At the 13th Istanbul Fashion Conference organized by the Turkish Clothing Manufacturers' Association (TGSD) and Istanbul Apparel Exporters Association (IHKIB), Mustafa Varank, Industry and Technology Minister, revealed the Turkish garment industry clocked in $16.5 billion external trade surplus in 2019. It mainly added high value in exports. Among the production and industry sectors, it mostly had exports in ready to wear. The unit price per kg of ready to wear surpassed $13 while this figure is at an average of $1.30 in other exports, said Varak.

Varank also underlined over 1 million workers are directly employed in the industry and 68 per cent of employees are women. The government has supported TL 7.5 billion of fixed investment with its incentive certificates. This has helped it create 350,000 more jobs.The government supports sectoral aggregations in many provinces and has set up organized industrial zones in northwestern Bolu, Bursa and Yalova, and southeastern Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Diyarbakır.

The garment sector’s research and development and innovation projects have been supported by the government through Turkey’s top scientific body, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Turkey (KOSGEB).