The wide representation of Turkish shoe companies at the Euro Shoes Premiere Collection shoe exhibition provides an opportunity to expand business ties between Russia and Turkey. One of the stands of the exhibition, which was held in Moscow from 25 to 28 on February, represented a number of shoe and leather manufacturers from the Turkish city of Adana.
The Shoes Report asked several questions to the representative of the Adana Chamber of Commerce Ayhan Kalich about the goals of participation of Turkish companies in the exhibition in Moscow.
Shoes Report: Please tell us about what goals the Adana Chamber of Commerce sets itself by participating in the Euro Shoes exhibition this year?
Ayhan Kalich: Russia is a big market and our neighbor. We would like to expand our relationship a bit and therefore decided to visit the Euro Shoes Premiere Collection exhibition.
Last year, we also participated in Euro Shoes, but a little differently. This time we decided to act as a common stand of companies from the Turkish city of Adana, which can be said to be the center of the shoe industry in Turkey. Only here, at our booth, 16 shoe companies from Adana are represented.
Shoes Report: What are you more interested in offering opportunities for Turkish factories in the field of contract manufacturing or in promoting Turkish footwear brands in Russia?
Ayhan Kalich: We are interested in both.
Shoes Report: Now China is a very serious player in the field of light industry around the world. How does Turkey respond to this challenge?
Ayhan Kalich: China really is a big market. But we can also provide good quality and good volume, and we do it. Recently, we have been actively engaged in the development of production technologies. In our country, they are seriously doing this. But now Turkish shoes can boast of their quality, this is our competitive advantage around the world.
Shoes Report: What place does Russia occupy in the volume of export of Turkish shoes?
Ayhan Kalich: Now there are no large projects between Russia and Turkey in our industry. But we hope that Russia will come out on top in terms of exports of Turkish shoes. Here at the exhibition on behalf of the Chamber of Commerce Adana we collect contacts of potential partners from Russia, we invite them to our factories so that they can see with their own eyes the process of production of this shoe, which we present at our booth.
Shoes Report: Can you tell us a little more about these companies whose interests you represent at Euro Shoes?
Ayhan Kalich: We represent shoe factories whose capacities allow us to produce from 300 to 1500 pairs of shoes per day. These are genuine leather shoes. Our factories manufacture and export shoes to other countries. Among the enterprises there are also tanneries and component manufacturers. We have fairly large production facilities, but unfortunately, little is known about them in the Russian market. We hope that Euro Shoes will help us solve this problem.
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