Editorial

Citation

Stylios, G. (2015), "Editorial", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 27 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-06-2015-0071

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Volume 27, Issue 4.

Turkish textiles and apparel brokering R&D

27-29 May 2015 has seen another successful R&D Brokerage Event in the textiles capital Bursa in Turkey with participants from academe and industry from around the world. Its aim was to increase value-added production and achieve sustainable exports of textiles and apparel by turning academic research project ideas into partnerships with industry. The event had a wide focus and included projects from the textiles and apparel sectors including of course the technical sector which is becoming more important for reasons of adding value and sustainable competition. This year’s event included a textile/fashion design competition, a summit and a number of academic seminars on textile R&D topics of importance. This event being the seventh in succession was held at Bursa’s Merinos Ataturk Congress and Culture Centre, which is the second biggest congress centre in Turkey. The R&D project brokerage summit is the brainchild of Professor Yusuf Ulcay of the Uludag University, who is now deservedly become Rector of the University, a post taken by a textile professor for the first time. The event is set up on the basis of promoting project ideas with deliverables and costs, which are peer reviewed and once shortlisted they are printed and discussed with interested companies who can then fund them. This is not the only international R&D market summit in the textile and clothing sector in Turkey but to our knowledge in the world.

Turkey is the ninth largest supplier of textiles and seventh largest supplier of clothes in the world, with 3.8 per cent market share and with an export capitalisation of $5.4 billion it is one of the most important sectors to the Turkish economy. There are nearly 7,500 textile exporting manufacturers with production facilities in Istanbul, Izmir, Denizli, Bursa, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep. The biggest export market for Turkey is Russia followed by Italy and Germany[1]. This industry employees 2.3 million employees and it consists of 1,500 large size capital-intensive textile companies and 25,000 labour-intensive SMEs most in the apparel sector. The latter has a noteworthy production capacity of 4 billion pieces per year at $30-$35 billion turnover, 50 per cent of which is from exports. It is remarkable that despite the economic recession Turkey’s textile and apparel export performance is increasing year on year, and aims at an ambitious $60 billion apparel exporting performance by 2023[2].

The sponsoring partners UTIB and BTSO, industry and government aim to achieve high value-added production and perform sustainable export for the textiles and apparel sectors, by turning project ideas into university/industry partnerships. During the two days, project posters and oral presentations of ideas were being performed promoting numerous bilateral discussions between the university and industry. The Turkish Home Textile Design Competition and Award Ceremony were also held in parallel with the main brokerage event.

In total, 53 academics and researchers from 24 different counrties have attended the event, see Table I with a record high 387 projects participating.

Table I. Participating countries

The main aim of the event was to create high value-added innovative products and processes, capable of sustainable export, preferably by cost reduction that new technologies may have to offer. A breakdown of project numbers per topic was as follows:

1. medical textiles and technical cloths, 118 projects;

2. efficiency and sustainability in finishing processes (dyeing, printing, coating), 44 projects;

3. developments in fabric technology, 37 projects;

4. protective and military textiles, 37 projects;

5. functional fibres and polymers, 63 projects;

6. patents in textile and clothing sectors, 3 projects;

7. mobiltech and composites, 45 projects; and

8. other textiles, 40 projects.

The breadth and rigour of the projects proposed has increased noticeably year on year. At the summit, more than 15,000 exporters, industrialists, academics and researchers have been invited from Turkey and internationally.

The event had an extensive organising committee that did an impeccable job and the project shortlist was published in hard copy under ISBN 978-605-9193-08-5.

George Stylios

Notes

1. General Secretariat of ITKIB.

2. Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association, reference areas: (2014)1103540 – 8 April 2014.