars in exports over the past 10 years and numbers rapidly growing each year, the textile industry has been on the rise.
In August alone, the ready-to-wear apparel industry exported nearly 1.2 billion dollars, overtaking the automotive industry as top export.
The Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporter Associations (ITKIB), one of the largest associations of the sector with 15,000 members, seeks to bring the current 15 billion dollar annual export up to 60 billion dollars by 2023.
But Turkish stakeholders have come to realize that the growth of the textile industry lies not just in increased production, but in giving Turkey a makeover. More specifically, in turning Turkey into a fashion capital.
And so fairly unfashionable-seeming institutions, like the government, international donors and textile associations, have all thrown a hand at fashion, banding together to create a budding Turkish fashion industry.
Everyone, from government to the textile industry and the designers, have come together for a common goal: to make Turkey into a location that defines fashion, not just supplies it to others.
And in doing so, Turkey has created a unique new concept itself, fashion for industry, and not the other way around.
In an interview with Turkish Newsweek, Istanbul Ready-to-wear and Apparel Exporters Association (IHKIB) Chairman Hikmet Tanriverdi said he hopes to see at least half of the projected 60 billion dollars in exports come not from textiles but from ready- to-wear brands designed by Turks.
"At least 30 billion dollars of this can be designed by us, made for cheap abroad, then put on our own tags and brands and sold in foreign stores," he said.
This ambition is exactly why ITKIB, the government, and the 2010 European Capital of Culture agency came together last week to host the third annual Istanbul Fashion Week (IFW).
Twenty Turkish designers and six brands presented their Spring/ Summer 2011 collections along 21 catwalk shows over four days. Held in Istanbul Technical University's Taskisla campus in central Taksim, tens of thousands of designers, purchasing representatives from famous international brands, fashion editors, models and fashion-conscious citizens came together for the shows, exhibits and stands showcasing Turkish designs.
The government has been particularly involved with the trying to brand Istanbul as a fashion capital, and there is significant governmental support in this direction. One example being the Turquality program, which offers government assistance and incentives in order to establish Turkish brands that will compete internationally.
The connection between fashion and economics was most prominent during Collection Premier Istanbul (CPI), a fashion fair that ran alongside IFW last week. Even though it was only the CPI's first year, 55 local and international brands spread out in booths over 5,000 square meters to showcase their 2011 collections.
As a trade fair, CPI not only gave brands and designers an opportunity to present their wares, but also an opportunity to directly make trade agreements with interested stores. CPI Chairman Volkan Atik said he expects the fair to increase the Turkish textile and fashion sectors' international competitiveness.
Atik said they expect CPI to bring at least 3 billion dollars in revenue to the Turkish ready-to-wear apparel industry in a few short years.
"CPI will become the keystone to integrating the Turkish apparel sector with the global world, and will be critical to making Istanbul one of the top five in the world fashion industry. "
And CPI was not the only trade fare taking place last week, in another part of town, by the airport, the Istanbul Fashion Fair was taking place.
Organized since 1994, this fair brings together ready-to-wear professionals, textile companies and the fashion world with the goal of furthering the Turkish fashion industry and establishing Istanbul as a fashion capital.
