Employment and business losses experienced in the ready-wear and textile sector
While hundreds of thousands of workers and thousands of businesses were lost from 2022 to June 2026, sector representatives drew attention to the competitive disadvantage.
TGSD Co-President Narbay announced that 364,000 jobs and 10,497 businesses were lost in the ready-wear and textile sector from 2022 to June 2026.
Employment and Business Losses
Following the peak reached in exports in 2022, serious losses occurred in the ready-wear and textile fields in the period leading up to June 2026. During this period, a total of 364,000 jobs and 10,497 businesses were lost.
With large enterprises entering a downsizing process, the sector's production scale, skilled human resources, and strong supply chain have weakened significantly.
EBITDA and Cost Disadvantage
It was stated that Turkish industrialists need to generate an EBITDA rate of 13.6 percent to protect their capital, whereas this threshold remains at 3.6 percent for their global competitors in low-inflation and low-interest environments.
Due to the resulting 10-point EBITDA disadvantage, Turkish exporters start the competitive race in global markets far behind.
Competitiveness and Export Figures
High interest rate applications and suppressed exchange rates are rapidly eroding the sector's competitive power in the international arena.
In the last eight-month period, the export loss in the ready-wear sector materialized at 2.2 percent, while total export volume reached $10.97 billion.
Market Diversification and Recommendations
Increases in the Middle East, North America, and Russia markets played a significant role in compensating for the market losses experienced.
In order to preserve production capacity, it was requested that the exchange conversion support provided for net exports be increased to 10 percent and employment supports be graded.