A Wave of Concordatum Hits the Ready to Wear and Textile Industry

According to Ahmet Öksüz, President of the Istanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Association (İTHİB), nearly 300 companies declared concordatum (a legal restructuring process) in the first half of the year. This alarming development threatens not only these individual companies but the entire supply chain ecosystem of the industry.

Supply Chain Faces Bankruptcy Risk
Emphasizing that the impact of concordatum filings extends far beyond the firms themselves, Öksüz said, “When a company files for concordatum, all the raw material and service providers working with that company are exposed to serious financial risk. This situation threatens not only production processes but also employment.”

Öksüz noted that small and medium-sized supplier companies are the most affected by this chain of concordatums, as they cannot maintain their financial structure when they cannot collect their receivables.

"Concordatum should only cover bank and public debts"
Highlighting the urgent need for structural measures to be implemented, Öksüz made an important proposal regarding the scope of concordatum processes. “Banks already secure their receivables, but commercial creditors in the market have no such protection. Therefore, concordatum should only cover debts to banks and the public sector, and market debts should be excluded. Otherwise, this crisis will escalate and engulf the entire industry,” he said.

A Vital Call for the Sector: Preventive Mechanisms Must Be Established
Industry representatives warn that further weakening of the textile industry one of Turkey’s export powerhouses due to economic crises will deeply affect not only commercial balances but also employment and the social structure. They emphasize that sector-based credit restructuring and legal regulations to protect suppliers are no longer optional, but a necessity for the sustainability of the industry.

If the Ecosystem Isn’t Protected, Even the Main Firms Cannot Survive
Another critical point highlighted by Ahmet Öksüz was the importance of sectoral solidarity. “If you try to save the firm that declared concordatum while causing the collapse of dozens of firms it works with, that main firm will not survive in the long term either. Therefore, the solution must be holistic and designed to protect the entire ecosystem,” he concluded, once again underlining the need for a systematic approach rather than isolated financial measures.