We had a conversation with Bayram Kaya, who is one of the partners of Klasmen Tekstil that produces the best known brands of the Laleli market, on the newly established production plants and their transition period from contract manufacturing to their own manufacture.
How did you meet with the garment and ready-made clothing sector, which is among the leading sectors of our country? “When I c ame t o I stanbul I w orked a t d ifferent jobs however I decided to pursuit a career in garment and ready-made clothing sector eventually and to establish my own business. Today, I have the honor to see how right that decision was and how successful I became at it. When I first came to Istanbul in the year 1989, I started to work at a firm on women outerwear. We were manufacturing with a brand called İstanbul Polony in Laleli market and working for Poland market. At a very short time I learned the job and even learned Polish due to the overseas market. However when we came to year 1992 I had to continue working in different sectors due to both family reasons and environmental conditions. After a period over 10 years, I returned back to men’s clothing in the year 2004.”
What would you like to say about the progress of Klasmen Tekstil from the day of its establishment until today?
“Actually we can start the establishment of Klasmen with the transformation that took place in the sector in the year 2004. We started the business by having contract manufacturing and only by marketing. We mainly produced for the Laleli market. Along with our own brands ANTONI ZEEMAN and TORRES, we also started meeting the demands coming from important brands in the domestic market. For example JAKAMEN is one of them. The increase in the number of places where we had the contract manufacturing, brought along some problems. It was especially difficult to provide stability in the sense of quality and standard manufacturing. In addition, the attitudes of our contract manufacturing workshops created a passion in me and finally we decided to establish our own workshop. With a project we initiated in the beginning of the year 2014 and thanks to a very professional staff, we reached to a production capacity of 400-450 suits within a shorter time than planned. For us, who give importance to quality and standard manufacturing rather than quantity, this level that we reached is a big success.” How was the sector’s and your firm’s condition in 2013? Can you talk a little about your investments, if any? “We can say that the sector preserved its stable condition in the recent years. We as a firm continued to grow. As I mentioned before, we had started the preparations of our new manufacturing plant that started operating in this New Year’s. I n t he y ear 2013, we conducted the substructure and feasibility studies towards facility, equipment, machine and appliance purchases. We took our steps planned, we did not hurry. We tried to do the best of everything within the limits of the opportunities. We did not pay attention to the situation that the sector is in. Because, if you do your job well, and commit yourself the conditions do not affect you much. Clichés such as market’s situation and recession in the sector became the only thing that people that has bad business can hold on to. I think it is up to us. If everybody first as individuals and then as institutions do a good job, then I think there is no chance for the market to go bad.”
What do you pay attention to while investing the machinery? What are the most important factors that affect your choice
of new equipment?
“In choosing the equipment and machine, I firstly pay attention to quality. My principle is not to find the quality among the cheap ones but to find the cheap ones among the quality. The suitability of the equipment to be bought for the aim and the job is highly important. My long term observations and experiences of the market unfortunately showed me that many unnecessary machinery purchases had taken place. Of course if it is possible and there is an alternative for it in that area, I prefer to buy local equipment. Because sewing machines are not produces in our country unfortunately, we do not have such an option but it is different especially in ironing machines. We have local brands that have worldwide known and high quality products. We are among the people that prefer working with local brands in irons.”
What do you think about your Malkan preference as a local brand for ironing equipment? Do you think it was a right choice? Are you content with Malkan?
“I had an opportunity to observe various ironing machines in many firms during the periods when I had contract manufacturing. I experienced different ironing brands. And I saw this; in our job especially in jackets, the ironing is the most critical and delicate part. Almost the most important element that shows the work is the ironing presses. Therefore, the last ironing phase must be cared by a garment factory. We have been watching and observing Malkan for a long time. I have come across with Malkan’s presses everywhere and seen them working. The mold-form cohesion that Malkan reaches with its presses is at its peak. It has a very Professional staff and they realize a production that exactly suits your needs by knowing every phase of production. Support services after sales are highly advanced. As well as the forms of the press, the programming features are also products of advanced technology. Not only it is very practical and simple in terms of operatör but it also has the flexibility that can be easily modified to all sorts of fabric. For example; some craftsmanship can go to waste due to the mold incoherence in the ironing presses or insufficient programming. That is to say, the work can be ruined by the press. You can never observe this in Malkan’s presses. On the contrary, you get the ironing results that makes your craftsmanship more apparent. Your product looks more quality and appealing. Thus, you experience the joy thanks to the right decision you made.”
What are your expectations from the sector and your firm in the year 2014?
“This year is lived as an election year in Turkey. We have an economy that is quite dependent on the political developments and that is very fragile. Therefore I cannot foresee a lot of change in the sector compared to the previous year. Again this year we are minding our own business. We are struggling to find out how to do better. We are aiming to improve our staff and production team in terms of both quantity and quality. Now is time to invest in the staff. Quality production is acquired both through having quality equipment as well as having a quality staff. This also earns stability to the production. That is to say, you need a very good team that you can acquire products in the same capacity and quality capacity constantly. Thus, we are taking the first step in actualizing the aim to market our own brand by us. Subsequently, we continue to lead on towards our targets in increasing products with high added value and our export.”