The ready-to-wear and textile industries together gave Turkey a trade surplus of 15.6 billion dollars in 2018.
Ready-to-wear exports which were four million dollars in 1970 reached 17.6 billion dollars at the end of 2018.The aim for 2030 is 30 billion dollars of exports. With the severe contraction in the domestic market in Turkey, companies need to direct themselves to exports in order to survive the recession with minimal damage. Turkey’s average export price of 1.5 dollars per kilogram has reached 18 dollars in the apparel industry.

Turkey’s readymade clothing and apparel sector, which has assumed the role of a pioneer, does value added exports and contributes to employment and exports. The apparel sector contributes 10.7 per cent to Turkey’s overall exports and 13.1 per cent to industrial exports. The EU is the biggest market for Turkey’s ready-to-wear and apparel sector. This is followed by Germany, Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, France, Iraq, the US, Italy, Denmark and Israel. As for the other markets, there was a 48 per cent increase in exports to Russia, one of Turkey’s largest trading partners, followed by a 30 per cent increase in exports to China, the world’s largest ready-to-wear supplier. Other exports are to Qatar, Libya, Slovakia, Serbia, Egypt, Romania, Albania and Kazakhstan.