Effect of the Earthquake on the Turkish Ready-Made textile industry?
Like the Russia-Ukraine war, which started with Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, almost a year before the devastating disaster that saw the death of over 40,000 Turks. The Turkish ready-made fashion industry will definitely have a hit on the textile market both in the short and long term. It is expected to lose supply power in global trade due to the destroyed infrastructure.
As the world stands in solidarity with the people of Turkiye, it is worthy to note that the textile industry, represents 4.43% of the total world trade, and also got hit by these latest developments.
How important is the affected areas to the apparel industry
Nearly one-third of workers in the Turkish apparel and textile industries were affected by the earthquake. Many companies and manufacturers who have warehouses, factories and showrooms on the affected areas have either lost or their businesses lost, this is indeed sad.
For others who do not have any facility in the affected area, there would be a level of instability in the entire process for sometime as most logistics and humanitarian needs are for now prioritized to help cushion the effect of the disaster on survivors.
Turkish government have also suspended exportation of a couple of items which would help provide temporal cover for her people and this will in turn amount to an overall pace deduction in the ready-made textile production processes.
On other sales front, Hundreds of customers who had business schedules with various ready-made companies in the country either suspended or aborted their trips.
According to Altan, International Ready-to-Wear Federation (IAF) President and Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association (TGSD) Vice-President – “The ready-to-wear exports of the region constitute 2.6% of Turkey’s total ready-to-wear exports with 565 million dollars in 2022. In addition, textile exports in the region are at the level of 3.4 billion dollars and constitute 30% of total textile exports. In addition, 45% of the total production capacity is located in this region.” Adding that the infrastructure systems in the industrial zones are mostly in good condition, Altan said that the destructive effects of the earthquake were less in the production facilities compared to the residences.
