The Ziylan Group will invest $45 million in merchandising this year, according to Mehmet Ziylan, board chairman of the Ziylan Group.

Ziylan Footwear Industry, which has an important position in the footwear sector with various brands including Polaris, Flo Footwear, Kinetix, Flogart, as well as its licensed brands, met with its Flo and Polaris workers during a meeting in Antalya.

Polaris had received great interest in countries such as Bulgaria and Germany, Güvel said an increase had been seen in their sales to European countries in the functional product range.

Polaris products are exported to 28 different countries, he said. In addition to the franchising and distribution agreements, the brand has also signed merchandising agreements with Bulgaria, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Germany. “The brand exported shoes at a volume of $12 million last year to many countries including Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Greece, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Israel. We are very positive for this year.”

“As Ziylan Group, we will not let any economic crisis to stop our improvement,” said Mehmet Ziylan at the meeting, adding that despite the crisis, the company continued to invest and grow. “We did not give up our principles, our morality and quality. We just focused on our work and succeeded in having a successful 2009,” Ziylan said.