Last December, a prominent spot on Yerevan’s central Abovyan Street was home to an outpost of the Turkish fast-fashion chain Mavi. But following a ban on Turkish imports into Armenia, a reaction to Turkey’s extensive support for Azerbaijan in last year’s war, Mavi is gone, replaced by a homegrown substitute: Prime, a new Armenian label selling hipster reinventions of everyday basics.Before the ban, clothing comprised the single largest category of Turkish imports to Armenia. Local production of textiles had been slowly growing for years, but were kickstarted by the embargo.As Turkish clothing has disappeared from the Armenian market, local producers started offering a broader variety of products instead of the usual assortment of underwear and socks.Over 100 large and small companies are engaged in the sector. Still, the activity is a far cry from Soviet days, when Armenia exported clothing throughout the USSR and textiles employed 150,000 people, a quarter of the workforce, compared to around 8,000 today. Check out the full report on the Mirror Spectator.
https://eurasianet.org/ban-on-turkish-imports-boosts-armenian-fashion
