Why do you think Nepal can be a good market for a branded wear like Suvari?
I think Nepal is a good market for the suvari brand because we give the ready-made clothing to them. In Nepal, there is a trend to buy the fabric first and get it stitched from the tailor. This is sometime difficult because there might be some mistake in the measurement of the body and your whole expense goes in vain. I met one Nepali businessman today who said he bought a very expensive fabric to make a suit of his choice, but when the suit was ready it was a completely different one. He took the suit home but hasn’t worn it for a single day. With Suvari, there is no risk. We have suits available in a range of sizes. Both the fabric and tailoring are done in Turkey. The Nepali men can try the clothing and take home the exact fit.

How do you defi ne Suvari? What is the present status of this
brand in the market?
Suvari is a famous men’s wear brand of Turkey. The brand was first established in 1997 as a shirt brand but as the product and brand name took height, its products range was expanded to suits, trousers, shirts, blazers and all dress accessories for men. Now we have 57 stores in Turkey. And we are always trying to expand our network by increasing the number of outlets. We are opening a new outlet every month. We have 35 stores in 13 countries outside Turkey. With Nepal, our brand has now reached 14 countries. We fully own some of our stores abroad, while for others we have local partners, for example, for our store in Katmandu, Nepal.
 

How do you choose a country to open an outlet for your products?
First of all, we study the market potential for our products in any country. When we are assured that the country has a good market for our brand, we decide to invest in that country. Prior to our investment in Nepal, we carried out a similar market study. We don’t categorize countries into developed or developing ones while seeking to expand our network. We have already established ourselves in Europe and Russia. And at the same time, we are successful in the Middle East and South Africa.

Do you also have women’s or kids’ wear?
We are only concentrating on men’s wear because we want to specialize in this segment. Women’s and kids’ wear are very different to that of men’s. If you observe the fashion world, there are very few brands in the world that are successful in each of these segments, for example, Zara. Usually, if you cannot specialize in your work, you cannot be successful. In men’s wear we are very successful. We are not interested in the women’s or kids’ wear.

 

Talking about specialization, is your focus on the entire range of men’s wear or is it limited to some special category of clothing range?
Our focus is on the classic men’s wear. We basically design clothes for businessmen and expatriates who want to wear formal dresses everyday. So we design suits for their trips, or formal meetings etc. But we intend to give them choices for their holidays. That’s why we have a range of casual wear as well. But we don’t have sportswear or other trends. Our main focus is classic wear like suits and some choices for casual wear.

What is the price range of Suvari?
The price of suits ranges from Rs 13,500 to 25,000. Our shirts are all priced equally at Rs 2,000 each. But I would like to assure all Nepalis that they are getting the best clothing at this price. We do not compromise on quality. We design our clothing in accordance with the newest emerging trends. So they are not expensive for someone who understands fashion and wants to look good.



 

But what about the middle-class man who, too, wants to look good? Do you have any scheme to incorporate them into your customer network?
Our clothing is basically targeted at the businessmen or at those who can spend a good amount of money for themselves. But again we cannot neglect the middle-class people who constitute the majority of the population. We will come up with some schemes for the middle-class men as well.

What are your future plans with Nepal? Will you work with other local partners as well?
I love this country very much. This is the second time I am visiting this country but it has made a huge impact on my heart. The Nepali people are very warm and honest. So I can identify myself as a Turkish with any Nepali over here. I think Nepal and Turkey can work together in many areas. This is just a beginning. From my side, I will always try to reduce the distance between Turkey and Nepal.

You have started with a showroom at the United World Trade Center (UWTC). Is there a plan for more showrooms?
The showroom inside UWTC is our first showroom. But within six months we are planning to open another showroom inside the Kathmandu Valley. The location of the showroom is yet to be decided.
 

What’s your investment in the UWTC showroom?
Here we are working with a local partner, Mediterian Link Holdings Ltd. So our investment was 60 thousand US dollars only. But we are planning to increase our investment and provide more choices to the Nepali people. For this we will first see how the business goes here. If everything goes fine, we will certainly increase our investment.