Ayhan Denizci, a businessman from Bursa, is initiates a new venture as an eventual outcome of his 35-year experience in the home sector. Having initially started to export to 6 countries, the company exports to more than 50 countries, now.
The company receives franchising requests from domestic and foreign companies for their exclusive brand, Tekstil Pazarı, which means ‘Textile Market’ in English. The brand has had remarkable success even during and after the pandemic. We had an interview with Ayhan Denizci, the GM at Ayhan Denizci Tekstil, about the past, updates and their strategic goals onwards.
Would you briefly describe the background and gradual growth of Ayhan Denizci Tekstil?
I started my marketing career with home textile industry in 1997. I had the opportunity to travel to numerous countries, attended fairs abroad and made friends and customers in all of them. I kept working that way until 2006. Then, I decided to establish my own company. It would be a company with the goal, ‘ to start with a product line that would end up in my own production and collection’. I started with tulle curtains, produced all kinds of them and exported them to foreign markets. There is a wide variety of tulle curtains. Luckily, I chose true colors and patterns. That helped me expand and develop my collection. We offer our products to global markets with our own brand, ‘MARINERO HOME’. Ayhan Denizci’s first and most important priority in production is quality. There are 3 things, equally important in order of our priority: Quality, sticking to deadlines and reasonable prices. Those 3 are naturally interrelated and we deeply care about them. As Ayhan Denizci, we built our reputation on those three pillars.
Will you please elaborate on your new brand, ‘Tekstil Pazarı’?
We established Tekstil Pazarı on partnership basis. We have always been exporting for years; despite local demands, we have not been active there. We ignored it as we were way too busy exporting. Establishing a business during a crisis is not a normal thing; we made that decision as we relied on our expertise and infrastructure. Looking into and developing our product range, we created a new brand. We took our step into the domestic retail market with our first store opened in Hamitler, Bursa.
At Tekstil Pazarı, we have always aimed at obtaining numerous products of home textiles. In addition to tulle curtains, our popular products are printed pillows, tablecloths and bedspreads. We outsource them with our registered brand. Towels are what we buy only. We have about 25 kinds of products. Our tulle curtain range is way wide, close to 500. We offer them all under our own brand, their packages, labels and quality. Our new product attempts go full steam. We want our clients to meet different products each time they show up. We enjoy what we do, because it is a job that we have deep knowledge of.
How about your annual export capacity, in numbers?
We exported more than 1 million meters last year, with a turnover of more than $2 million. We only deal with tulle curtains. I always say, I’m a tulle-man, a true tulle seller, only. That’s how I came to be known globally. Those in need of tulle find us easily. I also sell tulle products to several export companies in Turkey. We even sell tulle products to China while others buy it from there.
How did you get affected by the pandemic
We had been affected dramatically adversely during the Covid-19 as a company that produces and exports drapery fabric. Initially, we had production issues. We failed to complete productions of our then-current orders. We couldn’t load half of our orders. We had a dramatic loss there. Sadly, our then-current clients were not very pleased with us. During the pandemic, which swept the whole world, life, in general did not completely came to a halt. We had to have a work-flow. In that sense, we wish our production had continued; understandably, albeit low. In my humble opinion, show must always go on in terms of production and commerce. Under such harsh circumstances now, we try hard to live through the process without either being affected too much or without affecting others too much. We couldn’t do anything to fulfil our goal of opening up to new markets. Unfortunately, we failed to stick to our plans set earlier. Our hands were tied by the cancellation of flights, lockdowns and all. We had to put our investment plans on hold for an indefinite time.
We could not manage to keep up with our expectations and plans in 2020, but with developments regarding vaccination and normalization, we are getting on our feet and determining our strategic plans regarding participation in fairs, customer meetings. During the pandemic, we did all our best to keep our contacts with our customers. We had talks now and then. We exchanged ideas about the situation. We helped our customers for their requests that involved small volumes. With all that we did, we transmitted a message that we were by their side in good or bad days. Now, things have been revitalizing and we are reaping what we have sowed.
