Turkey’s textile hub hopes to recoup losses from Russian crisis

Despite a significant decline in Russian business that is integral to Turkey’s textile industry, the sector is hopeful it will make up for its losses in the coming season, according to industry leaders.

“In the past year and a half we have experienced a serious Russian-based crisis,” said Laleli Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association chairman Giyasettin Eyyüpkoca.

“We have confronted the economic difficulties that have arisen from this crisis, and in the last few months they have been diminished. Russia is bouncing back, and in the upcoming season we anticipate, at the very least, the compensation of a large portion of our losses.”

The Laleli quarter of Istanbul is known as a hub of the country’s textile sector, as hundreds of shops sell clothing products at the retail and wholesale level to mainly Russian buyers.

The area has a decades-long history of customers from Russia and from other former Soviet states purchasing textile products to sell in their home countries.

For the full story, see the August 2015 edition of Textiles Eastern Europe. Not a subscriber? Sign up HERE