Tekstil Teknik Dergisi Tekstil Haberleri, Tekstil Sektörü, Tekstil Teknik
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Ahead of the inaugural FESPA Eurasia 2013, Lorraine Harrow, Marketing Manager at FESPA spoke to Samir Sadikoglu about hiscompany’s expertise in the garment market, and his thoughts on the Turkish and Eurasia region in the run up to the event.
Firstly, congratulations on winning the title of Turkey’s top printer in FESPA’s Hall of Fame 2013. What effect will this have on you and your business?
“It is such an honour to be recognised in the FESPA Hall of Fame. I’ve been working in this business for 15 years and to be acknowledged in something thisprestigious gives me a real sense of personal and professional satisfaction. It is overwhelming to be recognised not only by FESPA but other similar initiatives which highlight the technical expertise and capabilities of our business. As a company we’ve participated in a number of competitions and awards since 2005 and have, so far, won more than 70 in different categories of textile printing including the FESPA Awards. Gaining accolades like this also puts ETF on the map; awards help us establish our positionin the market and build on relationships with our customers. When our clients come to us with new ideas,some of whichseem almost impossible-they have trust and belief in us because these commendations show that we can work toprovide specific solutions for them. It also highlightsthat we’ve been recognised by industry associations and bodies for what we do, not every company can say that!”
Tell us a little bit more about ETF? What do you specialise in?
At ETF we manufacture textile graphic t-shirts and supply products for many well-known sporting brands such as Adidas, Ben Sherman, HellyHanson, Umbro and Nike – our biggest customer. When a company wants something fresh for their stores, adding a new graphic to clothing is en vogue at the moment, which is why graphic printing is at the cutting edge for many garment brands. We stay customer focused by hosting an open house for our clients every six months. This consists of half a day of theoretical presentations, including new techniques that we’ve developed,as well as half day hands-on workshops where customers can experiment themselves. The open houseprovides us with an opportunity to discuss problems and solutions with our customers face to face. The new ideas that could help to grow their business could be as simple as a new technique, ink or screen print.”
What is the Turkish/Eurasiangarment market like? Are there any particular growth areas or trends that you are experiencing?
“The Turkish market is definitely becoming more diverse. Traditionally it served mostly European countries. However, we’re seeing more and more business and opportunities coming out of Russia as well as Pakistan, Middle Eastand the Balkans. There is a noticeable difference in the culture and variety of fashion trends across each of the countries/regions, therefore the need to develop different offerings is greater. For instance we’ll be producing glitter, sparkling effects and foils for Russia and Middle East.However, the European market favourgraphics that are more muted. Because of the depth and range of the garment and textile market, our business is split between three different areas of focus. Creating graphics forsports t-shirts is the largest part of our business, but we also do functional printing for items such as producing the micro massage in sports socks. The other area of focus for our business is the fashion industry. Currently, we are working with a British designer on their September 2013 London Fashion Week collection which has introduced a different variety of techniques to our business. It has been an amazing project to work on. Fashion trends are constantly changing which makes the garment industry an exciting sector to work in. As an example, last year’s trend was fluorescent colours and this year we are seeing monochrome, with an emphasis on photographic images being used on fabrics.”
What are your thoughts on FESPA Eurasia 2013? What do you think the show will bring to the local market?
“FESPA Eurasia 2013 is going to be an exciting new show, not only for FESPA but also for the print community here. I am part of the advisory committee in Turkey and we are committed to make this a fantastic debut event for the region. The exhibition will cover all aspects of the market and will be a good place for visitors who weren’t able to attend FESPA 2013 in London, and even those that were! They will be offered the opportunity to experience a FESPA show on their doorstep with access to the latest product innovations and suppliers, plus a host of educational content. Eurasia is the biggest show after London and will bring something fresh to the Eurasian region. Personally, I’m an advocate for educational content at exhibitions and FESPA and ARED are working hard to ensure the content for the show focuses on real life issues for printers. We’re looking at what is currently interesting for printers, what issues they are facing, and future trends and challenges. Therefore, we candiscuss these areas in a lot more detail. The educational content at the show will help visitors to find solutionsto open up new business opportunities. Turkey is a hub of opportunity for printers because of its huge investment in textile printing, from yarn to the finished garment. I am a board member of the Turkish Printing Association (TTPA) and we’re inviting our members to FESPA Eurasia, especially members from neighbouring regions such as the Balkans, Middle East and Russia.”
What is your experience ofFESPA?
“I was introduced to FESPA around10 years ago, when I was new in the industry. FESPA is one of the best communities to be involved in, they provide a whole range of support from technical, business and industry information, as well as thoughtful and relevant educational content. At the event, I aim to present technical content which I hope will be valuable to the industry and which members of the FESPA community can take and put into action in their day to day businesses. FESPA Eurasia is definitely going to be a good show and I’m looking forward to seeing it all come together. I enjoy meeting visitors and exhibitors to see what exciting new developments the industry has to offer.”
