Gaziantep\'s modern textile company Tat Textile has been collecting the fruits of success from their long-term investments. From yarn to carpet manufacturing, Tat Textile wants to become a well known brand in the industry. Tat Textile\'s chairman of the board of directors Mr. Kutayfer Memiş introduced us the company.

Could you tell us about your company\'s history?

Tat Textile Industry&Trading Corporation is a member of Tat Group. The company was set up in 2004 with a capacity of producing 4,000 sq.m tons of Heat set yarn per year. The following year, in 2005 this capacity doubled and in the beginning of 2006, our company has proved itself in the domestic and international markets by being able to serve products with a capacity of 8,000 sq.m tons of heat set p.p. yarn per year. The company is located at the Second Industrial Zone of Gaziantep and placed in a complex of 23,000 sq.m. area with 11,200 sq.m. closed area. We have the latest technological machines such as two Neugmag S5\'s, four Volkmann Single Twisting, three Volkmann Cable Twisting, two ICBT, four Superba (Heat set), two Superba Freeze Machines. Next year, we\'d like to buy more machines and manufacture different types of rugs. Our vision is innovative and our priority is customer satisfaction. In order to reach the end consumer, we need to be integrated and that\'s why we have invested in the carpet industry.

What are your marketing plans for 2009?

It\'s very important to have variety if you would like to become a brand in the domestic market. With new investments, we\'ll be able to sell more products into the market in 2009. In the meanwhile we will continue to export.

What makes Tat Textile different than others in the market?

Tat Group has been successful for years, because customer satisfaction is a company priority. To achieve this goal, we have high quality products and provide excellent service. By doing this, we have proved our difference.

Do you have any problems in the national market?

We had a really hard time registering our brand. We found out that a lot of companies had registered so many brand names. Also patenting is a big problem here. For instance there are some companies using our registered brands and unfortunately patenting a brand or design can be problematic. You register your design but another company uses exactly the same design only with a minor difference. Even though you file a suit, it takes a long time to solve the problem.

How are you planning on developing your company?

In 2008 we\'ve started manufacturing with 4 machines and in 2009 we\'ll continue by increasing our capacity 100%. On the other hand our designer team has been doing a great job and they\'ll continue to create innovative designs. Our enterprises and developments will go on as long as our company exists. We\'re also planning on increasing polyp manufacturing. Now that only yarn manufacturing no longer exists, companies developed themselves and became integrated by also manufacturing carpets. Of course this fact lowers our profits but there\'s nothing else to do. We\'ve started manufacturing with custom designs and then by the help of our R&D department, we have formed our own design team.

Which trade fairs and organizations do you attend?

We have been attending Domotex Hannover on a regular basis. We\'re also in 2010. That fair will be a landmark for us. This year we\'ll attend by exhibiting our designs at another company\'s booth. We\'ve been preparing designs for it but we might even buy some new designs.

What do you think about the global economic crisis? How did it effect your company?

An earthquake has been happening and we can feel the effects in Antep. A lot of people believe that we will not be effected because the center of the earthquake is somewhere else but this is not the case. Most of the companies are run by bank loans and this is where the trouble begins. I believe things will get worse after March 2009 this cries will be tree segment and Turkey is one of the luckiest country. Second segment is already began at USA which is credit card crises. But until then we\'ll still continue to invest. I don\'t know if you\'ve heard of this saying in Turkish but it\'s like this: “The wolf continues to search for his prey in the fog and enjoys eating it after the fog disappears.”

Also I\'d like to remind you that the companies who invested during the 2001 crisis, have grown afterwards as well as the ones who did during 1994 crisis. That\'s why I strongly believe that this situation will be beneficial for us at the end.