Turkey’s textile industry in deep crisis as nearly 49,000 shops shut in one year
Turkey's textile industry faces severe crisis with nearly 49,000 shops closing in one year, traders report. Soaring inflation, production costs, and the lira's depreciation are blamed. Istanbul's Merter district is heavily impacted.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Turkey’s once-thriving textile and garment industry has fallen into severe crisis, with nearly 49,000 merchants closing their shops in the past year alone. Industry workers and traders cite a combination of skyrocketing inflation, soaring production costs, rising interest rates, and the sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira as the main drivers of collapse.
According to official figures, inflation in Turkey has surged above 70 percent, fueling a dramatic rise in the cost of raw materials. Higher electricity, fuel, and labor costs have compounded the burden, while an increase in bank interest rates — introduced to curb inflation — has left companies struggling to access affordable loans. The lira’s persistent decline has further inflated import prices and diminished household purchasing power.
The crisis has had its most visible impact on Istanbul, particularly in the Merter district, regarded as one of the country’s central hubs for garment trade. Dozens of businesses in the area have closed, with “For Rent” signs now hanging on many storefronts.
Neuzad Yeshilbagdan, owner of a textile workshop in Merter, told Kurdistan24’s Murad Akinci that he had been forced to slash his workforce from 35 employees to just four or five. “Our business activity has dropped by around 70 percent,” he explained.
Similarly, garment trader Serdar Ozdemir highlighted the alarming scale of closures: “In just one year, nearly 10,000 workshops and clothing shops have shut down in Istanbul. If the situation continues like this, many more are expected to follow.”
The textile industry’s decline reflects a broader economic malaise. In the first five months of this year alone, more than 11,000 companies across Turkey went bankrupt, while nearly 49,000 small businesses closed their doors. Analysts note that the economic crisis has reached across multiple sectors, dragging down manufacturing and trade alike.
Economic experts argue that recovery requires urgent measures, including lowering inflation, reducing interest rates, easing access to loans for producers, and cutting production costs. Without such reforms, they warn, Turkey’s economic outlook — and particularly the textile sector — risks sliding into an uncertain and unprecedented downturn.