The Ready-to-Wear Industry to Advance Through Digital Transformation

Ready-to-Wear Industry to Move Forward with Digital Transformation A critical phase has been completed in the 'From Design to Production: Digital Transformation Project for Turkey's Ready-to-Wear Sector' launched by İHKİB in 2018. The Digital Transformation Centre (DDM), which serves as the 'hub' of the project financed under Turkey-EU financial cooperation and implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Technology under the Competitive Sectors Programme with EUR 10.4 million in grant support, has been made operational for ready-to-wear exporters. A critical phase has been completed in the 'From Design to Production: Digital Transformation Project for Turkey's Ready-to-Wear Sector' launched by Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Confection Exporters Association (İHKİB) in 2018. The Digital Transformation Centre (DDM), which serves as the 'hub' of the project financed under Turkey-European Union financial cooperation and implemented by the Ministry of Industry and Technology under the Competitive Sectors Programme with EUR 10.4 million in grant support, has been made operational for ready-to-wear exporters. Through the project, the EU Digital Single Market Strategy will be adapted to the Turkish fashion industry, while at the same time infrastructure will be created to drive the sector toward a USD 40 billion export target.

"We Will Adapt the EU Digital Single Market Strategy to Turkey's Ready-to-Wear Sector"

İHKİB President Mustafa Gültepe said at a press conference held to present the project activities that the process of change and transformation in the fashion industry has accelerated at an extraordinary pace with the pandemic. Noting that ready-to-wear ranks among the sectors in Turkey most prepared for transformation, Gültepe continued: "We have been working on digitalization and sustainable production, which became vital during the pandemic period. We are laying the foundations of the change and transformation we are leading through international networks. We are developing projects within the framework of the Pre-Accession Assistance Instrument (IPA). We launched our 'From Design to Production: Digital Transformation Project for Turkey's Ready-to-Wear Sector', which completed the approval process in 2018, under the IPA II framework. We received EUR 10.4 million in grant support under Turkey-European Union financial cooperation for the project supported under the Competitive Sectors Programme and implemented by our Ministry of Industry and Technology. Through the project, we will adapt the EU Digital Single Market Strategy to Turkey's ready-to-wear and confection sector. In line with our Ministry of Trade's approval, we have provided EUR 1.9 million in working capital contribution with our stakeholders, with the Digital Transformation Centre (DDM) forming the main hub of the project. Our companies will be able to make their business processes more efficient by using the facilities here. In addition to cost advantages, they will be able to transfer their products to e-commerce and e-export platforms. In order for the sector to benefit maximally from our services, we aim for the DDM to acquire 'Model Factory' status," he said. "We Will Increase Our Per-Kilogram Export Value to USD 40" Gültepe, emphasizing that İHKİB ranks first among exporter associations that have benefited most from IPA projects, said, "We have rolled up our sleeves to increase value-added production by providing training and consulting services to our companies, especially SMEs. We are building an innovative, productive, fashion industry with much higher global competitiveness. We are repositioning the sector on global markets based on sustainable production, digital supply and value chains. Together with all these efforts, in the medium term we will increase our per-kilogram unit price to USD 40 and our exports to USD 40 billion," he said. Gültepe informed that they established Istanbul Fashion Academy (İMA) under IPA I and prepared a project under IPA III aimed at reducing the sector's carbon footprint. Gültepe added that they are awaiting the completion of the approval process for the project which includes textile, logistics and chemical sectors. TİM President Gülle: "Our expectations from the digitalization process as the export family are very high" Turkey Exporters Assembly (TİM) President İsmail Gülle emphasized in his remarks that while change is difficult and costly, digitalization is a necessity for all sectors. Gülle said, "Our expectations from the digitalization process as the export family are very high. Our expectations from this period are: increased productivity, acceleration in all operational processes and minimum loss on the production line, as well as environmentally friendly production as a result of rising productivity. We view the ready-to-wear sector taking a step in this direction as a flagship as an extremely important breakthrough. We believe that the sectoral digital transformation strategy will be an exemplary model for all our sectors. The USD 40 billion export target for the ready-to-wear industry is very significant for Turkey. The ready-to-wear and textile sector is one of our country's long-established sectors. We are moving toward our USD 250 billion export target. In the coming weeks, we will announce another record in the history of the Republic," he said.

Digital Transformation Project in Turkey's Ready-to-Wear Sector

The 'From Design to Production: Digital Transformation Project in Turkey's Ready-to-Wear Sector', implemented by İHKİB, was approved by the European Commission in 2018. Works within the framework of goods procurement have been completed and the technical assistance implementation process has been initiated. Within the project framework, it is aimed to adapt the European Union's "Digital Transformation Strategy" work to the ready-to-wear sector, to create a digital transformation strategy and a roadmap for the sector in this area. Through the DDM established within the framework of the project by project stakeholders İstanbul Moda Akademisi and İHKİB, digital transformation-focused services will be provided in the sector. It is aimed to plan new field-specific trainings in fashion design and offer them to designers and SMEs, and to develop a potential customer portfolio in the sector through digital competencies acquired. In the project, raising awareness in the sector in the area of social responsibility and implementing pilot applications are among the basic objectives in this context. On the other hand, with Ekoteks, another project stakeholder, it is aimed to develop environmentally friendly practices of SMEs, and through new testing and analysis services to be offered to the sector within Ekoteks, to develop environmentally friendly production and product understanding in SMEs.