Interview Series with Kids Fashion Designers #2 Ayşe Kurtbağı

I was born in 1984 in Adana and studied fashion design in high school and college. I attended several courses, seminars, and training both during and after my education, and I am currently studying Brand Communication. I have worked as a specialist designer in the textile and accessories departments of leading retailers in Turkey since 2009. Currently, I work as a specialist kids fashion designer in the textile accessories department for kids. 

2.How did you start designing? What did drive you to produce in the first place?

I became acquainted with textile during secondary school thanks to my family’s short experience in textile. After spending long hours at the workshop, I decided to this for the rest of my life. I can say that I have deliberately tried to study in this domain throughout my successive education life. To imagine that there is no limit to what I can do with a fabric or material when I touch them has always thrilled me and been the driving force to produce. 

3.How did you decide to become a designer? How did you develop yourself in terms of education and experience? What sources did you use? 

As an individual who has designed in many classifications, kids group has its specific dynamics and a playful world. Besides, there are many challenges to overcome; the safety of kids is one of the most crucial elements of the collection process. It is very important to tap into technical knowledge and skills gained from other groups in line with the criteria about the safety of kids. Even with its challenges, it was impossible not to gravitate towards this playful world. 

4.Fashion is one of the increasingly developing industries with each day. As a kids fashion designer, how do you consider kids fashion in Turkey in our current world? Compared to the rest of the world, what do you think our pros and cons are? 

Fashion, as you mentioned, is not only an increasingly developing but also an increasingly consuming industry. In this sense, it gets more and more important each day to keep pace and updated with fashion, which eventually leads to stiff competition. In such stiff competition, I consider kids fashion as the most exclusive domain with the highest added value. As their children keep growing, families have to tend to be buying at all times and they wish to buy the best for their children with good reason. Despite the fact that there are very large kids companies around the world, researchers suggest that families tend to buy firstly from those brands they trust the most.

The biggest mistake of newly built Turkish brands is to do everything at the same time and to offer multiple alternatives to customers even before any specialization. Even there are many large retailers in Turkey leading in kids fashion, I believe boutique brands may get a further chance with an online transformation. I recommend that new and boutique brands should get specialized solely in a single domain and try to earn customers’ trust in their area of specialization. 

5.Which one do you think matters most in design? Creativity, difference, authenticity, or usability? 

In fact, all these should coexist to resonate with customers. In particular, designs should be both ergonomic and comfortable to allow you to move freely in the changing world and daily life, and authentic that may help you express and reflect yourself so that customers choose you and your product amongst hundreds, or even thousands of alternatives.

6.Could you please tell us about the creation process of your collections? What does inspire you? How do you follow trends? 

The creation of a collection is a versatile process that starts with color and materials and then morphs into a product. I follow global trends through websites and fashion weeks such as WGSN and catwalks. In addition, national and international shows provide the biggest input into the collection. However, the important part of this process is to know your client and to understand what they really want. You have to blend all these inputs with your customer’s expectations in order to complete the collection. 

7.Do you think kids' fashion is correlated with child psychology? Do you think that additional education is required for this? For example, is it safe to say that colors have an effect on child psychology? 

As a matter of fact, this question should not be limited to the effects of colors on psychology. Not only children but all of us buy almost every product based on a psychological effect. It can be said that all elements of digital marketing, neuro-marketing, and marketing industry based upon such psychology. When it comes to kids' fashion, the effect of licensed characters (such as Elsa, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse), as well as the colors, play a great role in the selection of products. 

8.Pandemic has affected the fashion and textile industry, like any other industry. Online sales have peaked more than ever. How do you think the “new normal” of kids' fashion will be? 

The digital world is surely the largest portion of the process. We even start digitally designing our designs and work the entire process on 3D almost until production. It is vital to gain maximum benefit with minimum sources in the new normal. And therefore, sustainability is one of the most significant steps and has recently resonated with many clients, in particular abroad. I believe it will take its rightful place within the Turkish market in the upcoming periods. 

9.How do you consider the relation between fashion and digitalization? Do you think of entering into this field as an individual?

Digitalization has now become an integral part of every industry. Even though fashion is about touching materials and fabrics, it has to adapt to this transformation. We can design with real drawings that make you feel like actually touching a fabric through augmented reality. Even catwalks are organized digitally, I mean adaptation to the digital world is at full speed. 

10.What would you recommend to those who are keen to become a kids fashion designer?

I recommend the beginners make use of each and every opportunity to improve themselves and definitely work hard to capture the digital transformation I mentioned above. 

Published Date: 9 February 2021