KOM has a strong market awareness with their underwear and swimwear products and has been collaborating with Durak Tekstil for 17 years in order to ensure that the products are comfortable and durable. KOM meets more than 80% of their total thread demands from Durak Tekstil and carries out studies that will increase their brand value in the global market.
KOM, one of the leading brands in underwear and swimwear in Turkey and in the global market, manages to attract the attention of their customers every season with quality products and vibrant collections. The brand has a deep-rooted history and has transformed their understanding of quality into a basic criterion in all stages of material supply, production and retail. KOM, producing useful, comfortable, custom-designed and valuable underwear, swimwear and pajamas and have been relying on Durak Tekstil sewing threads for more than 17 years in sewing these products. Durak Tekstil adds value to KOM products with their high quality, durable and soft-to-the-touch threads.
The sectoral journey of KOM Tekstil ve Konfeksiyon Sanayi A.Ş., founded by Hasan Cansız in 1950, started with the production of underwears in a small workshop in Galatasaray. The company moved to their factory in Şişli-Bomonti in 1961 and invested in machinery to produce their own fabrics and laces. KOM made a license agreement with the American underwear brand Hollywood Vassarette in 1970 and started production for this brand in Turkey. The brand became Turkey’s first and largest company in fashionable swimwear in this way.
KOM continued to grow in the 1980s, made investments in dyeing, finishing and printing and established PISA Tekstil ve Boya Fabrikaları A.Ş. KOM have Turkey’s only and largest integrated facility in the swimwear and underwear industry and have strengthened their leading position in the market. Today, the brand continues to expand their product groups for women’s, men’s and children’s with new collections every season. The company has international certificates on quality and produces for global fashion brands such as Marks & Spencer and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as for their own retail chain.
“Hasan Cansız created a vision and mission for the sector”
KOM Textile Business Manager Uğur Şikak disclosed that they are shaping the Turkish underwear and swimwear market with their production and design power. Şikak stated that they are guided by the innovative and quality-oriented vision of the company founder Hasan Cansız, who passed away recently, and underlined that they work with the mission of becoming a global brand by producing sustainable, long-lasting and high-quality products. Şikak said; “Mr. Cansız’s works to make KOM a global brand and to produce high-quality products for the ease of use and comfort of customers left us a vision and mission to follow. The standards that Mr. Cansız put into practice with KOM later became valid for the entire industry. Therefore, we are talking about a life dedicated to adding value not only to a company, but also to a sector, a country”.
Şikak cited that they produce sensitive products that come into direct contact with human skin and noted that for this reason, they pay attention to numerous issues from the beginning to the end of the production process; “First of all, it is very important for us that our products do not scratch the skin, irritate, cause itching and do not have carcinogenic properties. We are working to make it feel as if it does not exist, with very low weight, and to have an acoustic appearance with its design and structure. We attach importance to producing nature-friendly products with the concept of sustainability. All the details of our products, from the touch to the dye, from the thread to the accessories, have the quality of the KOM brand. We use Durak Tekstil sewing threads, which have the same quality line as us in sewing threads, for this reason”.
Collaboration with Durak Tekstil has been continuing for 17 years
Uğur Şikak stated that they have been using Durak Tekstil sewing threads since 2005 and said; “A niche area such as swimwear and underwear has specific production needs and standards. As a result of the general market researches, we decided to work with Durak Tekstil who stand out among the sewing thread suppliers with their quality, in 2005. The desired sewing quality level was achieved through collaboration of the R&D departments of both companies. Our cooperation with Durak Tekstil has been continuing for 17 years by maintaining the same quality standards as KOM, for this reason. We are talking about a long-standing collaboration, they know what we want and we know what will come from them. This is an element that gives us confidence in terms of production”.
Şikak relayed that their cooperation with Durak Tekstil has become stronger over the years and shared the following information; “Our thread purchases started with a low volume in 2005, reaching the level of supplying almost all our sewing threads from Durak Tekstil in the following years. This cooperation got stronger and Durak Tekstil has turned into a partner for us after 2008. I can say that our supply volume has grown by 1000% compared to the first period we started. We use approximately 35 thousand bobbin sewing threads in different numbers and colors annually and supply 82% of this from Durak Tekstil”.
Şikak expressed that there are lots of different sewing needs for underwear and swimwear products and explained that they generally supply Polystrong 120, Duratex 90, Polystrong 100 threads in primary colors, intermediate colors and special colors from Durak Tekstil. Şikak said; “We mostly purchase Polystrong 120 number and Duratex 180 number sewing threads for these products. We use Polystrong 120 thread as needle thread on the visible side of the fabric. We also use Duratex number 180 thread in the looper so that it remains on the inside of the fabric”. Şikak pointed out that all the necessary certificates and standard documents regarding sewing threads were provided by Durak Tekstil and underlined that sewing threads are used with peace of mind not only in the products under their own brands, but also in the productions for global brands.
Durak Tekstil provides superior quality, high dyeing capacity and fast delivery
Uğur Şikak said that they prefer Durak Tekstil due to their high dyeing capacity as well as their compliance with quality standards. Şikak explained that Durak Tekstil dyed the threads in the special color they wanted and supplied them very quickly, so that there was no disruption in the production. Şikak added; “They have a very wide variety of dyeing boilers from large to small, meaning that we can buy threads in the amount we want and in the colors we want. We get a very fast response to our requests, so we do not have to wait for a long time or keep an excessive amount of thread in our stock. As KOM, our color inventory is quite large when compared to a classical textile manufacturer. They offer us threads in the colors we expect and want, both in terms of quality and strength. Working with Durak Tekstil is an advantage as a partner who speaks the same language as us.”
Şikak said; “When the right product is sewn with the right thread, there will be no problems” and added that Durak Tekstil products are the ‘right thread’ for them in this context. Şikak explained that flexible or high-strength sewing threads are used depending on the application and shared the following details on thread performance; “As KOM, we use different fabrics for different products. Polyester and polyamide-containing fabrics are preferred for swimwear, while cotton, polyamide and polyester-containing fabrics with high flexibility are preferred for underwear products. Durak Tekstil sewing threads manage to offer the same superior performance regardless of the fabric type.
For the thread to glide through the channels on the sewing machine smoothly, it is very important that the lubrication is evenly applied to the thread as well as the consistency of the twisting. With the special applications during production, Durak overcomes these kinds of imperfections on the thread and delivers what we call ‘the right thread’. These properties provide less stops due to thread breaks and unified adjustment on each sewing machine used for the same purpose.
Durak Tekstil provides the same quality and features in all our supplies from the first batch to the last batch of threads. Thread-related faults would not only adversely affect product quality, but could also cause hook problems in the sewing machine. We are very pleased to work with Durak Tekstil sewing threads, contributing to our performance and speed without such concerns”.
Uğur Şikak stated that they are focusing on increasing KOM’s brand awareness in the global market in the upcoming period and remarked that they are working to accelerate their retailing processes and to bring products produced with environmentally friendly and sustainable production techniques to the customers. Şikak concluded his words as follows; “Durak Tekstil, which is solution-oriented, responds quickly to our requests, supports us with their threads during the preparation of new collections and constantly raises their quality standards, is a partner we trust”.