At Turkey's Istanbul Leather Days (15-17 January 2004), Mr. Mahmud Yesil, chairman of Yesiller Deri Sanayi ve Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi, declined to discuss or display his newest innovation in lambskins. That's how scientific and 'closed-shop' leather production has become.
One of Turkey's top three or four tanners, Yesil sources only Spanish lambs and last year produced one million Entrefino-Merino finished skins (5 million square feet) for garments. Half of production is exported as finished skins and local clothing makers turn the rest into exported garments.
With the future in mind, Yesil has incorporated an office in Barcelona, his core market place. Sr. Nacho Ferriz, a Spanish leather buyer, is his partner. The 100 square metre city-centre office will be a convenient showroom for European customers. Yesiller have a showroom in the leather heart of Istanbul and this moved one million square feet of finished skins last year. Yesiller also moved their Hong Kong office to larger premises in Kowloon to cope with increased demand here.
"We are in the heart of the Far East market and sales of these high quality lambskins are brisk to China and Korea, " Mahmut Yesil reports.
The wider view is that many tanners see garment production levelling off. Legal (no loophole) trade with Russia has prompted many to try their hand at locally produced garments. But they require finished skins from Turkey, China and Middle East tanners.
Tanners who are neatly positioned in the 'golden triangle' of Europe-Turkey-Far East, can link buyers, sellers and producers effectively and benefit from strategic advantages.
Yesiller began production in 1983 and now turns over more than $23 million annually. But don't expect to view those inner sanctum innovations unless you are a customer . . . . . . . .
