Orta Anadolu, one of Turkiye’s oldest and most prominent denim manufacturers, is shutting down production after 73 years, dealing a blow to a Turkish textile sector already reeling from weak demand and rising costs.
The Kayseri-based company halted manufacturing on September 11 and will close all its facilities by October 12, according to a statement from its board of directors. The closure is expected to leave around 1,500 workers redundant, according to Ecotextile News.
Founded in 1953, Orta Anadolu began supplying premium denim fabric in 1986 and went on to become a benchmark supplier for the global jeans industry, working with more than 300 brands over four decades. Its client list has included Levi’s, Lee, Wrangler, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Turkey’s own Mavi, alongside luxury houses such as Armani, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Isabel Marant. Retailers GAP, Banana Republic, H&M and COS also sourced from the mill.
The company said mounting global pressures had made its business model unsustainable, pointing to weakening demand, higher operating and financing costs, supply chain volatility and shifting trade dynamics. Management said it had explored cost cuts, efficiency measures and restructuring before concluding the operation could not continue under current conditions.
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“Our Board of Directors has made the extremely difficult decision to discontinue operations at our Kayseri facilities,” the company said, adding it would work with stakeholders to meet its commercial obligations transparently.
Orta Anadolu ran fully integrated production in Kayseri, handling spinning, indigo dyeing, weaving and finishing in-house. Beyond its Istanbul headquarters, the company kept representative offices in Italy, the United States, Hong Kong and Germany, with sales offices spanning Belgium, Colombia, Bangladesh, Japan and the United States, and it exported to roughly 26 countries. At its peak, annual export revenue reached about 100 million euros, placing it among Turkey’s top 200 exporters, with an indirect export ratio above 80% as of 2021.
The shutdown adds to a string of setbacks for Turkish textile manufacturers, who have cited shrinking European demand, high energy and labor costs, and competition from the Far East and North Africa. Ecotextile News reported fresh claims that Turkish producers are relocating operations to Egypt en masse, a trend industry figures say could accelerate following Orta Anadolu’s exit.
Analysts say the closure is likely to intensify calls for government support on financing, energy costs and export incentives as Turkey’s textile industry confronts deepening structural pressure.