Silmo Istanbul has become the locomotive of the Turkish optical sector in this ten-year development process and we are very happy and proud of this development as a company in the sector.

Hello Mr. Tankut, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you personally crossed paths with the optical industry?
Hello, I was born in Antakya in 1970. After completing my primary, secondary and high school education at Private Işık High School, I started my higher education at Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Chemical Engineering. Since I was raised knowing that university education is necessary but not sufficient for business life, I started business life in the first year of my university education in order to gain experience in business life. After completing my chemical engineering career, I completed my second university by completing my Economics education, which I believe contributed a lot to my business life. Our paths crossed with my partner at a time when I felt it was time to bring a different perspective to the sector. My partner is also a graduate of Marmara University Fine Arts and has worked in senior management positions on design in various brands for years. We set out with a shared vision and the belief that we were ready to take on a mission.

Although you are one of the young companies, you are drawing a successful graphic with your vision. How and when did you decide to establish Prm Mağazacılık?
We established Prm Mağazacılık Hizmetleri Ticaret A.Ş. in 2010 with the aim of bringing different brands to the Turkish market. While establishing our company, our primary goal was to position the brands in the right place and with the right strategies while ensuring that the brands we brought from abroad could fill certain gaps in the domestic market. In this way, we have met many new brands and products and as a result of the efforts we have made with our experienced team and focus groups consisting of consumers to bring them to the Turkish market, Meller was the eyewear brand that introduced us to the optical sector as well as many clothing and accessories brands that we have brought to the Turkish market.

Let’s talk a little bit about your brands. Could you share with us the main features of your brands, their interaction groups and their position in the sector?
Meller is a very young and dynamic brand established in Barcelona, Spain in 2010. Our Meller brand started to find its place in the Turkish market as of 2018 and as of today, we can say that it is a well-known and sought-after brand. It is one of the fashion brands that use social media most effectively. It is a fast dynamic brand that is preferred by new generations and follows the fashion of the day very quickly. Meller offers both quality and affordable products to consumers with a wide range of models and colors. Freesbee, our other brand, is our second optical eyewear brand that we have brought after the success of Meller and is an American California brand. With the same goals, Freesbee is produced in 100 percent acetate with high quality and accessible prices. Although it entered the sector in 2022, it has become a highly acclaimed and popular brand. With our special agreement with U.S, we have decided to make Turkey a regional supply center and we have made an agreement to carry out sub-distributorships abroad, especially in Europe, Arab countries and Russia, which are in our close geography, through Turkey.

What is your priority when determining the collections of your brands? What inspires you while designing your products?
For the collection selections, we primarily follow international fairs and combine the trends of the season with our own vision and gustom and make choices in accordance with our own market. Of course, our collection and model selections are also guided by current customer interest and demands. We supplement them with at least four collections and color variants per season. Since Freesbee and Meller have a very wide product and collection structure, we have a design team that works very meticulously to bring the most up-to-date models together with consumers. In addition to closely following the trends in the relevant season, our design team also analyzes customer tastes and behaviors in detail and makes model and color choices accordingly.

What is your strategy for expanding your distribution and sales network?
When expanding our distribution and sales network, we are working on a very careful strategy that we have worked on beforehand. Our roadmap is determined before the brand enters the country. We take great care to make sure that brands meet their consumers at the right points of sale and in the right way, rather than being everywhere and on every corner. In this regard, we go a little out of the ordinary and first create the tastes and consumers of the brands. Then, we establish and develop long-term collaborations with sales points that are in line with the dynamics of the brands. Our aim is to be on the supply and promotion side of a long-term and winning business model rather than selling products. We work with only one point of sale in each city except for big cities. Our primary goal is to create demand for brands. In this direction, I can say that we use social media channels very actively.
As a company investing in the sector, what are your thoughts and expectations about the development of the sector?
Obviously, we think that the Turkish optical sector is still developing compared to abroad and has a long way to go. We think that the cumbersome retailers who are still stuck in the old methods should make more efforts to adapt to the development processes and the current new system retail. We think that companies and brands that can no longer interact with their end customers through social media management and communication will have much more difficulties. We foresee that it will be much more difficult for companies and brands that do not have a message to give to their consumers and are not accessible at any time to survive in the next five to ten years compared to the last five to ten years. We also think that the sector needs more innovative and dynamic young managers and labor force with a vision. In addition, we think that the government’s support and incentives for companies, especially in the areas of exports and digital transformation, will increase their contribution to the free growth of the Turkish optical and retail market, and thus the sector’s place in the market may become more important.
Do you follow international fairs and what are your thoughts on this subject?
We think that fairs are a very important building block in sectoral growth and that it is necessary to follow the right fairs accordingly. Of course, we follow all the important fairs as visitors and exhibitors and I think we get the returns. Silmo Paris carries the banner at the forefront in international fairs in this regard, and we follow it regularly with great appreciation as it opens our vision.
As an exhibitor, how would you evaluate Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair, which is being held for the 10th time with its new and larger service area?
After following Silmo Istanbul closely as a visitor since the first year it was held, we participated as an exhibitor for the first time this year after the pandemic that intervened. Frankly speaking, before exhibiting in Silmo Istanbul, we did not fully understand how effective the fair was. At Silmo Istanbul, the visitors reflected their trust and appreciation for the fair to us and our brands and we received very positive feedback. We were very pleased with the demands we received, especially in the face of the intense demand of foreign customers. We have started distributorship negotiations with many neighboring countries for Freesbee and we have concluded this process with some of them. Silmo Istanbul has become the locomotive of the Turkish optical sector in this ten-year development process and we are very happy and proud of this development as a company in the sector.
Thank you very much for this valuable interview. Finally, can we learn your views on the evolution of our magazine 4 your eyes into digital publishing?
Frankly speaking, we think that 4 your eyes magazine has filled the sectoral gap very well in the process of the shift of printed publications to digital. We are eagerly waiting for the new episode to be published every month. Endless thanks to you for your meticulous and diligent work.

January 2024