Moderated by Vahap Munyar, General Coordinator of Ekonomi Gazetesi, the panel brought together Türkiye’s leading CEOs and prominent business leaders. During the session, our Chairman Osman Uğurlu emphasized that the transformation taking place in global trade has completely reshaped the competitive landscape in the textile and apparel industry, making the following remarks:
“The supply chain disruptions experienced after the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, rising energy costs, and changing trade policies have ushered in a new era in global trade. It is no longer enough to produce highquality goods at competitive prices alone. In the EU, practices such as the Green Deal, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and the Digital Product Passport are redefining the rules of exports, while in the United States, protectionist trade policies are having a similar impact. Therefore, we must accurately interpret the transformation in global trade and determine our direction accordingly.”
TÜRKİYE’S PATH IS NOT PRICE COMPETITION, BUT VALUE COMPETITION “Today, it is impossible for us to compete with countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Vietnam solely on the basis of low labor costs. We cannot play the game by their rules. Türkiye’s path should not be price competition, but value competition. While the EU’s textile and apparel imports increased by 10.9% in 2025, Türkiye’s textile and apparel exports to the EU declined by 11.7%. This clearly indicates that the core issue is not shrinking demand in Europe, but rather the erosion of competitiveness and loss of market share. For this reason, we need to carefully redesign our export roadmap.
A transformation centered on technical textiles, branding, sustainability, and digitalization is no longer a choice, but a necessity.” SUSTAINABILITY MAY APPEAR TO BE TODAY’S COST, BUT IT IS TOMORROW’S TICKET TO MARKET ACCESS AND THE EXPORTER’S NEW COMPETITIVE PASSPORT “Sustainability practices are no longer merely an environmental preference; they are becoming a prerequisite for market access. In particular, the regulations implemented by the European Union are opening the door to a new era for exporters. Sustainability regulations will provide a significant competitive advantage for companies that are prepared, while creating serious costs and burdens for those caught unprepared.”
It is clear that, in the short term, this process increases costs and operational burdens for our companies. However, in the medium and long term, a sustainable production model will provide exporters with a substantial competitive advantage. “Today, major brands such as the Inditex Group and H&M are setting targets for 100% recycled and circular production. It will be inevitable for countries that fail to adapt to this transformation to fall behind in the global market.” A TRACEABILITY STEP IN THE GLOBAL JOURNEY OF TURKISH TOWELS “Under our Turkish Towels brand initiative, which we launched with the vision of promoting the deep-rooted heritage and manufacturing strength of Turkish towels more powerfully to the world, we signed a cooperation agreement with ETKO to establish a traceability and certification infrastructure.
Through this project, we aim for the Turkish Towels brand to become not only an indication of origin, but also an internationally recognized, verifiable, and sustainable quality standard. Today, producing high-quality products alone is no longer sufficient in the global market. The raw materials used, the production processes involved, the environmental impact, and compliance with sustainability criteria are now just as important as the product itself. In the language of tomorrow’s trade, traceability is becoming one of the most critical elements of trust and competitiveness. With the standards we are establishing, we aim first to strengthen the value of the Turkish Towels brand in the U.S. market and, in the following stages, worldwide, while positioning Denizli’s high-quality production capabilities even more strongly on the global stage.”
