Main description (English)

The 2026 General Assembly of the Scientific Engineering Union of Textiles, Garment, and Leathers (SEUTGL) takes place amidst a dynamic environment characterized by international activity and military conflicts of varying scope and intensity. At the start of the term in 2021, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were subsiding; subsequently, no societal factors arose to disrupt the Association’s organizational activities or necessitate the postponement or cancellation of the General Assembly. The Law on Non-Profit Legal Entities and our Statutes provide for the holding of a General Meeting— comprising both a reporting and an election session—to conclude the term of office. The General Meeting is scheduled for March 26, 2026, and has been announced in Issue No. 10/January 27, 2026, of the State Gazette; this meeting is intended to mark the commencement of the next management term. The aforementioned regulatory framework requires that the meeting be held in person at the Association’s registered address—specifically, the National House of Science and Technology at 108 G. S. Rakovski Street, Sofia. Over the past five years, the Association has regularly held its annual General Assemblies. Together with the quarterly meetings of the Management Board, these organizational forums provided opportunities to discuss activities and set strategic directions. A tradition has been established of holding the Association’s General Assemblies in early spring. The factors that determined the annual convening of general meetings—held every spring from 2021 through 2025—are as follows: Foremost among them is the general state of the association, whose history and predecessor entities trace back to 1923–1924, when groups of textile technicians from various textile enterprises across the country united with the aim of exchanging and enhancing professional knowledge and skills. In the first half of the 20th century, Bulgaria’s economy was predominantly agrarian. The textile sector constituted the primary organized manufacturing industry. This sector established a link between local fibrous raw materials, a local workforce, and the export of textile products. The core of textile production consisted of the workers and technicians who, at the time, formed Bulgaria’s technical elite. The complexity of textile machinery, combined with a recognized need for organization and discipline within spinning and weaving workshops, focused the associations’ collective mindset on professional development and the selfless exchange of knowledge and skills. For over a century, there is no record of these textile associations engaging in trade union or political activities. More than a century later, the situation is radically different—both regarding external factors and the association’s membership. Asian countries have become not only the largest producers of textile goods but also the most active markets, characterized by growing domestic consumption and increasingly high standards. According to data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for 2025, out of a total of 3.6 million employed persons, approximately 640,000 are working in material production—that is... 18% [1]. Sectoral statistics from Euratex indicate that within the European division of labour—comprising 1.3 million employees across the EU—Bulgaria accounts for 6% of those employed in textile and garment manufacturing; this equates to approximately 80,000 workers, specialists, and managers [2]. Through consistent efforts over the six decades since the association was last organized in 1966, its active core has come to consist of qualified academics (holding doctoral degrees) representing the country’s dozen or so university departments specializing in textile technology and chemistry, garment manufacturing, and design. Regardless of the external environment and changing circumstances, the association has maintained the leading role of its qualified members in the public dissemination of knowledge and skills regarding textile technology. Given these circumstances, the SEUTGL faces a fundamental question today: how and to what extent can the association preserve its traditions and maintain its position in society as a hub connecting education, industry, and science within the textile, clothing, and leather manufacturing sectors? A second key aspect concerns the role of the Management Board in the association’s activities and that of the editorial board of the “Textile and Garment Magazine” publishing house. At the General Assembly held on March 24, 2016, the composition of the Management Board was almost entirely renewed. To ensure continuity, the memberships of the association’s collective bodies—the Management Board, the Control Commission, and the editorial board—have been regularly updated, both at annual general assemblies and at the current General Assembly in 2026. Currently, two members of the nine-person Management Board are serving their first term in office. The effective fulfilment of the association’s inherent duties and responsibilities, combined with current staffing levels, provides the basis for presenting, reviewing, and—if necessary—adjusting the Management Board’s work before the General Assembly. The key decision to be made concerns how to resource the activities of the SEUTGL: whether to rely primarily on employment contracts or to distribute tasks as widely as possible among the members of the Management Board and the journal’s editorial board. Thirdly, there is the planning of the activities of the Scientific Engineering Union for Textiles, Garment, and Leather. Both the selection of relevant and beneficial activities and the organization of their implementation require broad discussion and the maximum participation of the association’s members.This concept formed the core idea behind the regular—though non-mandatory—general meetings of SEUTGL held during the 2021–2026 term. This report outlines the activities of the Scientific and Technical Union for Textiles, Clothing, and Leather association from 2021 to 2026. Its aim is to present the association’s current status, as well as the tasks it has completed and those lying ahead, in a clear and comprehensive manner accessible to the textile community.