Turkish firm in UK eyes children's clothing market

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – A Turkish garment firm, which has 220 stores in the U.K., will now expand their product range to children’s clothing.

Cafer Mahiroglu, chairman of the executive board for Select, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that previously they were producing clothing for young women, and their new target market is children.

“Children’s clothing is a growing market. We want to manufacture the clothes in Turkey, and sell them in 30 stores in the U.K. and our online store,” he said.

He said he had never catered to the domestic market in Turkey, and had only opened stores in the U.K., where he currently lives.

Mahiroglu said that he bought Select, established in the 1980s, when the company suffered some financial problems.

“It was an important decision, in fact, the best decision I have ever made,” he said.

He said his brand now dominates the market in the U.K., a fact which gives him immense joy.

"If you live abroad, your criteria are different. You don't consider only financial gain. A successful company owned by a Turkish person motivates people here.”

Citing an example, he said, nearly 500,000 Turks live in the U.K. and when they see celebrities endorsing the Turkish brand, it gives them immense pleasure.

He added that the wives of former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and the main opposition party leader, wore Select coats in the Parliament.

He also stated that a finalist on X-Factor UK, a televised music competition, was wearing their dress recently.

Mahiroglu stated that their sales figures are rising despite an economic fallout in the textile retail industry after Brexit.

British voters opted to leave the EU in a referendum over a year ago and Brexit negotiations are supposed to be finalized in March 2019. Thus the U.K. is set to end its 44-year membership of the EU in March 2019.

He added that he had plans to introduce his brand to the Turkish market.