Local Products: Turkish Textiles and Where to Find Them
Türkiye is home to some of the world’s most beautiful textiles in a variety of designs, styles, and colours. With light and heavyweight fabrics designed for all kinds of uses, any visitor to Türkiye can find something unique to take back with them among various Turkish textiles.
Buldan Cloth
Buldan cloth gets its name from the town where it is produced in the Denizli city of Türkiye. Despite its small population of 15,000, Buldan has always been a centre of textile production in Anatolia. Buldan cloth, what it is most known for is a very lightweight, durable cotton fabric resembling the consistency of cheesecloth. Buldan cloth is typically used to make table cloth and bedsheets. They are commonly embroidered with floral patterns to please the eye.
Gılamık Cloth
In the Ormana village of the İbradı district in Antalya is where Gılamık cloth can be found. Gılamık is a unique type of silk weaving although it can sometimes be mixed with cotton and linen as well. This lightweight fabric is used in large part for women's headwear and clothing. In addition to that, it can also be used as table and furniture covers as well as bed sheets.
Kutnu Cloth
Produced in the Southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep, Kutnu is a fabric based on silk weaving techniques but commonly used with rayon and cotton thread. Kutnu fabric production follows a special process from the pre-weaving, weaving, to post-weaving stages.
Kutnu producers are audited yearly by the Gaziantep Chamber of Commerce for quality and authenticity for all the stages of production. Kutnu products are often striking in their authentic design and vibrant colour patterns. The eye-catching designs make Kutnu a popular fabric for the production of shirts, bags, scarves, and other clothing and accessories.
Rize Cloth
Rize cloth comes from the Eastern Black Sea region of Türkiye. Named after one of the provinces in which it is produced, Rize, the fabric is also sometimes referred to as Feretiko, or Trabzon Keteni, named after the neighbouring city to the west.
The production of this textile was the most common industry in the region before the growth of the black tea industry. Traditionally produced from natural hemp and cotton, Rize fabric is a durable, all-natural textile that absorbs moisture. It is lint-free so it is commonly used for shirts, towels, undergarments, and bedsheets.
Şile Cloth
Famously known as one of the best summer materials for clothing, Şile cloth is a natural cotton linen fabric. This fabric gets its name from Şile, an area on the seaside of the Black Sea just north of the urban centre of Istanbul. The fabric is still procured by locals who wash and dry it on the beaches of the Black Sea. This lightweight fabric absorbs moisture and it is popularly used for summer clothing, linens, dressing gowns, robes, and in particular, towels.
The art of weaving and textile production has been a large part of Anatolia for centuries. Today, this continues as many of these traditional practices are still alive in Türkiye. While Turkish textiles are exported all over the world, you must visit the country to get a full experience of the sheer diversity of textiles available from all regions of the country. Gift yourself and your loved ones Turkish textiles made of one or more of the above fabrics for an unforgettable memory of Türkiye.