Özen İplik sews success!

 

• Özen produces sewing threads, which are designed according to the technical requirements of companies at home and abroad and are approved with quality certificates and standards.

Founded in 1972, ÖZEN İPLİK, an İstanbul-based company has become a leading firm in the industrial sewing yarn at home and abroad.

The company produces sewing yarns at international standards for different sectors, mainly technical textile, furniture, home textile, leather goods, automotive, and denim thanks to its investments in the recent years. We asked the details of their success story to Engin Kalkan, a company partner at Özen İplik. Full text of the exclusive interview follows:

Could you give us some information about your products and current product groups?

Our company produces synthetic (polyester and nylon) and cotton sewing threads, as well as many products such as bonded, elastic, antistatic, waterproof, water repellent, non-flammable (aramid), knitted (oil-free-semi-wax-waxed) according to sectoral needs. In addition to sewing threads, we started to produce solvent-based adhesives for our customers in the furniture and bedding industry developing Vera chemicals in January 1, 2020.

What are the main features of your products?

We produce the sewing threads which are designed according to the technical requirement of companies in Turkey and in the world and it is approved with quality certificates and standards. Regarding this purpose, we continue to develop VERA adhesives that we started to produce.

Why should the companies who are producing mattresses and serving in the sleep products industry prefer Özen İplik products?  Can you tell us about your sales and after sales services?

We provide the requirements of our customers with the fast production possibility and the special production planning regarding minimum price and maximum quality and shipping the orders by being produced and shipped as block.

With our technical support team, we aim to benefit the technical and quality infrastructure of the industry in R&D and P&D studies both for ourself and our customers.

Could you tell us about your export map and the locations in your export target?

We continue our exports to approximately 68 countries with the centers of our company in the United States of America, Russia and Europe.

How did your domestic and international sales activities follow in 2020? Which product was more preferred in 2020?

As well you know, the first quarter of this year was an unstable period due to the epidemic. All domestic and international fairs and customer visits were canceled. During this period, we never break contact with our customers and analyzed all their troubles and needs correctly. During this period, our company nonstop continued the production by taking all precautions. Although the movement in the market decreased in April and May, we achieved our production and sales targets in September. Additionally, due to the raw material and product supply problems that occurred in the market during the pandemic process, our company continued to serve without interrupting any product supply with its strong structure. On the other hand, our products such as waterproof, antistatic and bonded sewing threads were in highly demanded which are produced during the pandemic process.

Are you planning fair attendance for 2021? Which fairs are you planning to attend in 2021?

We currently plan to attend for the Texprocess and Interzum fairs in Germany in May and Intermob in Istanbul in October 2021. We will revise our plans according to the development of the process.

Can you tell us about your domestic and international references where your products are used in the mattress and furniture sector?

We are the approved supplier of many national and international brands that produce both domestically and abroad.

Do you have new investment and branding projects, can you give some information about them?

In order to increase our sewing thread production capacity, the management decided to invest in additional buildings and machinery and the contracts were signed in September 2020 .In addition, we are continuing to set up facilities for HOTMELT, AEROSOL and water-based adhesives to further increase the sales of VERA brand solvent-based adhesives, which we started to produce at the beginning of 2020.In addition to our sewing thread products, we are trying to serve our customers with this group.

In the Covid-19 epidemic, which affected the whole world, economic activities were also changed along with social life. How has your sales operations changed during this period? How have your export markets and rates been affected?

With Covid-19, our production and sales order had to be changed. Our company took very fast action and gave the necessary trainings to all personnel in the company without any delay and put all the measures into action. When we look globally, many sectors suffered from sales and finance problems and many sectors had an increase in production at the same time. Our company has analyzed this process in the market for 7 months and took the necessary measures. We hope that this process will end as soon as possible in our country and in the world and we can enter the normalization process.