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Interview with Orhan Goztas

Orhan Goztas
Orhan Goztas
Director – Sustainability
Aster Textile
Aster Textile

Economic stability, digitalisation, managing climate change top priorities
Aster Textile, a family business founded in 1993 in Istanbul, Turkey, ranks among Turkey's top 10 exporters in the textile and ready-made garment industry. Fibre2Fashion spoke to Orhan Goztas, Director - Sustainability, Aster Textile, to get an overview about the RMG sector of Turkey, top 5 priorities and future strategies of the nation to emerge strongly in the world textiles market.

How much is the RMG sector contributing to Turkey's GDP at present? What is the projection for the next 2 years?

The current contribution is around 10 per cent for the RMG sector. There is a slight increase with addition of medical textiles after COVID-19, but the overall ratio of RMG is expected to be same for the next few years
 

Which are your major markets?

We have more than 30 business partners in more than 10 countries mainly focused on EU and US.

Globally, there is more focus on sustainability today. What are your commitments towards sustainability and reducing carbon footprints?

With our "Thoughtful Fashion" vision, sustainability was always in the core of corporate policies and strategies. One of the main goals of our sustainability strategy is to focus on the use of low-impact materials and carry out our operations to ensure "responsible production".

We have adopted a circular business model which is based on sustainability and innovation, and we are integrating it within our strategies and operations aiming to maximise the resource productivity and environmental benefits.

As a result of the circular business model, we were able to create a 2nd Life Movement project-a closed loop programme allowing us to use our textile waste back into our collections. The 2nd Life Movement project also provides a framework for the development and realisation of sustainable materials and processes within Aster Textile's supply chain.

Our factories are certified as eco-factory since 2011. Through low-impact investment decisions, natural lighting systems, insulation and sensor implementations, we aim to reach the highest point in energy efficiency in all the applications we made with our Eco-Factory project. In terms of number, thanks to Eco-Factory, we saved 30 per cent in electricity consumption and 37 per cent in water consumption.

As of 2021, we supply the electrical energy we use in our facilities from 100 per cent renewable sources. Thus, we can directly reduce the carbon emissions from electrical energy to zero.

We believe that a core sustainability approach integrated up to the strategic decision mechanisms can yield long term benefits if not immediate. As an example, in our printing facility investment we have selected state-of-art machinery with minimised energy consumption and lowest environmental impact. Also, we have established a closed-loop in-house water treatment process which allows us to reuse the processed water with zero-discharge.

Of course, all these successes that we have achieved in our business is an indicator of the quality of our employees. Our employees are the most important asset of our company with their quick adaptation to changing conditions, their talents and their diversity.

How important is the RMG sector in Turkey both economically and socially? How many people does the sector employ to date?

Turkey's RMG sector is an ecosystem consisting of large companies as well as a large network of SMEs. The sector has an effective role ensuring the socio-economic balance of the country by creating high employment. The RMG sector, employing more than half million employees directly, account for 15 per cent of the manufacturing industry.

What strategies in the way of operation Turkey looks forward to?

Turkey has a strong production infrastructure and capacity in raw materials, product variety and accessories. Also brands and the sector realised that being able to manage risks in regional level by taking initiatives, having a strong local supply chain and providing integrated services have crucial importance post Covid-19.

As the preference of switching to nearshoring and fast sourcing model increased, being in a competing region together with North Africa, Portugal and Eastern Europe makes Turkey's stability and economic policies even more important.

European Green Deal including Carbon Adjustment Mechanism on Border, Circular Economy Policy and the target of being completely Carbon Neutral in 2050 makes sustainability one of the indispensable strategies.

What were the major hardships companies faced or still might be facing due to the pandemic?

The pandemic has affected businesses dramatically all over the world. Brands focused on chain stores and with low online existence have been affected more. As a result, the sales volume and order quantities have decreased.

As the companies are trying to adapt to the new conditions, we are trying to give them support through our digital showrooms, 3D collections and integrated production capacity. 

What were the major hardships companies faced or still might be facing due to the pandemic?

