Exceeding the export target of 2021 billion dollars in 16 with its export strategy centered on digitalization, sustainability, design and innovation and advancing to an export figure of 2022 billion dollars in 18, the Aegean Exporters' Association took its place in Design Week Turkey 16, which was held between 18-2021 November, with four design competitions.
Aegean Exporters' Unions Coordinator President Jak Eskinazi said, “Our EIB Fashion Design Competition, Deri'n Fikirler Leather Production and Design Competition, AMORF Natural Stone Design and Project Competition, Ezberbozan Design where we brought our three sectors together for the first time, furniture, textile and natural stone. With our competition, we are building a future that will be built by designers who think about the economy with high added value beyond the age. Because now everyone, every industry needs to do things “really” differently, with different perspectives.” said.
Saying that they have brought hundreds of designers to Turkey for 17 years, Eskinazi draws attention to the fact that these four sectors, for which design competitions are held, export well above Turkey's average.
“By jumping one step each year in global exports; Our ready-to-wear and apparel industry reached 20 billion dollars, our textile industry reached 10 billion dollars, our furniture industry reached an export volume of more than 4 billion dollars, and our natural stone industry reached 2 billion dollars; In total, it exported 36 billion dollars in the last year. Aegean Exporters' Associations made a great effort in shaping the design support communiqué in order to support the design offices of the companies. Thanks to this communiqué, design offices have been established in many of our companies and at the same time, our companies with design offices have also developed. Today, our sectors and the design ecosystem are performing value-added exports with a strong.”
Sertbaş: We became a pioneer in design mobilization with our EİB Fashion Design Competition
Aegean Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters' Association President Burak Sertbaş reminded that when we look at the quality and value-added power of ready-made clothing and apparel exports, Turkey has traditionally been the net exporter sector with the highest foreign trade surplus by far.
“We became a pioneer in design mobilization with our EIB Fashion Design Competition, which we have been holding since 2004 in order to create radical changes in our country. Our young people have made their names known to the world by crossing the borders of the country with their original and innovative designs. Last year, we covered the TECH-TILITY theme, which includes sustainable designs that bring nature and technology together, the final of which we realized online. Turkey's average export unit price in the period of 2021; While it was around 1,3 dollars, in the same period, the export unit price of the Turkish ready-made clothing industry was 13 dollars, and our average export unit price as EHKİB was 17 dollars. Our goal is to increase our export unit price to 20 dollars and above. This painting is a very concrete proof of the investment that the ready-made clothing industry has made in design for years.”
Zandar: The key to Turkey's development is investing in young minds
Aegean Leather and Leather Products Exporters' Association President Erkan Zandar said, “For us, the key to Turkey's long-term development is; investing in innovation, education and young minds. Our production and product quality is above the world standard, and most importantly, our industry has a century of leather processing experience. With our Deri'n Fikirler Leather Design and Production competition, which was organized for the 2020th time by our association in January 8, we provided many young people with the right to study abroad with the support of our Ministry of Commerce. In the future, we want to move our design sector higher by adding different perspectives with the visions of our designers to our productions.” he said.
Kaya: Our target; Creating a new economy in line with the principles of Sustainable Mining
Explaining that the share of processed products in Turkey's overall natural stone exports is 60 percent and 70 percent in the Aegean, Aegean Mineral Exporters' Association President Mevlüt Kaya said:
Emphasizing the importance of Turkish Natural Stone in the “AMORF Natural Stone Project and Design Competition” is one of the cornerstones of our dream and moreover, of our project, “to be the first country that comes to mind when talking about marble in the world”. Our goal is; To create a new economy in the sector together with its miners, industrialists, academicians, designers and architects in line with the principles of Sustainable Mining. And in its 2nd year, AMORF has increased the number of participation even more and added world-renowned architects, artists and designers of our country to its structure. We have made significant contributions to the export of value-added products of the sector and acted as a bridge between architects and designers and the sector.”
Yağcı: Innovation and added value are realized through groundbreaking design
Cahit Doğan Yağcı, President of the Aegean Furniture Paper and Forest Products Exporters' Association, emphasized that the way to value-added exports goes through design, innovation and R&D, and that's why the furniture, textile and mining industries were brought together for the first time in 2021 with the Game Changer Design Competition. .
“Our top-ranked competitors both had the chance to have their designs produced and started to receive job offers by expanding their networks. Our furniture sector, which has an annual foreign trade surplus of 2,8 billion dollars, is one of the sectors that contributes to the national economy and employment. While the average kilogram price of our furniture exports in Turkey is $2,76, this figure reaches $3,25 in the Aegean Region. We are working to increase the average export price of furniture in the Aegean Region to 6 dollars. This year, we started preparations to organize our Game-Breaking Design Contest with the theme of “Smart”, completely focused on furniture. We will start accepting applications very soon. I think the record number of applications last year will double this year.”
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