British Council hosts business & fashion forum in Turkey

10 Jan '14

2 min read

The British Council Turkey along with the Department of Fashion Design at Istanbul Bilgi University recently organized a fashion and business conference titled “Fashion Future: Where Business Meets Design”, at the SantralIstanbul complex in Istanbul, which brought together various fashion industry and education experts from Turkey and the UK together.

The conference’s opening speech was delivered by British Council Turkey director Margaret Jack who said that the fashion industry of UK is the most vibrant and creative sector of the country’s economy, making twice the contribution compared to other sectors such as automobile and pharmaceutical sectors.

Referring to the influence of UK on the global fashion industry the British Council director cited examples of British designers such as John Galliano and Stella McCartney who have created a reputation for themselves in the global fashion industry.

According to Ms. Jack, Istanbul is the fashion capital of Turkey and the country’s clothing industry is the sixth largest in the world and the second largest supplier of apparel to the European Union (EU). The country’s textile industry production amounts to US$ 30 billion, accounting for almost 7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), she added.

Turkish fashion designers such as Bora Aksu, Atil Kutoglu and Huseyin Caglayan put the Turkish are responsible for putting the Turkish fashion industry on the global map, Ms. Jack said at the conference.

The Turkish fashion industry is young, dynamic and promising and has the potential to develop even further and the economic ties between the UK and Turkey can facilitate the growth of the country’s fashion sector, she added.

At the conference, Istanbul Bilgi University rector Remzi Sanver said it is necessary as an educationist to remain open minded and allow research in teaching process to develop better learning and conferences such as these provide an opportunity to share knowledge which is extremely vital for growth.

The conference saw participation from representatives of the Fashion Retail Academy, Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association (ITKIB), Istanbul Technical University and others. The conference covered the following key themes: Business and entrepreneurial skills in fashion education, identifying and promoting young talent, brand development, building partnership in fashion education between the UK and Turkey and growing a brand internationally.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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