The pandemic has affected businesses dramatically all over the world. Brands focused on chain stores and with low online existence have been affected more. As a result, the sales volume and order quantities have decreased. As the companies are trying to adapt to the new conditions, we are trying to give them support through our digital showrooms, 3D collections and integrated production capacity.

Are your factories working at full capacity now? Have the orders reached the pre-pandemic levels yet?

Capacity-wise we are working with full capacity in our factories, but the order quantities are far from the pre-pandemic levels, as the shops in most of the European countries are opening just recently.

Which are the top 5 priorities for the Turkish RMG industry to increase exports globally and improving its ties with other nations?

Economic stability, digitalisation, managing climate change and GHG emissions, and circular economy are the top priorities of Turkey with long term strategic legislation on environment and waste management.

What is the story of Aster Textile? When did the company get established?

As a family business founded in 1993, Aster Textile has grown to be one of the world's leading textile companies.  Since its founding, Aster Textile has created value for all its stakeholders by integrating its approach of responsible management into all its business processes. With its advanced technical infrastructure and "Thoughtful Fashion" vision, Aster Textile further strengthens its moves into overseas markets, serving a global customer base over a wide geography, spanning from the US to Europe.

We offer superior quality products, manufactured in our wholly owned factories and continue to take major steps forward with our strategic investments in order to provide integrated services to a global client base.

What changes in buying patterns of your customers do you see amidst the pandemic? How is such behaviour effecting at the manufacturing level?

In order to manage global risks properly, companies are seeking stronger regional hubs or business partners who can provide integrated services and have a strong local supply chain.

As the percentage of sales through digital channels is increasing dramatically, brands prefer to nearshore sourcing and use a quick response model.

What are your future expansion plans?

In line with the rapidly changing world, Aster Textile pursues growth in diversified areas to ensure continuous innovation and sustainability. At the end of 2019, we took a major step towards achieving strategic growth objectives by including Artesa Fabrics in our group. Seeing this investment as an enormous opportunity, we plan to create strong synergies in the textile sector with production, acquisition, R&D, strategic business partnerships and product technologies. 

Aster Textile's prime objective is to continue developing sustainable products with high added value that makes a difference for our customers thanks to leading applications and solutions. We are also committed to becoming a global brand by establishing strategic partnerships with the biggest players in the market. (PC)

Where do you stand in the domestic market in terms of revenue and as a value generator?

Currently, Aster Textile ranks among Turkey's top 10 exporters in the textile and ready-made garment industry. With over 2000 employees, Aster Textile has a network of 5000 business partners with over €50 million of total export and over €10 million investment in 2019.

What is the production capacity of your readymade garments on monthly/annual basis?

Aster Textile operates wholly owned facilities located in Turkey and Serbia established over 100,000 sqm area of activity. It delivers its products - primarily knit and woven fabric clothing collections for women, men and children in addition to sportswear with around 120 million minutes monthly production capacity.

How are you leveraging technology to smoothen your operations?

Pioneered by our Business Development Center in London and our design team in Istanbul, Aster Textile creates a rich design and product range. We offer creative solutions with various techniques and designs: from special mixtures such as wool, silk, and cashmere in premium collections to natural fibres, organic and recycled qualities offered in all segments. We continuously upgrade our design power with our own digital printing, embroidery infrastructure and our dye-house and in-house printing investments. Aster Textile closely monitors emerging technologies and new innovations. Conventional methods lead to high environmental impact due to wastage of excess materials, and the inefficient use of time and labour during the pre-production process. We transferred our collections and pre-production processes to our dedicated digital showroom in the last 3 years, together with the avatars created exclusively for our business partners. Empowered by technological investments such as CLO 3D, Browzwear, DigiEye and DigiView, we now have a strong technical background and a team of experts trained internally. As a result, less raw materials, energy, and water are used. In addition, packaging materials utilised during sampling and transportation processes are eliminated. The carbon footprint of these processes is reduced substantially. The Industry 4.0 digital transformation is another significant innovative initiative implemented by Aster Textile. This effort aims at real-time digital data management during the pre-production process.
Published on: 17/06/2021

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.