Kidwear brand eyes Balkans expansion
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Reeta Paakkinen
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 20, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Blue Key, a children’s clothing brand that currently has 12 stores in Turkey, is looking to expand and export to new markets. ’We are interested in marketing our products in the Balkans,’notes Ali Serül, the founder of the company.
Blue Key, the children’s clothing brand of Sergina Tekstil, will expand the number of its stores from 12 to 24 by the first quarter of 2011, said Ali Serül, the firm’s founder. The new stores will be located in Ankara, Bursa, Adana, İzmir, Antalya and Diyarbakır and come with a cost of some $100,000 per store.
Blue Key, established in 2005, currently has 12 stores in Turkey and a showroom in Dusseldorf, Germany. In addition to its stores, Blue Key also sells its clothes to 48 department stores in Turkey. "About 18 of the new stores will open by the end of this year in various locations in Turkey," Serül told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "We are also looking to export to new destinations."
At present, 20 percent of the firm’s products are exported, mostly to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
The firm is now particularly keen to enter the Balkan markets. "We are interested in starting to market our products in the Balkans, as consumers’ tastes there already match that of our customers in Western Europe," Serül said.
Africa as future outsourcing hub
Blue Key manufactures and sells clothes for children between the ages of 0 and 14. The brand’s philosophy is to offer colorful, casual stretch wear for daily use. The clothes are designed by a team of six professionals based in the Netherlands, France and Turkey, Serül said. About 60 percent of the clothes are manufactured in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, and the remaining 40 percent in Istanbul.
Serül said the fight against child labor in Asia is an ongoing challenge for large international textile firms that outsource their production to the region. "This is an issue that almost every firm there will have to face and tackle, something that is visible and impossible to escape," he said.
On the other hand, some peers in the global textile industry have started considering China too costly for manufacturing clothes, he said. "The discussion is now about transferring manufacturing to more cost-effective countries in Africa, like Somalia and Uganda. In fact, this is what one German brand is already doing now."
The recent market turbulence dealt a notable blow to the Turkish textiles sector and Blue Key’s sales orders abroad, but Serül is cautiously optimistic. "When companies buy less, this all passes onto the original producer and the Turkish textiles industry as a whole. For example in Germany, which is our biggest export market, 14 stores are buying half the volume they did last year," Serül said. "However, we have decided to expand the brand and feel the situation will start improving over the second half of the current year, hoping we have done the right thing."
Blue Key, established in 2005, currently has 12 stores in Turkey and a showroom in Dusseldorf, Germany. In addition to its stores, Blue Key also sells its clothes to 48 department stores in Turkey. "About 18 of the new stores will open by the end of this year in various locations in Turkey," Serül told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. "We are also looking to export to new destinations."
At present, 20 percent of the firm’s products are exported, mostly to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
The firm is now particularly keen to enter the Balkan markets. "We are interested in starting to market our products in the Balkans, as consumers’ tastes there already match that of our customers in Western Europe," Serül said.
Africa as future outsourcing hub
Blue Key manufactures and sells clothes for children between the ages of 0 and 14. The brand’s philosophy is to offer colorful, casual stretch wear for daily use. The clothes are designed by a team of six professionals based in the Netherlands, France and Turkey, Serül said. About 60 percent of the clothes are manufactured in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, and the remaining 40 percent in Istanbul.
Serül said the fight against child labor in Asia is an ongoing challenge for large international textile firms that outsource their production to the region. "This is an issue that almost every firm there will have to face and tackle, something that is visible and impossible to escape," he said.
On the other hand, some peers in the global textile industry have started considering China too costly for manufacturing clothes, he said. "The discussion is now about transferring manufacturing to more cost-effective countries in Africa, like Somalia and Uganda. In fact, this is what one German brand is already doing now."
The recent market turbulence dealt a notable blow to the Turkish textiles sector and Blue Key’s sales orders abroad, but Serül is cautiously optimistic. "When companies buy less, this all passes onto the original producer and the Turkish textiles industry as a whole. For example in Germany, which is our biggest export market, 14 stores are buying half the volume they did last year," Serül said. "However, we have decided to expand the brand and feel the situation will start improving over the second half of the current year, hoping we have done the right thing."