The Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters’ Association (EHKİB) plans to take part in six trade fairs across four countries in 2025 in an effort to maintain current export levels. The Turkish fashion industry, under the umbrella of EHKİB’s Türkiye National Participation Organization, will join the Munich Fabric Start Fair in Germany, the leading export market, with eight Turkish companies. The fair to be held on September 2–3, 2025, is expected to create opportunities for new export connections. The next international marketing activity will be the PV Manufacturing Paris Fair, taking place on September 16–18, 2025, with the participation of 19 Turkish companies.
Burak Sertbaş, Member of the Sectors Council of the Turkish Exporters Assembly and Chairman of EHKİB, shared that the Turkish ready-to-wear and apparel sector achieved exports worth 9.7 billion dollars in the January–July 2025 period. He underlined that Germany accounted for 18% of total exports, corresponding to 1.7 billion dollars.
“We are going through a period in which more aggressive marketing is required”
Since 2022, the apparel industry has experienced a 5 billion dollar decline in exports across Türkiye and is also suffering a loss in the number of exporting companies. While 1,046 companies exported goods in the first seven months of 2023, this figure fell to 933 in 2024 and 853 in 2025. Over the past two years, 193 companies have lost their export capacity.
Sertbaş emphasized that expectations for apparel exports to recover and move into positive growth have been postponed until 2026:
“In this process, we cannot simply sit idly in our factories and despair. We have responsibilities to our industry and our country. We are going through a period in which more aggressive marketing is required. With this awareness, in 2025 we are organizing national participation at six fashion fairs in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Our costs have been rising above exchange rate levels for the past three years. The stagnation in Europe has lasted much longer than expected, and regional wars are deepening uncertainty. In this period, the most effective way to find new customers is through trade fairs. We are maintaining regular participation in MFS – The Source. Our companies will showcase their Fall-Winter 2026–2027 collections for two days in Hall 1 at the ‘The Source’ area. We aim to return home with new export connections.”
Tala Uğuz, Member of the Board of Directors of EHKİB and Chair of the Committee for Developing Foreign Market Strategies, stressed that a total of 140 companies from the textile and apparel sectors will be striving to boost Türkiye’s exports at the Munich Fabric Start Fair.
EHKİB will complete 2025 with six National Participation Organizations, the final one being held at the Fashion London SVP Fair in November. In total, 90 Turkish apparel exporters will take part in these six organizations.
The Aegean companies that will participate in the September 2025 MFS – The Source Fair are as follows:
GOUTEX SOURCING TEKS. SAN. VE TİC. LTD. ŞTİ., İYA TEKSTİL SANAYİ VE TİCARET LTD. ŞTİ., KARA MODA TEKS. SAN. VE TİC. LTD. ŞTİ., MEBA GİYİM SAN. VE TİC. LTD. ŞTİ., NURTEKS KONF. İŞLETMELERİ SAN. TİC. LTD. ŞTİ., ORIMPEX TEKSTİL A.Ş., TAYRA TEKSTİL SAN. TİC. LTD. ŞTİ., and UNITY TEKSTİL ÖRME KUMAŞ SAN. TİC. A.Ş.