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İstanbul Fashion Days opens doors
IFD is organized by the İstanbul Ready-Wear and Apparel Exporters Association (İHKİB) and the Fashion Designers Association (MTD) and will run until Aug. 29.
The organizers are expecting 15,000 people to attend IFD, which is held at the Taşkışla campus of İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ). As part of IFD, 24 fashion shows will take place in just three days.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Çağlayan said Turkey is hosting thousands of guests from all around the world for this event alone, underlining that these people include “doyens” of the business and large buyers.
He said textile, ready-to-wear and apparel industries are “extremely important” for the overall economy, considering the production and export levels of this sector. Additionally, this industry enjoys increased importance because of its contributions to the promotion of the country in foreign markets, he said.
“Today, indeed, we are experiencing many ‘firsts' here. This is the first ‘fashion days activity' in the world regarding the 2010 season. In the rest of the world, similar activities will launch by September,” Çağlayan said.
The fashion days included all textile and leather products, the minister noted. In addition to this, a competition was held this year among young designers. “Whether they place high in the competition or not, I find all the contenders quite successful,” he said. Design alone is not enough, the minister underlined, explaining that marketing a design, exporting it and garnering recognition around the world are what really matters most of the time.
“I can't forget the words of Bahar Korçan [a famous Turkish fashion designer] when I was first told about the event during the first days of my appointment to the ministry. She said ‘Mr. Minister, we have attempted to hold this event, but our opinion is that this is just madness.' Then I responded to her saying that I really like madmen. I like madness, and such big initiatives are only possible with madness. I am in full support of what you do,” Çağlayan recalled.
Çağlayan cut a ribbon kicking off the fair along with Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) head Mehmet Büyükekşi, İHKİB President Hikmet Tanrıverdi, İstanbul Leather and Leather Products Exporters' Union (İDMİB) Chairman Lemi Tolunay and İFD Committee President İsmail Kutlu. Then he walked down the aisles in the fairground, visiting the stalls of the attending companies. As he stopped by the stall of the Aydınlar Group, he took off his jacket and put on a yellow sweater, saying jokingly, “We will provide you support if you manufacture this in yellow and red [the colors of the Galatasaray sports club].”
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