TGSD President Kaya: “Growth, Change and Development are Possible by Acting Together”

Evaluated the past year and made recommendations to sector stakeholders for the next year, TGSD President Ramazan Kaya said, “The contribution of every institution and every individual is of great importance to make our economy and sectors sustainable in the second century of our Republic. Because growth, change and development are possible when we act together.”

As Garment News Machinery-Fashion-Innovation Magazine, which set out to develop a communication network between ready-made clothing industry professionals and garment machinery manufacturers and importers and to be a new breath in the magazine industry, we had our first interview with TGSD President Mr. Ramazan Kaya. In addition to informing industry stakeholders about sustainability, artificial intelligence, and many other valuable issues, Kaya also gave advice on how to cope with the economic contraction.

First of all, could you briefly tell us about yourself?

After my education, I started working in the family business in Edirne-Keşan. My entry into the textile industry started in 2001 when I came to Istanbul. At TYH Uluslararası Tekstil A.Ş., which manufactures for the leading brands of Europe and America with 100 percent exports, I assumed various roles in the fields of R&D, supply chain, purchasing and marketing. Currently, I continue my work as a Board Member and Executive Committee Member.

I have always taken care to be involved in civil society activities along with my business life. I am the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers’ Association, which is the most inclusive non-governmental organization in the sector with more than 450 members, realizing 60 percent of our country’s ready-to-wear exports. I am also a member of the DEIK Egypt Business Council, a member of the TOBB Ready-to-Wear Council, and a member of the Yanındayız Association.

Green consensus, sustainable production and artificial intelligence technologies are the hot topics of the last period. Does TGSD have studies on this subject?

These topics you have mentioned constitute the main elements of sustainability, competitiveness and success for the ready-to-wear sector as well as almost all other sectors. Green compliance has become increasingly sought for industrial productions and tradable goods. Because especially with the effects of the climate crisis and the pandemic, consumers’ awareness of ready-to-wear products has increased, as in many other issues. Consumers are scrutinizing the labels of the products they buy, paying attention to which materials are used and whether the environment is harmed in the production processes. Therefore, in order to meet the demand from both consumers and the brands we cooperate with, we need to increase our sustainable and environmentally friendly production capacity and transform by changing. In parallel with the green transformation, the digital transformation has also accelerated. Our industry is extremely willing and determined to invest in these areas. However, fluctuations in the economy may cause the importance given to areas such as R&D, innovation and branding to be postponed. At this point, companies continue to seek investment loans from international banks in order to overcome the lack of access to financing.

In this process, as TGSD, we are leading our industry to become a global brand with its product and service quality, to renew all its processes with a focus on digital and green transformation and to make large-scale investments by institutionalizing, showing determination in innovation and sustainability. We organize the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear Conference every year to increase the competitiveness of the ready-to-wear industry by focusing on digitalization, green transformation and sustainability in accordance with the European Green Deal (ETC) norms, and we discuss developments in the field of sustainability and inform our stakeholders.

On the other hand, we do not only consider sustainability as ‘sustainability in production’; we also work for the institutionalization and sustainability of the companies in our sector, the majority of which are family-owned companies. We established Young TGSD in 2019 to support the work of the younger generations who will take the lead in the sustainability of our industry. We recently launched a project prepared by one of our project teams within Young TGSD. We will also publish our Sustainability Reporting Guide. From now on, we will continue to shine a light on the development, transformation, and sustainability of our sector; in other words, we will serve as a lighthouse for our industry.

What do you think are the main problems of the Turkish industrialists and what kind of a path should be followed in order to keep the wheels of production turning? Can we get your recommendations for ready-to-wear manufacturers?

In fact, Turkish industry can produce in almost all sectors, at all scales and product ranges. Integration between industries is high. We have a strong supply chain and a flexible, fast and high-quality production structure. Our geographical location and advanced logistics infrastructure also provide significant advantages. On the other hand, high inflation, high costs and especially the fluctuations in the Turkish lira constitute obstacles for Turkish industrialists. Due to domestic cost increases, we have become more expensive than the countries we compete with and as a result, our competitiveness has decreased significantly. In an environment where demand has slowed down significantly and stocks have accumulated, buyers’ demands for price cuts continue to increase, but we cannot lower prices due to high costs.

Ready-to-wear manufacturers, like other sectors, are waiting for the uncertainties and structural problems in the economy to be resolved. It is not in the sector’s hands to fix this, but there are things we need to do as well. First of all, we must adapt to changing conditions and accept change-transformation in order to increase our exports and our competitiveness. For example, if we foresee a decrease in the number of units in our production and exports, we will definitely turn to the production of higher value-added products and higher-priced exports. As a result, we must ensure product-market-brand diversity and create more added value. This may take us back a few steps at first, but it will allow us to leap much faster a year later. We must stop resisting and form new habits.

How was 2023 for the Turkish garment industry and what are your targets for 2024?

In 2023, Europe, the main markets of the ready-to-wear sector, experienced a contraction, while the US experienced stagnation. New consumption habits emerging after the pandemic, followed by high inflation and the cost of living crisis that emerged in 2022, led to a contraction in apparel spending in the European market and in the UK. The contraction became more pronounced in 2023 and continued throughout the year. Accordingly, exports in these markets declined. On the other hand, ready-to-wear expenditures in Russia, Gulf Countries and the Middle East continue to grow and exports to these markets are increasing.

If we look at the figures, we were aiming for record exports in the centenary year of our Republic after the 21.2 billion dollars of exports we realized in 2022. The figures have not yet been finalized, but due to these unfavorable conditions, we anticipate that we closed 2023 with exports of around 19.6 billion dollars. We expect the stagnation to continue in the first half of this year. We anticipate that the mobilization in the sector will start in the second half of the year.

Thank you for your interview with Garment News to support us on our journey. Do you have any advice for us in this regard? Finally, what would you like to say for our readers…

On behalf of TGSD, I would like to thank you for including us in this first issue. I congratulate Garment News to our press community and our industry. The contribution of every organization and every individual is of great importance to make our economy and sectors sustainable in the second century of our Republic. Because growth, change and development can only be possible if we act together. This is why I believe that we must move forward together on this journey. I congratulate everyone who contributed to the magazine and wish you a long and successful publication life.