In classical stitching process, needle holes occur during the penetration of the needle through the fabric. If the waterproofness of the sewn product is important, the water leakage from these holes must be prevented. To prevent this negative situation, different techniques such as sealing of seams with waterproof tapes, joining the textile materials by bonding or welding are used. Among these techniques, there is no needle damage in bonding and welding and all the seam area is covered by thermal or chemical bonding. In sewing technology, the water leakage is prevented by covering all the seam area with seam sealing tape. These three methods have different effects on the physical properties of the seams obtained. Instead of covering the whole seam area, covering just the needle damages is the focus of this research.  With this aim, fusible sewing threads were used to cover the needle damages to increase the waterproof performance of seam line. The fusible sewing threads have not been used for obtaining waterproof seams before.  In this research, the fusible sewing threads were used as lower thread in different combinations. Initial results of waterproofness test show that, melted fusible threads improve the waterproof performance of seams. In other words, the needle damages on sewn fabric can be covered by melted fusible sewing thread. However, unbalanced seam is the negative side of this research because of using different threads as needle and bobbin thread. Additionally, there is no variety of fusible threads to select an appropriate one for this method. The study is hoped to be a sample for the further studies on this method, using different fusible threads, fabrics, seam types and even improving new fusible threads for this waterproofing method.

After the end of quotas in 2005, Turkey and many other countries confronted fierce competition from countries having cheap labour. Producing technical textile products that require high technology and skilled labour is one way to cope with this competition. The degree of specialisation (comparative cost advantage) and export competitiveness of Turkey in technical textiles is gaining significance. Therefore, this study aims to examine comparatively the level of specialisation and export competitiveness of Turkey and the countries with the lion’s share in world exports of technical textiles in the period 2008-2019. Technical textile products are not coded under a specific category in the HS system, thus Turkey’s technical textile product groups, which are reported by the exporters’ association, were examined in this research. In this context, there are a total of 39 technical textile product groups consisting of 4-digit and 6-digit product groups. In this study, in which the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) method was used, Relative trade advantage (RTA), net export advantage (NEI), and relative export advantage (RXA) analyses were performed for technology classification. Considering the RTA results, the number of product groups in which China, Korea, USA, Turkey, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Vietnam and Mexico gained a competitive advantage is 33, 23, 23, 22, 22, 21, 20, 16, 14, 11 and 10, in sequence. Under the NEI results, which measure the country’s own commercial performance, the number of product groups that China, Korea, Germany, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Turkey, USA, France, Vietnam and Mexico specialised in is 38, 22, 22, 22, 22, 19, 18, 17, 15, 11 and 10, respectively. According to the results, Turkey has high positive NEI (close to +1) and RTA values especially in the product groups of 540219 (high tenacity yarn other than textured yarn/sewing thread, of nylon/other polyamides, not put up for retail sale), 540600 (man-made filament yarn (other than sewing thread)), and 630533 (sacks & bags of the kind used for the packing of goods, of polyethylene/polypropylene strip/the like). Turkey specialised in these products above the world average (RTA) and in the export of them from the domestic market (NEI). On the contrary, both NEI (close to -1) and RTA values are negative in the product groups of 540220 (high tenacity yarn other than textured yarn/sewing thread, of polyester.), 6113 (garments, knitted or crocheted, rubberised or impregnated, coated or covered with plastics or other materials), 540211 (tenacity yarn other than textured yarn/sewing thread, of aramid.), and 540310 (high tenacity yarn other than sewing thread, of viscose rayon.). Turkey specialised in these products below the world average and in the import of these products to the domestic market. In the RXA analysis conducted according to the technology classification for technical textile exporting countries, it was determined that other countries except Turkey specialised in R&D-based product groups above the world average and had gained a competitive advantage.

Value is known as the price, which the customer is ready to pay for and the ultimate customer defines the value. Eliminating the waste is important for reduction of costs and meeting the demands of customers in short delivery times. Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) is defined as the measurement of the amount of value-added time in a process. In this study, the PCE of men's trousers assembly line was tried to be increased. To achieve this aim, the value stream map of the line was examined. Overall equipment efficiency (OEE) values of the operations were calculated, the operations with OEE values under 85% were selected, and improvement activities were defined. At the end of these activities, total process lead time and work in process (WIP) stocks decreased and PCE increased from 0.9% to 1.5%.

Seating comfort is related with the individual's office chair features, user features and the time that is spent sitting on an office chair. The increase of the working hours at the offices leads to a variety of musculoskeletal disorders caused by the lack of improper workplace design and business equipment. The aim of this study is to investigate the discomfort complaints about the office chairs and the expectations of participants from an office chair and to determine the significate user and task features which affect the overall satisfaction from the office chair. This study is part of a continuing project, which seeks to design an office chair considering the discomforts and expectations in terms of structural design and textile design. Based on the results of the survey, an office chair which would is prospected to satisfy the expectations of the respondents will be designed. A survey was applied to randomly selected 382 respondents to determine the overall satisfaction level of respondents from their own current office chairs, the features of current their office chairs, the textile materials used on their office chair and their expectations from an office chair. It was found out that 74.89% of women and 58.05% of men were not satisfied with their office chairs. 68.75 % of the staff, who were not satisfied with their chairs, thought that their discomforts were caused by their office chairs. Besides, the results stated that textile materials used on office chair affect the comfortability of the chair and it is also determined that there are some expectations from the textile materials which have to be covered.

Working capital, which businesses need to carry out their daily activities and pay their short-term debts, also significantly affects the profitability of companies. The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 forced countries to close during the periods when the disease increased, which led to almost cessation of domestic and foreign trade. Many enterprises with weak liquidity had to close their short-term debts. With the pandemic, working capital has become much more important for enterprises. In this study, apparel enterprises operating in Turkey and whose financial statement data can be accessed through the Central Bank were classified according to their size and the liquidity ratios of these companies between 2011–2020 were analysed. In the last 10 years, it has been determined that especially large and medium-sized enterprises have strengthened their liquidity and significantly increased their cash and cash equivalents. However, such an increase was not observed in the cash power of small enterprises. In addition, the factors affecting the profitability of the companies were analysed in the study, and it was determined that the decrease in the Financial Leverage and Debt to Equity ratios in large enterprises increased the profitability. In medium-sized enterprises, it has been determined that the increase in current ratio and receivables collection periods increased profitability. It has been determined that the only significant ratio that affects profitability in small-scale enterprises is the current ratio