Istanbul textile association updates sustainability guidelines, inaugurates Texhibition Memorial Forest

The Guide to Sustainability in the Textile Industry, published by the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association (İTHİB) in 2022, has recently been updated.

It was created to ensure that the textile industry supports the sustainability vision and increases its competencies along all its sub industries like yarn, fabrics, knitting/weaving, dyeing/finishing and garments. Accordingly, sustainability priorities specific to the textile industry were identified along with indicators to be followed, which culminated in the Textile Industry Sustainability Action Plan. This evaluates the risks and opportunities emerging or likely to emerge in the international trade arena on climate change and sustainability issues for Turkey.

As announced by İTHİB on Monday, the Guide has been updated with a section on “EU sustainability-oriented regulations”. This new section discusses the sustainability regulations recently made by the EU, particularly in the fields concerning the textile industry, and the EU Green Deal.

The EU Green Deal is a set of strategies that reinforce Europe's goal of reducing carbon emissions by 55 percent by 2030 and becoming the world's first carbon-neutral continent by 2050. It focuses on eliminating important climate problems such as global warming and the sustainability of water resources. The Deal designed the Border Carbon Regulation to prevent carbon leakage and ensure that this process is adopted by commercial stakeholders.

New Texhibition Memorial Forest inaugurated

In a similar vein, the fabric and textile accessories fair Texhibition Istanbul recently planted 10.000 saplings on behalf of fair participants in the newly established Texhibition Memorial Forest.

“The Turkish textile industry, which is at the forefront with its success momentum in production and exports, also stands out with the awareness it creates about sustainability, energy efficiency, zero waste principle, recycling approach and its contribution to the circular economy in global trade,” reads a press release.

“In this context, in order to contribute to a sustainable future, the Texhibition Istanbul fair once again proves its commitment to the principle of sustainability with the sapling planting event in the Texhibition Memorial Forest, which it will organise every year on behalf of its participating companies,” is the promise going forward.