Due to Covid-19, the Turkish ready-to-wear and apparel industry is looking for ways to compensate to recover the losses in the export market where value-added production and sustainability based solutions become prominent.
In this regard, an online meeting was organized with the cooperation of the Aegean Ready-to-wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association and Business Sweden where Sweden presented a sustainability role model for Sweden apparel industry and sustainable production for Turkish apparel manufacturers.
The online meeting was titled ‘Sustainability Talk: Swedish Fashion Brands’ Strategies for Working with Sustainable Manufacturers after Covid-19’. The meeting has reminded that Sweden has been preparing to collect sustainability tax from apparel products imposed from 2021 and encourages recycling.
According to Cecillia Tall, Secretary General of Swedish Association of Textile and garment Manufacturers, this tax is for environment protection and ensuring sustainability, “if you are producing for Swedish companies, they will provide you with a list of ingredients that you should not use. The textile industry causes a lot of carbon dioxide. As a sector, we have a bad name. Prepare for the new system, do not have difficulty adapting”, she said.
Burak Sertbas, Chairman of the Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association, expressed that after the World War II, the Covid-19 outbreak is the second that shaken the world economy and has a great effect on the textile and apparel industry. The apparel industry should recognize its supply chain if it aims to have a sustainable structure, he opined.
Sweden’s global giant H&M aims to optimize resources and reduce waste and this is a process starting with design in textile production. And it prefers companies with sustainability goals while starting to work with new suppliers, Hulya Sevindik Ozyigit, companies European Sustainability Manager explained in the online meeting.
Ozyigit also announced that H&M also aims to make all material recycled and sustainable in 2030 saying “60% of all our product consists of materials from sustainable sources. We increasingly use recycled fabrics with yarns every year in denim products and use the most recycled cotton. We have been collecting products that have been used in H&M stores since 2013 and in 2030 we want our products with 100% renewable electricity sources and 100% toxic free.”
Edin Erkocevic, Sweden Turkey and Investment Attaché said, “The more sustainable the Turkish textile and ready-to-wear industry is; the more cooperation there will be between Swedish and Turkish companies” disclosed his speech acknowledging the long term working relationship between Swedish and Turkish apparel and textile sector.
