Do you ever have this moments where you freeze and wonder "how the hell did I get here"? Well...that's been happening all to often to me lately. As I stand in the dark of an old, tattered tailor shop owned by he old, five-foot Turkish man next to me, I have to backtrack on how I actually got here.
Rewind to this passed Summer during one of my "girl-power-Sweetie-you-can-do-anything-in-the-world-you-want-to-do" motivational talks from my Mom. "You need to start taking advantage of living in these amazing places and find a way to incorporate them into your business plan". She was right. I have always dreamed of designing some of my own looks to sell on my site, and honestly, Turkey couldn't be a more perfect place to make this a reality.
Turkey is one of the largest textile exporters worldwide and I'll never forget how many beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind fabrics I had seen there the last time I called Turkey home. As a store owner, I am always struggling finding unique special occasion looks that feel different from anything you can pick up in a mall. Pre-store owner, I had an even more difficult time with this. When I have the rare opportunity to really dress up and go somewhere fabulous, I want to feel like I'm wearing something one-of-a-kind, without fear of walking in to someone else in the venue wearing the same dress. These Turkish fabrics could make fabulous clothing pieces, so different from anything you could ever find in America. My mom sparked an awesome idea, and I was hell bent on making it happen.
I reached out to a few contacts I had in Turkey, but no one quite knew where I should begin. I was on my own to get this ball rolling. About a month ago, D's parents came to visit from Lithuania and we were walking them through the small streets of our "downtown" area. We passed a series of tailor shops who looked like they were making custom men's suits and I caught the eye of one of the old men who was working the store inside. "Come here a minute", I told D (I'm sure he only obliged thinking I was about to get him fitted for a new custom suit). I took out my google translator and asked the old, adorable man if he knew anyone in town that made dresses. Suddenly, he looks in my eyes and turns the shop's lights off. Hmm.... this could really go one of two ways here.
To my relief, the old man waved for us to follow him as he lead us into the street and locked his shop's doors behind him. We then found ourselves following this precious old man weaving through the downtown alleys, up three flights of stairs and into, what we thought, was someone's apartment. He opens the doors to reveal a small seamstress shop with two women working on their sewing machines. He exchanged a few words with them and they ask us to have a seat, and the old man is gone before I can even thank him/give him a huge kiss on the cheek like I wanted to. I take my translator back out and tell the women I own a store in America and would like to have some of my own designs made to sell in my store. She says, confidently, that she's up for the job and sends me to a fabric store down the street to get some fabric for her to make a sample of which I picked up, extremely impressed by, a few days later.
Next up was fabric shopping, and I know Istanbul is home to some of the best in the world. I called up my sister-in-law and asked if she minded taking some time off work to meet me there and I'm so lucky she agreed. She's super creative, brutally honest, and has an incredible sense of fashion, all the makings of a perfect shopping partner. We arrived to Istanbul on a Sunday night and had until Friday to get all of our shopping done. I had plans to use a local travel guide a friend had recommended to accompany us on our shopping trips to translate/help us negotiate pricing, but unfortunately she fell through at the last minute.
After several bottles of rose at dinner, D's sister had the bright idea to ask our Turkish waiter, who spoke little to no English, if he had any english-speaking friends who could join us on our shopping extravaganza. A few minutes later, I'm on the phone with our waiter's bestie who has agreed to meet with us at 10 am the following day and bring us to the fabric shop's I had researched. Again, this could really go either way here. We met Omer the next morning, unsure if he was a nice Turkish boy or a closet Ted Bundy, and we were relieved to learn he definitely wasn't the latter.
We walked through the old streets of Sultanhamam, an area overwhelmingly dominated by local men and women in hijab, and began negotiating deals with Omer, and our waiter friend who also joined. So confused as to what two Western women were doing wandering these streets, every few feet or so we'd be surrounded by a group of young Turkish guys who were clearly asking our Turkish guides who we were and what we were doing there. Another, "wow how did I get to this exact moment" moment. At the end of the day, it was a successful shopping trip and Omer was invaluable not only for his translation skills, but for his chivalrous acts of carrying our heavy shopping bags throughout the afternoon.
The next day, I had an appointment to meet with a shop owner in the "Grand Bazaar", the most famous shopping bazaar in the world, who was selling hand-made, woven Turkish textiles. We stepped into his shop and were completely awestruck by his gorgeous fabrics, all with their own unique prints and colors. Ibrahim, the shop's owner, walked me through all his fabrics and taught me all about the history and culture behind producing each piece. His fabrics are hand-dyed and woven using the same techniques since the 19th century. Each roll of fabric is unique, and he never repeats the exact style twice. I knew I had to have some of these gorgeous prints, and I can't wait to see how incredible they will look once they come to life.
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| The most beautiful shopping bazaar in the world |
After Ibrahim, we shopped in a few more fabric stores in the Grand Bazaar, stepping inside what we thought would be a small space, that somehow continued to stretch, floor by floor, until what seemed to be forever. We left Istanbul on Friday with hundreds of yards of stunning fabric, endless epic stories and a huge sense of pride for being two 20-something year old girls able to negotiate business deals in a male-dominated foreign country.
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| Ibrahim's store |
After returning to our city with all the fabric, I now had to find enough workers to help me crank out my designs by my trip home in two and a half weeks. After several samples, fittings, google translations and laughs, I now have there local seamstresses and tailors working for me to make my designs a reality for my trip home December 2nd.
This has been such a fun process that's invaluable no matter the success of my designs. I am so grateful for so many of the local people here that have been extremely helpful in making this a reality. From the sweet old tailor who literally closed his shop down to help someone he didn't know, to one of D's teammate's neighbors who speaks incredible English and has become my local translator/negotiator. I couldn't do it without the Turkish people being so open minded to my crazy ideas in spite of the fact that I can't speak their language. I'm happy to be able to bring some jobs and money into this town that has been so kind and welcoming to my family and the families of all the Americans on our team. I can't wait to show you all my designs when I unveil them this December!
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| A little time for sight seeing at the Blue Mosque |
If you're reading this and have some crazy idea brewing in your head today, go for it. If I can get clothes made in a foreign country, you can do whatever in the world you set your mind to. Thanks Mom.
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