İstanbul Fashion Week: major step to make the city fashion center

The official ceremony, which was organized by the İstanbul Ready-to-Wear and Apparel Exporters Association (İTKİB) for the second time this year in cooperation with the Fashion Designers Association (MTD), was attended by Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan and famous Hollywood actress Meg Ryan.

Speaking at a press conference organized prior to the official opening ceremony, Çağlayan noted that İstanbul is currently both a cultural and congress center, adding that great efforts are being exerted to turn the city into a fashion and design center. IFW will be an important contribution to this target, he said, adding that a purchasing delegation made up of representatives of 213 firms from 29 countries were also invited to attend IFW, which will be followed by more than 200 press members around the world.

Çağlayan said to make İstanbul a fashion center, the government and private sectors are jointly carrying out important projects, also emphasizing the necessity of establishing dialogue between universities and industrialists. Turkey should shift to producing its own designs, research and development and technology, he remarked, urging young designers to introduce innovative products that add value to the international arena. In this regard, Turkey has no time to lose but should start working immediately, the minister noted.

“Our target for 2023 [the 100th anniversary of the founding of the republic] is to reach an export level of $500 billion, to have 10 internationally known brands and be among the biggest 10 economies in the world,” he said. Çağlayan, talking on the importance of the textile and garment sectors for the country’s exports, stated that the share of this sector in overall exports increased in 2009 when the global financial crisis took a toll on the economy, despite the fact that Turkey’s total exports declined. The share of textile exports in overall exports last month was the highest of the last three years, he said, predicting that Turkish textile, ready-to-wear and apparel industries will develop further and gain a much more prominent place in the global market this year.

From producer to designer country

Mehmet Büyükekşi, president of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), speaking at the conference remarked that the perception of value added and profit should shift towards consumer-oriented production and that design culture should be improved. The focus should be on innovation in each and every process of production to create global brands, he continued. We are working to see İstanbul emerge as a fashion center just like New York, London, Milano and Paris, the TİM head stated, adding that İTF is the most concrete step to this goal.

Turkey is the fourth largest textile producer in the world, and its contributions to the economy cannot be ignored, Hikmet Tanrıverdi, president of İHKİB, said, adding, however, that it is time to highlight another feature of the industry, which is its compatibility with global fashion. We want to see Turkey shift from being a production country to a design country, he stated, revealing the sector’s goal of making İstanbul one of the top cities in fashion by 2023.

IFW aims to create popularity with Meg Ryan

Ryan, who is famous for her leading roles in romantic comedies, also attended the inauguration ceremony upon the invitation of organizers of the event. She said that she “was greatly honored to be present in the opening of IFW.” Ryan was reportedly paid $100,000 to attend the fair. Çağlayan, speaking before cutting the opening ribbon with Ryan, stated that their aim is to attract the attention of the world.

Taking place at Santralistanbul, the event is expected to attract approximately 35,000 visitors in just four days, during which 24 fashion shows are scheduled to take place. Famous Turkish fashion designers -- Bahar Korçan, Arzu Kaprol, Hakan Yıldırım and Gamze Saraçoğlu -- are among the participants at the event showing their collections.