Karaca brings Italian designer on board
Sibel Cingi ISTANBUL - Radikal
Karaca Chief Executive Officer Cüneyt Güneş poses in front of one of the stands at a Karaca shop. Karaca aims to grow and revamp its designs and label.
Established Turkish fashion retailer Çift Geyik Karaca has set to reinvigorate its brand with help from Italian designer Alfio Bonacchi.Executives and designers from Karaca plan to tour Turkey to create a collection incorporating a mosaic of Turkish tastes and to put their finger on the pulse of customers as part of its growth strategy. They will travel, mostly by road, through many regions of the country, including the eastern and southeast.
The Narin Group, which sells its ready-to-wear products under such brand names as De Vlassio and Nardi, acquired the famous Çift Geyik Karaca brand from Tekfen Holding in 2005, but put the brand’s development on hold at that time.
“We are nurturing Karaca just like a baby,” said Çift Geyik Karaca Chief Executive Cüneyt Güneş, but he adds that the brand has left its infancy behind.
The brand now appeals to a wide customer base, including younger and older people, men and women. The company is creating a new brand identity under the well-known umbrella of Çift Geyik Karaca, Güneş said. “We are initially targeting young men, with our new brand Toss.”
Design is the most delicate part of the job, Güneş said.
Bonacchi family
“We have included Italian fashion designer Alfio Bonacchi, who creates collections for world-famous brands such as Versace, Donna Karan and Calvin Klein, in our growth plan. Bonacchi’s wife Anna Romiti and his son Andrea Bonacchi have also taken part in the process of renewing the brand. They are working for the brand for the first time as a family.”
Çift Geyik Karaca General Manager Hüseyin Eğilmezgil said Toss stores will expand across the country. “The brand Toss emerged after two years of research and development.” The number of Karaca stores will reach 100 by the end of the year, Eğilmezgil said. The company aims to double the number of Karaca stores by 2017, when the brand will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding, and gradually expand globally, he said.
