Bringing new technologies in the textile industry together with the Turkish market for 34 years, Teksel Tekstil undertakes the representation and distributorship of a total of 18 international brands in Turkey. Teksel has become one of the most important companies in the textile industry with its experienced expert staff, and provides technical service for all brands and products it represents, as well as textile machinery, consumables, spare parts and accessories. Teksel Tekstil A.Ş. General Manager Dursun Ferikel evaluated the company’s activities and his views and predictions about the Turkish textile industry to Textilegence.
Founded in 1988 in Istanbul, Teksel Tekstil A.Ş., as of today, continues to work with a hybrid company structure that melts the understanding of family and corporateness in the same pot with a staff of 45. Noting that they have a very strong exchange of information in the field, Ferikel said that they have correctly identified the needs of customers by making use of this big data. Emphasizing that their aim is not primarily to make a sale, but to direct companies to the right investments, Ferikel stated that this is the most fundamental point that distinguishes them from other classical sales representatives.
Teksel Tekstil was caught ‘prepared’ by the pandemic
Dursun Ferikel disclosed that they gave the start to the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in 2019 and that they completed the adaptation process towards the beginning of 2020. Ferikel stated that in this way, they were able to switch to the hybrid remote working system in April, right after the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Saying that with this system, the necessity of going to the office is eliminated; “If a department needs to be in the office, we have scheduled specific days and times for them. Sales groups do not go to the office, sometimes they go directly to our customers, and sometimes they organize their business from their homes. We carry out our meetings through online meeting programs, our warehouse organizes all shipments by cargo. In addition, all employees evaluate this challenging period with online trainings for their professional and personal development within a program”.
Ferikel noted that he believes that 2020 was productive not only for Teksel, but also for all textile companies doing similar work. Stating that Turkey also received a share from the orders shifting from China to other countries, Ferikel continued his words as follows; “We see that those who are prepared in terms of infrastructure made very good sales and investments in this period. Thanks to the system we established and our awareness in the sector, we closed the year 2020 by breaking sales records with all our departments”.
“Those who invested in technical textiles made significant profits”
Dursun Ferikel; “While the kilogram cost is around 4 dollars in the export of textiles and raw materials, the kilogram prices in technical textiles can reach up to 20 dollars. Compared to 2019, we saw that technical textile exports increased by 75 percent in 2020, making those who invest in this field very profitable. We see that investments in technical textiles continue in 2021 as well”. In this context, Ferikel, who argues that everyone should invest in smart textile products and technical textiles, pointed that in addition to anti-viral and antibacterial products, the importance of which we understand better during the pandemic period, investments in protective clothing against electromagnetic waves will also be important in the future considering 5G stations will be located everywhere in our country soon.
Teksel Tekstil invests in silver
Dursun Ferikel stated that, very positive demands were received for the world’s fastest circular knitting machine with 1350 speed factor, offered to the market by Monarch, and for the Aquaria open width continuous washing machine, Biancalani’s new product that hits the mechanical grids while carrying the fabric with air and washing during the pandemic. Ferikel said that they signed a representative agreement during the pandemic with the Swedish company Imogo, a manufacturer of dying systems that will make the most important contribution to carbon footprints and sustainability projects, and relayed that Imogo has achieved a significant savings of up to 90 percent in the use of water, electricity and chemicals.
Teksel has been the distributor of the German manufacturer Shieldex-Statex for many years, and brings 99.99 percent pure silver fibre, filament and pure silver coated fabrics to Turkey. Ferikel noted that they have started different projects on pure silver products, which have features such as anti-static, antibacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal and shielding against electromagnetic waves. Ferikel said that they included the German manufacturer Silvertex, which uses special fabrics knitted with 3D pure silver to clean the microbes formed in still and stored waters, among the companies they represent in this period, and also explained that they provided a comprehensive consultancy support to MonoGruppe, including the design, production, certification and all marketing processes of new products with pure silver under
“Textile does not get the value it deserves”
Evaluating the current situation of the Turkish textile industry, Dursun Ferikel argued that unfortunately, the industry does not get the value it deserves and although we can make our own production from A to Z, adequate support is not given to industry. Ferikel; “Our textile vocational high schools are in a difficult situation; these high schools are trying to sustain themselves with the help of a few devoted business people and associations. There is also a great decrease in the preferences made for Textile Engineering departments, the engineers of this department do not have signature authority like some of our other engineers. Interest in 2-year textile departments has also decreased considerably. In other words, this issue should be handled with the right projects, not only for new incentives to be given to machinery investments, but also in a way that will increase the human resources in the sector. We should see the textile issue as a total development project, and we should all be involved in long-term projects. But unfortunately, we experience all these processes on a daily basis”.
“Textile is the most valuable capital that we will leave to future generations”
Reminding that the textile industry provides 100 percent added value to our country, and that our ready-to-wear and apparel exports have a significant power of around 10% in Turkey’s general exports, with 17 billion dollars, Dursun Ferikel emphasized the importance of planning and made the following evaluations:
“The industry does not have a long-term business plan. Companies make their investments according to the orders in front of them. Therefore, although we think that very good days will come, it seems difficult for us to achieve a serious development without planning the supply of raw materials, knowing branding, and investing in products that provide high added value. We are very hopeful about the future of textile in our country because there is no country in the world that produces quality products as much as we do. That’s why we think that textiles can be the most valuable capital that we will leave to future generations, not only for the next 10 years, but maybe even for 50 years later. I believe that with the right planning, we will definitely be in the right places”.
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