As part of a series of interviews focused on Turkey as a key sourcing country for the denim and jeans industry, Besim Özek, strategy and business development director, Bossa, explained what are Bossa’s most recent achievements and expectations within the international scene.
Turkey is the main denim supplier of denim fabrics and jeans for Europe. We can assume that in 2020, the year when the pandemic burst out, both denim fabric and jeans exports lost 8% compared to 2019, the year when Covid burst out. Instead, in 2021, when our country started facing a recovery, it was the best year for Turkish denim fabrics and jeans export as it grew 12% when compared with 2019.
We can easily assume that the denim market has recovered in the meantime. During the first six months of 2022, figures show that Turkish is reacting well and apparently recovering, and Bossa’s denim fabric export and production figures are even better than Turkey’s data. Moreover, as 2021 was the best year in Bossa’s history, we believe that 2022 will be even better.
Near shoring will be more important day by day. Turkey could be the unique country who can offer all the ingredients as jeans manufacturing country. Turkey has cotton, yarns, fabrics, garment production facilities, dyeing and chemical substances' production as well as qualified human resources. Despite there has been a supply chain problem in the world during the pandemic, Turkey was not affected. Turkey and Bossa will become more important for German and European markets. Turkey seems to be the best solution for Europe.
Does your country still represent a good price-quality ratio option for the denim market?
Turkish denim fabric and jeans prices will not be the as cheap as in other Asian countries. Though we are sure that Turkish quality, service, innovative fabrics, cost of production, producing the most sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics will be appreciated in the market.
How is Bossa adapting its production to greener solutions?
In order to start a better production first you should measure for environmental effects. Bossa is reporting water footprint and carbon footprint data for the last five years and trying our best to decrease our environmental impact day by day.
EU regulations will be tougher in the near future, Green Deal and Extended Producer Responsibilities will be part of our lives sooner. Bossa is 100% ready for the all new challenges. As far as I know, other Turkish denim producers are working on these issues as well. Our biggest strength will be adding our production with greener solutions.
The use of recycled fibers in our production will be an industry standard in denim fabric production. With the new shredding investment, we will be able to consume more recycled fibers in denim fabrics.
Most of the denim and fabric producers are only concentrated on their own production and have projects about better fabric production. We are the part of value chain in denim world. We believe that we should do our best to upgrade all the value chain.
Among our new projects there are better farming projects. We are solution partners for many brands for farm to fabric traceable organic and regenerative cotton production. Our farming projects have got dripping irrigation where water consumption can decrease by 70%. We also started a social audit at the farm level.
We have also supported a new R&D Project through which we developed a GMO-free brown cotton. This year we planted it and our aim is to produce brown fabrics without any dying operation.
We are also focused on R&D studies for the denim garment laundry. We got laser- and ozone-friendly fabric production. These new denim fabrics will help denim laundry companies developing their most sustainable washes.
Fast delivery, innovative fabrics and one-stop shopping to our pros. While an increase in the cost of cotton and energy are the obstacles we are facing as the whole industry is facing. Especially, the increase of natural gas and electricity prices will be very challenging throughout 2022.
How is your company and generally Turkey facing the increase of prices of energy, raw materials and transportation?
Bossa has been investing in solar energy for the last four years. All of our rooftops are covered with solar panels, and we are looking for suitable locations where we can invest more. Cost increase is a general challenge for the textile industry as almost everything increased:all raw materials, dyes, logistic, energy, labor cost… As a result, our fabric sales price increased as well. I am sure that all the brands are aware of that. We are not trying to make more money. We are just trying our best to survive in this fluctuating market.
How do you manage to find agreements with brands you work with?
We are open with our customers and explained them about problems we have been facing. They are aware of the price increases. Bossa believes that open and transparent communication with our clients is the best solution.
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