The 2010 World Cup has increased the turnover of Turkey’s ready-wear clothing industry up to 15 percent, according to an industry representative.
As some of the global sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, Umbro and Puma have significant production operations in Turkey, the rising demand is helping the Turkish economy, according to ?enol ?ankaya, the chief executive of Ye?im Tekstil and chairman of the Uluda? Clothing and Ready-Wear Exporters Union, or UHK?B.
Ye?im Tekstil also manufactures products for leading international brands such as Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Zara, Esprit and Hugo Boss.
Global sports events generally provide an important revenue increase in many industries, especially in ready-wear clothing, ?ankaya told Anatolia news agency. During such events, companies experience high demand in various products, he said.
“Take the World Cup,” he said. “A national team moving up to the quarter finals creates a boom in demand for that country’s football uniform or flag production,” ?ankaya said. Thus, Turkey’s not making it to the World Cup hurt the economy, he added. “We can talk about a serious loss of between $200 million and $250 million in business volume.”
Still, companies that produce in Turkey are shoring up business to some extent. “We have had between 10 and 15 percent of additional production in the Turkish ready-wear sector,” ?ankaya said.
Meanwhile, Turkish exports to South Africa increased 14 percent to $101.5 million in the first five months of the year, compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Turkish Exporters' Assembly, or T?M.
In a statement Thursday, T?M said the 2010 World Cup was the main contributor.
