A textile and ready-to-wear summit was held in Turkey, April 16 to 17, 2019. The aim of the summit was to provide a sectoral network, to bring together purchasing teams and the manufacturer and to take a concrete step in university-industry cooperation. It discussed the check list in order to make the industry more value-added and competitive. The importance of digitalization and design was emphasized. The e-commerce market in Turkey is growing at 31 per cent a year. The event stressed the possibility of using digitalization as a lever to increase the competitiveness of the small and medium industry. It stressed that digitalization is not a luxury but a necessity.

Turkey has a 3.4 per cent share of the world’s ready-to-wear trade. The country attaches great importance to exports as an industry. Women have a 40 per cent employment share in Turkey’s textile and ready-to-wear industry. This industry is the second largest industry contributing to the country’s employment. Turkey is the sixth largest ready-to-wear supplier worldwide. In the last 40 years production and export in the textile industry has shifted from low value-added products to high value-added products. The textile and ready-to-wear industry in Turkey is an important bridge linking past to future, tradition to innovation.