Calik’s Ebru Ozaydin—The Denim Industry Needs an Evolution
Whether you chalk it up to changing lifestyles or technology’s grip on how we consume, Calik Marketing Director Ebru Ozaydin says consumers are seeking individualism and performance in their denim.
“Consumers are directing us to do something new, different, smart and sustainable,” Ozaydin explained. “There’s a formation of hybrid cultures, people marrying people from different nations, people moving. The new generations are bringing together different lifestyles creating a richness that is influencing our lives, food, culture and entertainment, so there’s a new type of consumer that we are dealing with.”
Ozaydin left Orta Anadolu last year to join fellow Turkish mill, Calik. Ozaydin, along with Calik Managing Director Hamit Yenici, is part of the charge leading the mill’s facelift. “Evolution is at the epic center of our company’s mission. We’re working hard to segmentize approaches in product sales, marketing and how we talk to our customers. We’re building a new language around innovation, technology and evolution,” she explained.
It’s an entirely new dialect from when Ozaydin cut her teeth in denim 19 years ago as a recent chemical engineer graduate. At Orta, which Ozaydin describes as her first school, she hopped from product development to sales to garment manufacturing and eventually marketing—gleaning lessons along the way from denim geniuses like Adriano Goldschmeid.
“I was coming from a very vintage era of fabrics,” Ozaydin said of first time being introduced to TENCEL®. “It was a new soft toy for us. We didn’t know how to deal with because it was in loungewear. We were looking into novelty fabric with a vintage look.”
Nowadays, Ozaydin says TENCEL® is a crucial “ecological ingredient of denim development” and a key component in meeting the market demand for a soft hand feel—a trend that began at Orta and is now a hot topic of conversation for Calik.
About 50 percent of Calik’s entire range is in high stretch denim with a soft hand feel. “I’m sure that men weren’t thinking about wearing high elasticity jeans, but thanks to TENCEL®, and the smart equation and composition of fabrics, it has become an undeniable part of denim design,” Ozaydin said.
For A/W 17-18, the mill is using a new generation of fibers—TENCEL®, Lenzing Modal® and Lenzing Viscose®
for Ultrasoft, a line of high elasticity, second skin denim with an enhanced soft hand feel, or as Ozaydin described “baby touch.” The fabrication boasts an exclusive fabric finish that softens the fabric while offering the same benefits of Calik’s Elastech technology which supports shrinkage control and prevents bagging.
Ozaydin likens denim to Apple’s iPhones—both are commodity products, both continue to innovate and both are “love” brands. She added, “Every time there’s an evolution, it makes people get excited.”
Carved In Blue: When is a jean no longer a jeans?
Ebru: Jeans stop when it mimics another fabric.
Carved In Blue: What is your biggest pet peeve about the denim industry?
Ebru: The arrogance. I kind of summarize the industry into either the denim newbie, or freshman, who think they know everything, and the denim oldie that doesn’t make any room for anyone else and who don’t want to teach.
Carved In Blue: Which item of denim have you had the longest?
Ebru: Clearly a pair of Levi’s 501 jeans.
Carved In Blue: Do you have a favorite trade show?
Ebru: Tradeshows are like restaurants, there’s lots of buzz and they are exciting at first. Everyone wants to go to the new one and find something new, then when it matures you really see if it is a good one or a bad one. Shows have to continue to bring new flavor and be freshened up.
Carved In Blue: Light or Dark Wash?
Ebru: I like dark with gentle high/low contrast and I like light with faded open twill, more of a ’90s looks.
Carved In Blue: What is the worst denim trend that you have seen?
Ebru: I really hate bright neon overdyed denim.
Carved In Blue: What does “carved in blue” mean to you?
Ebru: A tribe of blue bloods.