baby & kid store February 2022

Turkish products
left their mark on
home fashion
Turkey continues its underwear and socks
exports without slowing down
Turkey, which is a piece of land
surrounded by seas on four sides; It is a
bridge connecting the Mediterranean to
the Black Sea, connecting the Balkans, the
Caucasus and the Middle East. Being on
trade routes makes Turkey and Turkish
markets attractive. While the majority of
Turkey’s imports and exports are made by
sea, land, railway and air transport are also
of great importance in terms of the roads
used in exports and imports.
The sector that makes the biggest
contribution to Turkey’s exports is the
ready-made clothing and apparel sector.
In the first 7 months of 2021, the most
exports were made to the European Union
countries. While Germany, our biggest
market in ready-made clothing exports,
took the first place, Spain, England,
the Netherlands and France were the
other export countries. According to the
statement made by the Turkish Exporters
Assembly, in the January-June period of
2021, 9.4 billion dollars’ worth of ready-towear
and apparel exports were made from
Turkey. According to the data of 2021, the
share of Turkey’s ready-made clothing and
apparel exports increased to 20.25 billion
dollars between January and December.
COVID- 19 epidemic, which has had a
negative impact all over the world, has
caused economic fluctuations in many
sectors, along with most small businesses
going to closure, while some large
companies have decided to downsize.
The sector that was least affected by
the economic negativities caused by the
pandemic was underwear. The underwear
sector, which increased its share in
exports during the epidemic period and
has a high growth potential, is one of the
important items of exports to the Middle
East and Europe. In the world underwear
export, China, which provides economical
and fast goods, took the first place, while
Turkey was the second country. In the
January-June 2021 period, Turkey’s
underwear exports increased by 60.9%
and amounted to 414.7 million dollars.
Due to the pandemic, the isolation process
was entered, and new alternatives were
started to be developed by making radical
changes in the working models. In order
to reduce the impact of the pandemic on
business life, the work from home model
was implemented, and studies were
started to ensure stability in the economy
and to minimize the rate of being affected
by the epidemic. With the preference
of domestic products, which are more
comfortable to use in daily life, underwear
exports gained great momentum. In
Turkey, which is the heart of textile, the
quality of the fabrics, the innovativeness
and the diversity of the design, as well as
the ease of transportation, increase the
share of underwear in exports. While the
export of product groups was determined
as 100,575 million dollars in women’s
and children’s underwear, 29,038 million
dollars was calculated in men’s and boys’
underwear. Exports of socks, which is one
of the underwear groups, increased by
46.2% compared to the previous year, and
an export value of 560.7 million dollars
was realized.
Socks are one of the oldest clothing items in
the world, dating back to the stone age. The
use of socks, which are indispensable for
people from all walks of life, has increased
day by day with the introduction of new
qualities such as health, aesthetics and
comfort. A successful export performance
has been achieved in the socks industry,
which has become a fashion in itself,
expanding and diversifying its product
range with modern technology. Socks,
which took its place as a complementary
accessory in home wear combinations that
developed during the pandemic process, is
one of the leading sub-sectors of the readyto-wear
and apparel industry. With a share
of 930.8 million dollars, Turkey realized
an export rate of 30.6% in the January-
September period. Germany, England,
France, Netherlands and Spain are among
the countries to which socks are exported
the most in this period.
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