A study on industrialization efforts in women's ready-made clothing during the Republican period (1923-1950)

The aim of this study is to examine the industrialization efforts in ready-made clothing during the Republican period (between 1923 and 1950). In this context, we focused on the development process of the textile and women's ready-made clothing industry in the Republican period; factories, stores and companies opened to meet the needs in the field of clothing, the state policies implemented to popularize ready-made clothing and their reflections in the press while the corporatization activities that started in ready-made clothing in the Ottoman Empire are given in the historical background. When the ready-made garment works in the period between 1923 and 1950 were examined, which is the subject of this thesis, the primary goal was to ensure economic development in a devastated country that had just emerged from the war. For this purpose, an Economic Congress was held in Izmir to determine the strategy and development model to be implemented. In line with the decisions taken by the industrial group at this congress, studies were carried out by the government such as the implementation of customs and foreign exchange policies, the establishment of the Turkish Industry and Mining Bank (Türkiye Sanayi ve Maadin Bankası), the reorganization of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ticaret ve Sanayi Odaları), the enactment of the Industrial Promotion Law "Teşvik-i Sanayi Kanunu" in order to encourage the private sector to the industry, establishment of Sümerbank which has a significant role in ready-made clothing and the preparation of the First and Second Five-Year Industrial Plans. Within the scope of the industrialization move in textile, which forms the basis of ready-made clothing, many factories were established to produce cotton, wool, rayon and silk. Among the reforms made by Atatürk, who wanted Turkey to modernize in appearance as well as in the core, the Hat Law (Şapka İktisâsı Hakkında Kanun) significantly affected women's ready-made clothing, although it did not include women. Apart from this, National Protection decisions were taken to increase the production of cotton and woolen textiles, and legal regulations were made regarding silk fabrics and silk and rayon women's socks. In addition, it was determined by scanning the advertisement pages in newspapers of the period that many factories and stores were opened for women's ready-made clothing. By examining the decisions of the Council of Ministers in the Republic Archive, the companies established to deal with clothing, hats, knitwear, socks, haberdashery and shoes were reached. As a result, the industrialization efforts carried out in ready-made clothing between 1923 and 1950 were successfully implemented, and with the increasing number of factories, stores and companies over time, the people's dependence and need on the foreign countries for ready-made clothing were gradually reduced. In the research, T.R. Presidency State Archives Ottoman and Republic Archives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Turkish Diplomatic Archives, T.R. Official Gazette, Turkish Grand National Assembly Minutes, Türkofis Economic Information Bulletin, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry Magazine and periodicals were used. Additionally, research works written on the subject were examined.