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Turkish lingerie label Else to open first Los Angeles store, keen to boost presence in France
In 2008, Ela Onur founded lingerie label Else in Istanbul, Turkey. The label’s design studio and production facilities are based in the former Ottoman capital, where Else creates lingerie sets that are “simple, beautiful and comfortable, designed to make women feel at ease and confident for the whole day and night,” said Onur.
Eight years later, Onur’s husband Cenk Turkay joined Else as the company’s CEO, a position very different from the one he held in the chemicals industry. Together, husband and wife worked to grow Else’s reputation. The label is now available at 120 stores worldwide, including prestigious retail names like Net-a-Porter, Galeries Lafayette, Neiman Marcus and Kadewe, some of them having discovered Else at the Mode City and SIL trade shows in Paris.
Else’s website generates between 50% and 60% of the label’s revenue, and will soon be bolstered by a monobrand store which is set to open on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles in January 2019. Else initially opened a temporary store in the Californian city. It was active for three months last year, and the experience gave the label every reason to believe that the new store will be successful.
Else is not however losing sight of its European business. Benelux, the UK, Scandinavia and Germany are all thriving markets for the label. In France, Onur decided to resort for the first time to the services of a PR expert, Catherine Miran, to gain a stronger foothold on the market.
“I think that French women have an eye for fine lingerie, but that perhaps there is a dearth of modern brands. There is a gap in demand that Else could bridge, especially for younger women. Through our PR office, we want to tell our story and extend our label’s reach,” said Onur.
Else is also developing a complementary product range. While bras are the absolute best-sellers, besides two lingerie collections (40 items per season), Else sells a homewear range whose items can also be worn away from home. To further boost the label’s lifestyle dimension, for the spring/summer 2019 Else will also present its first swimwear collection, designed in an attractive, nicely fitted style.
In 2016, Else claims to have grown by 100%, repeating the performance in 2017 and, according to the label’s estimates, also in 2018.
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