Denim's market positioning to shift from streetwear to vintage
Çalik Denim is among the world's top 10 premium denim manufacturers catering to leading apparel firms that include H&M, Zara, Topshop, River Island, etc. In an interview with Fibre2Fashion, Tolga Ozkurt, Deputy General Manager - Sales & Marketing, Calik Denim, converses about how Turkey has become a globally preferred denim market on present day and the market trends to watch out for in the next few years.
Describe the denim market of Turkey. How has it grown through the years?
Turkish textile market is an ever-expanding one with numerous export garment makers serving overseas demand. And denim is a vital and ever-expanding part of this market.
Over time, Turkish denim producers have acquired a substantial know-how, and young talents have cropped up in the fashion sector. The sector grew and matured with young talents knowledgeable on all aspects of denim, from design to fabrics, from production to the final wash. Some has become world-famous names.
For these reasons, Turkey has become a globally preferred market. As Calik Denim, we are working to ensure the continuity of this culture, and we are one of the leading denim producers that help young talents emerge.
What is the USP of your products?
Value added products with an innovative approach. We are a responsible company producing high quality and performance goods.
Which are your major international markets? Are you planning to expand to any other regions in the near future?
We focus mainly on Europe and North America; and further aim to grow our market penetration in the Japan region and the US.
Please tell us more on Çalik Denim's inception as a brand and your growth story.
Calik Denim occupies a special place in the Çalik Group as the its first major industrial investment. In 1987, our company was established with an investment of $111 million. It has since grown up to a production capacity of 55 million meters per year, in a covered area of 407 thousand square meters, employing over 2,700 people; touching so many lives. Within the first decade of our foundation, we have covered many essential milestones, conscious that the smallest and the biggest steps we took were of equal significance. Because all steps lead us to our vision, of fulfilling denim dreams and creating change through growth and innovation.
Our company began operating ring spinning in 1997 and by 2003 became an integrated production plant after adding gabardine/velvet fabrics to its range of products. Today, Calik Denim contributes greatly to the industry with its wide range of value-added fabrics.
How does your supply chain network operate? What regions of the world does it cover?
We look at our supply-chain management in terms of sustainability instead of a regional emphasis. Our goal now is to be responsible for our products for their entire life cycle, from seed to denim. We are also working hard to maintain good relations with our external suppliers. We diligently inspect products and production methods.
What can you tell us about your library of swatches?
It is a continually updated, on-site library of fabric swatches our researchers and product developers can use in order to develop better product, or to keep ahead of developing trends. It is one of the many strategic assets we maintain in order to foster innovation. We have numerous products on the market - all of which are liked by the market. We derive around 10 concepts from our collections every season. Thus, our swatch library also serves to store and archive the range of our products.
What is your R&D team like? How much do you spend on R&D on a yearly basis? Where do they source information on trends and consumer insights from?
Over 60 engineers work on our R&D projects, and their work is vital to driving responsible innovation. In the future, R&D will no longer be a luxury, but will become a necessity in order to survive in the competitive global marketplace. Our R&D centre focuses on responsible innovation, conducting "360-degree" range of research and cooperative initiatives. We also support the young talents in our team, and thus strengthening our foundation as a knowledgeable and skilful team.
Which are the major companies from where the cotton is sourced from for your denim products?
Calik Denim follows all its supplier processes from the seed to the final product, with an emphasis on sustainability and transparency. We get most of our cotton from Turkey, but we also get raw materials from the United States. Within the Turkish context, it is important that our cotton is sourced from sites close to our production facilities. Sanliurfa is one such example. At Sanliurfa, we have launched "from seed-to-product" initiative with our cotton supplier Enrich Cotton, which covers the entire process from the seed until the final product which is an important "first" in Turkey.
Which brands & retailers are you currently associated with?
We have been in working with the world's leading brands from America to Europe and the Far East for many years. As Calik Denim, we see ourselves not only as denim fabric suppliers, but also the solution partners of our clients. We are working with global brands such as Citizens of Humanity, Diesel, Armani, Acne, H&M, Zara, Calvin Klein, 7 for All Mankind, Mother, G-Star, GAP, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana Republic and so on.
How do you see the denim market growing in the next 5-10 years both locally and internationally?
Denim is in the vanguard of most recent fashion trends. The denim market keeps evolving and expanding to meet new expectations and demands from the customer base. The market will keep expanding, and we will need to keep up with developing trends, sustainability and logistics issues, and the innovation challenge to be able to compete successfully. We predict that demand will continue to increase, since denim is a product that appeals to all age groups. In this context, we also predict denim's market positioning to shift from streetwear to vintage.
How do you keep a track of denim market trends and other related information?
We work with our team of distinguished, knowledgeable consultants who keep a close eye on global trends. Frequent visits to fashion and marketplace events and institutions by our product-development teams mean we get to experience developments as they occur. Finally, we are enrolled at several sectorial trend-watch platforms to learn the latest trends and developments. We also follow digital fashion trend platforms and monitor high-tech online sales applications for ongoing and future developments.
Published on: 12/03/2020
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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