Ketentex poised for growth with exports in 2014

Ketentex currently exports only 20% of its production but it is expected to double by the end of 2013. And for the year 2014, the company wants to increase the exports even more. To learn more about the company and its goals, we made an interview with an
official from the company.

Please brief us about Ketenoglu Company?
Ketenoglu (Ketentex) has been actively in the market for almost 20 years. At the beginning the company had been in the market with knitted collar manufacturing and then at the end of 1990’s the company purchased circular knitting machines and widened its product range. Finally, starting from 2011, with the purchasing of Double Jersey machines and commencing the production of knitted mattress ticking fabric (stretch fabric) the product range of the company got its final shape.
The company, which is very well known and respected in Turkish market, is trying to spread its position all over the world with exportation.

What is your product range?
Our knitted collar and jacquard open width knitted fabric production is 60thousand pieces of collar and 10 thousand kg fabric per day. At this point, we can manufacture the fabric of inner covers used in mattress either 100% cotton or cotton polyester mix (single jersey). We have a production ability to manufacture the knitted fabric mattress ticking in a range between 180 gr and 500 gr and 210 cm and 240 cm according to different needs (double  jersey). Popular ones such as Bamboo, Viscose, Coolmax, organic cotton yarns and finishes like Aloe Vera, Sanitized, Aegis are some of our products. Since the equipment we use and all the machinery are new models and made in 2012 or 2013 and they are the latest technologies, we completely trust in all of our products in terms of fabric quality, touching and general view. All of our Double Jersey machines are Monarch which is the most well accepted brand in the market. Currently, we have a capacity of 300 thousand meters/month.

Where do you get your fiber or yarn to produce fabric? Do you import any raw materials?

We are not very conservative in this. We decide in accordance with the mmarket conditions and the requirements of the price-quality balance. Our powerful financial situation gives us the possibility to provide yarn both from the domestic market and Far East. We make our move after intensely
analyzing quality, deadline and price factors at this point.

What about your sales in domestic market and your exports?
Currently we sell 80% of our production to domestic market. We export to countries like England, Bulgaria, Germany and South America countries and it is improving. Our targets for the end of 2013 are; 40% export, 60% domestic market; for 2014; 60% export and 40% domestic markets.

How do you develop your new fabrics? By your R&D team or any other sources?
We work hand in hand with our customers at this level. We design our collections in accordance either with our customers’ demands or with the tendency of the market. Privacy of our customers’ patterns and colors are very important for us we take strict precautions for this subject.

What can you say about your customer satisfaction policy?
Our biggest advantages are; we are a compact company thus we can react fast, our customers can reach us with just one call and if needed; we can go  visit them the next day by the first plane available. We are aware that we sell semi-finished product. Our products are involved in a different
production line and we affect production line and speed in case of a problem in our products. Considering this fact, all of our priority is to manufacture problem-free product and to solve the problem in the fastest possible way. For us, our customers are our partners and you can feel this
in every level of our trade.

Do you participate in international fairs? Which fairs are most important for your company?
For now, we just visit the fairs and we pick target exhibitions for ourselves. We will have determined the exhibitions that we will be exhibiting starting from 2014 but we are 100% sure that we will be participating in the next Interzum Exhibition.