Turkish apparel industry dicusses ways to go even beyond global standards in social and environmental compliance
The Social and Environmental Compliance Workshop, organized with the aim of evaluating the current state of social and environmental compliance audit processes in the apparel sector and developing a solution-oriented roadmap, was successfully completed with broad participation from industry stakeholders.
Attendance of key board and committee members
The workshop was attended by İHKİB Vice Chairman of the Board Mustafa Paşahan, Board Member and Chairman of the Sustainability and International Relations Committee Selçuk Mehmet Kaya, as well as Committee Members Nilgün Özdemir and Jale Tunçel. The participation of Board and Committee representatives made a significant contribution to addressing the topics discussed within the framework of sectoral priorities.
Participation of verification and certification bodies
Representatives from verification and certification bodies, including Ekoteks, SGS Türkiye, Eurofins Türkiye, TÜV Rheinland, BV CPS Test Laboratories, Control Union Türkiye, Intertek Türkiye, BSCI/Amfori, SLCP, Fair Labor Association, and Ethical Trading Initiative, also took part in the workshop. Within this scope, verification and certification bodies, audit firms, and manufacturer representatives came together to address structural and operational issues encountered in audit and certification processes from a multi-dimensional perspective.
Survey findings and sector challenges
During the event, findings from surveys periodically conducted by İHKİB among Turkish apparel exporters regarding compliance and purchasing processes were shared. The survey results revealed that key challenges include differences in audit interpretations, audit frequency and the burden of duplicate audits, the diversity of customer-specific certificate requirements, and increasing financial costs. It was emphasized that a significant portion of these issues have remained on the sector’s agenda for years and represent persistent structural challenges. Participating Turkish exporters shared examples from their field experience and presented potential solution proposals.
Recommendations and way forward
Concrete recommendations to address existing challenges were deliberated during the workshop. In particular, the importance of strengthening alignment in audit interpretations, enhancing calibration mechanisms in audit processes, improving harmonization within certification systems, and expanding guidance mechanisms to support companies’ internal capacity was highlighted.
Sustaining long-term cooperation
The meeting concluded with a shared consensus on the need to sustain constructive dialogue and cooperation among sector stakeholders on a long-term and sustainable basis. We would like to thank all stakeholders for their participation and valuable contributions.
