Kayseri, Turkey — The Boydak Group campus is tucked away in the hills about 30 minutes from Cappadocia airport, an hour flight from Istanbul but the impact of this $3 billion colossus is felt globally in 60 countries, especially when it comes to mattress ticking and upholstery.

Boyteks division of Boydak Group is run by Mustafa Yildirim, the General Manager of the largest mattress ticking manufacturers under one roof, second only to Bekaert Textiles in Waregem, Belgium. Boydak is completely vertical, even making some of its own yarn and of course, it produces all of its own power with no Turkish Government run power company to deal with.

Boyteks claims production of 1.2 million meters of upholstery per month on 200 looms with more to come through a major expansion by 2016. This is expected to expand the mill from 24,000 square feet to 48,000 square feet on 10,000 square meters of land purchased near the existing Bursa based factory. A three-story building is planned.

The company is very self sufficient and one of the Boydak Group’s projects is to plant more trees in Kayseri as a way of giving back to the environment.

Boyteks is a nearly $300 million business but a growing upholstery operation now accounts for $75 million of the total according to Yildirim. Boyteks in 12 years has come out of obscurity as the tenth largest producer of upholstery in the world and now it is targeting the American market for further growth, according to Yildirim. Mustafa Yildirim

“There are still a few countries we don’t do business with,” Yildirim explains but he and his team is driven to sell to them all. 

There is a lot of momentum to grow at Boyteks and when you mention other textile markets to Yildirim he brings the subject back to upholstery because that’s all he wants to think about. As he battles market share for ticking with Bekaert, “there’s still big growth in upholstery for Boyteks as well,” he says.

Many of the Boyteks upholstery fabrics may end up in mattress production with Boyteks customers but these can only be sold through the ticking division; likewise, some of the ticking products might end up with upholstery manufacturers but these can only be sold by the Boyteks upholstery team. In this way, Yildirim makes things work efficiently and keeps the sales guys straight and free from tripping over each others’ feet.

In reviewing the ticking plant, one can see the full range of products including digitally printed ticking that is gaining popularity. There is also ticking that smells like chocolate. Boyteks is all about doing special ticking products.

Culp Mfg., High Point, sells Boyteks ticking in the USA but this relationship does not cover upholstery sales to any great degree outside of a few projects.  Culp is tied up with an upholstery finishing plant near Shanghai and this will continue until Culp feels the shift in the marketplace to a more cost effective place to produce upholstery. That is why Boyteks is looking for US agents to carry its upholstery line at this time.

One of the arguments about Boyteks versus Chinese producers has to do with the fact that Turkish workers are making about $1200 a month while the Chinese counterpart is making about $700 a month.

“That will change in the future,” according to Haci Boydak, Chairman of Boydak Group. “The difference will close and Boyteks will be an even stronger player in the future,” he says. Aside from weaving ticking and upholstery, Boydak Group produces Istikbal and Bellona brand furniture, which is well known throughout Turkey, Europe and in the USA.