1) Could you first tell us about the birth story of the Shikka brand?
Our story officially started with GARDENYA Textile, which I founded in 1999. Today, we are a company that exports to America, Australia and many countries in Europe, while at the same time producing many important brands in these countries with their own labels. When I started this business, my dream was to be on the shelves of stores both at home and abroad with my own brand. In 2013, DETGIS (Denizli Textile Clothing Industrialists Association), of which I am currently the President, organized the Home and Beach Wear Competition. The fact that our designer came 3rd in the competition was a great motivation for us. Thus, we created the beachwear brand SHIKKA, a niche sector.
2) The power of design in textiles gains even more importance, especially at the point of export. When we look at the Shikka brand, it is possible to see design in every detail. Can you tell us a little bit about the design team of the Shikka brand?
We are a professional team with an amateur spirit. Teamwork is very important for me. I am also very lucky in this regard. As SHIKKA, we work with highly motivated people who are experts in their fields. The basis of our success is thinking together, making decisions together and being WE. As a result, success comes by itself. Each of our products is carefully thought and designed one by one and reflects the line and style of me and my team in the best way. What makes our beachwear, swimwear, bikini and towel collection stand out and special is that they all have handcrafted details. Women’s manual labor and its support to the family budget are very valuable for us.
3) As a woman entrepreneur who set out from Denizli with the goal of becoming a global brand and also as the president of Denizli Textile and Clothing Industrialists Association (DETGIS), have you experienced the advantages and disadvantages of women entrepreneurship in your sector? How would you evaluate the current state of women entrepreneurship in our country?
Half of the population in Turkey is female, but when we look at the data, unfortunately, female employment in business life is at the bottom among OECD countries and the number of female entrepreneurs is very low. As Denizli, we are in a lucky position compared to Turkey in general. Because Denizli ranks 9th in Turkey’s export ranking and ranks the highest in Turkey with a rate of 53 percent in women’s employment in the Textile and Ready-to-Wear sector. As GARDENYA Textile and brands; we care a lot about women’s employment and 90 percent of our employees are women. Women need to be properly informed and supported in employment and entrepreneurship. Women in Turkey should be encouraged, especially in education. There is a need for more women in non-governmental organizations, politics and administration, women’s brains and women’s ability to think in multiple ways.
In my early years as a businesswoman, I also had a lot of difficulties; even going on business trips alone was considered strange. I struggled a lot. Today, with the successes we have achieved, the projects we have produced, we continue to create more women’s employment, and we continue to struggle by encouraging our female entrepreneur friends.
4) Since 2020 was the year of the pandemic, it was a very challenging year for all sectors both in the world and in our country. How was 2020 for both your brand and the textile industry? They say “every crisis brings opportunities”, do you think it created opportunities?
Yes, unfortunately, 2020 has been a very difficult year for all of us.
Due to the pandemic that first started in China and then spread all over the world, we experienced the process of closing workplaces for 3 months in March in order to protect public health in our country.
Cancellations and postponements of orders, and most importantly, not being able to see ahead of us was a very serious problem.
We all switched to working from home.
We spent this process thinking ‘what can we do differently?’ and improving ourselves.
Thus, we added the Home category to our existing beachwear brand and developed our E-Commerce infrastructure.
Thus, we added the Home category to our existing beachwear brand and developed our E-Commerce infrastructure.
Thus, we added the Home category to our existing beachwear brand and developed our E-Commerce infrastructure.
Denizli closed the year 2020 by breaking records with very serious increases every month since September and with an increase of 1.8 percent compared to 2019. For us, our export figures increased at the same rate as Denizli.
5) The pandemic has changed all our lives very quickly, we can say that digitalization is now at every point of our lives. In this sense, will there be changes in your brand’s marketing and sales strategies? How do you view the industry’s relationship with digitalization?
Digital transformation, which has been talked about a lot in recent years, has accelerated a lot with the pandemic. Brands all over the world are closing their stores and making all their investments entirely in online commerce. In 2020, there is the fact that giants such as Amazon and Walmart grew between 35-50 percent. We have created our E-Commerce infrastructure to take our place in this changing and transforming system. We are still continuing to develop it. We have moved our B2B meetings completely to online platforms, and we have completed the infrastructure work for this. We know that from now on, nothing will be the same as before, production, employment and trade strategies will necessarily change. Sustainability and transparency will be more important. As a brand, we build all our work on this.
6) As you know, Souvenir Expo Turkey, the Touristic Souvenir and Souvenir Fair, is being organized for the first time in Turkey by Rota Exhibitions Turkey Fuarcılık AŞ between 2-5 December 2021. You are among the participants of this fair. How did you decide to participate in the fair? How do you evaluate the organization of this fair in Turkey for the first time in terms of the formation of the souvenir sector in our country?
First of all, I hope that the pandemic will be completely out of our lives in 2021, so that the whole world will be able to travel safely again and fairs, which are the most productive trade environments for us, will start to be held again. I find it very important that the Souvenir Expo Turkey Fair, which will be organized by ROTA FAIR, comes to Turkey. I think it is very important both in terms of the fact that it will be held for the first time in Turkey and that it covers many product categories in this field and that this concept will be established for the first time as a Souvenir Fair. I believe that the fair will be very successful in Turkey. In this way, it will provide foreign currency inflow to our country and will offer great opportunities for new exporters and entrepreneurs for the sector. Obviously, we have already taken our place in Souvenir Expo Turkey with our SHIKKA brand and we are eagerly waiting for the fair. We organize the dealer sales meetings of our brand in December. For this reason, the fact that the fair will be held at the Istanbul Expo Center between December 2-5, 2021 is perfect timing for us and our customers. We plan to invite all our customers to Istanbul for these meetings at Souvenir Expo Turkey.
7) Finally, what are your expectations for 2021?
We are a society with a high ability to cope with crises. We left 2020 behind with its bittersweetness and teachings. I wish 2021 to be a year that comes with good health, a year in which we can act and travel freely with the achievements and teachings of 2020, a year in which we can recover economically and grow even more. Despite the difficult conditions of 2020, we were able to increase our exports. In 2021, our goal is to work and produce more and increase our exports even more.
