Istanbul , Turkey - The 14 th Istanbul Home Textile Exhibition will take place from May 19 th to May 23 rd . Supported by the Association of Home Textile Industrialists (EVSIAD) and the Turkish Association of Home Textile Industries (TETSD), it is the second largest trade exhibition of its kind in this industry across the world.

With an increasing trend each year, EVTEKS exhibition reached the top this year too. Organized at Istanbul CNR Expo Center , the exhibition added value on local and international level by ensuring that exhibitors and the professionals improve their cooperation opportunities and new commercial contacts have been built.

EVTEKS 2007, has created a platform that exhibits the competitive, entrepreneur and high quality production of Turkey to the world stage. In this context, the exhibition aimed to show the entire world qualified Turkish brands exist in the global home textile industry worth US$25 billion and increase the market share of Turkey in this industry. 1340 foreign brands including one well-known brands such as US Polo, Benetton, Pierre Cardin and Daniel Hechter were part of the exhibition. The total number of exhibitor companies of this year’s exhibition that has assumed a global identity is 745. The fact that EVTEKS located on a 150.000m² large area was visited by 80.424 including 11.362 foreign visitors. It is considered as one of the most important indicators showing that the exhibition has achieved a global identity.
Being number one in terms of home textile production, Turkey is gaining power in quality that is the threshold of turning into a brand. The local producers take some confident steps with the support of R&D efforts in terms of turning into a brand which is of paramount importance for being more competitive in the world markets and gaining more market share.

Fifty percent of the business created by the thirteenth EVTEKS which brings together domestic and foreign buyers - manufacturers of both export and domestic market stage of the home textile in the same market with a system open to competition every year is aimed toward EU member states and the USA .
The exhibitor profile of EVTEKS 2007 was composed of curtain & drapery, upholstery fabric, deco & style, bed & linen, kitchen & dining room, bathroom, floor coverings, wall coverings, sun protecting items, design and technology manufacturers from the countries such as Turkey, the host, Spain, Italy, Germany, Pakistan, Poland, Greece, the USA, Belgium, Belgium, France, Austria, UK, Canada, the Netherlands, India, Israel, South Korea, Syria, Egypt and South Africa. The visitor profile of the exhibition included purchasers, importers, wholesalers, representative companies, retailers, hotel and restaurant, shopping malls catalogue companies, manufacturers, designers, interior design and decorators.

WORLD’S 2nd LARGEST HOME TEXTILE FAIR KICKS OFF IN ISTANBUL

By Marcellous L. Jones

Istanbul, Turkey – The 14 th Istanbul Home Textiles Exhibition kicked off yesterday in at the CNR Exposition Center with a lot of pomp and circumstance.

The exhibition features 500 domestic brands as well as 125 international exhibitors coming from 22 countries including the USA, Canada, the UK, France, India, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Egypt, Norway, Greece, etc. It takes place in 11 halls spann1ng 150,000 m² at the CNR Exposition Center. In all, one finds more than 10,000 different products from no less than 740 total exhibitors, making Turkey’s home textile fair the second largest in the world.

Not only is Turkey’s tradeshow a great successful for foreigners who come to expose their products or to buy products, it is also a hotbed of opportunity for the country’s own manufacturers. Today, Turkish products in the sector represent 10% of the world’s total home textiles production. This is bolstered by the country’s robust exportations of its products which are due to the indisputable quality of domestic products.

Jerilyn Wright, who stars in the Global TV syndicated television program Open Homes, is a leading interior architect in Canada. She made the long trip across the Atlantic Ocean in order to attend this year’s event said, “It’s totally wild because in Canada, you never hear a lot about these designers… The designers here are out of sight just, brilliant! And people in Canada are looking for these kinds of products.”

Wright, who designs high end homes and select corporate offices and critic/writer for Dream House Magazine, a leading Canadian authority in home décor, offered a glowing review of the Istanbul Home Textiles Exhibition. Thrilled by the endless list of quality brands and products with which she was previously unfamiliar, she went on to declare, “I had absolutely no idea that Turkey is such an amazing player in the sector because they simply don’t market to Canada or the United States on the web. If you go onto the net to look for fabrics, you won’t find any of this stuff!”

“…This fair is like an interior designer’s Mecca. It’s the ultimate. It’s the flavour of the soul of the designers that we are seeing in their work. There is a passion. They are displaying their souls. They are not conservative and that’s what I love… How can you come here and not come back again?”

As a privileged destination where the world’s leading home textile manufacturers meet from May 21 st to May 25 th , the EVTEKS 14 will receives an estimated 85,000 domestic and international visitors.