A North Shore resident is bringing his 87-year-old family business from Turkey into a North Vancouver local market.
Alper Ficici, owner of Chic Towels, is debuting his Turkish towels at his first local market at the 2018 Fall For Local Spring Market, which runs April 28-29, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pipe Shop Venue at the Shipyards.
Ficici comes from a family that’s been in the towel making business for 87 years. His mother’s side owns one of the oldest and last family-run workshops in Buldan, Turkey.
When Ficici moved from Izmir, Turkey, to Vancouver eight years ago, he struggled to find a high-quality, organic towel like he had back home. That’s when he got the idea to start up his online business and carry on the family tradition by selling their hand woven, organic towels from his mother’s workshop.
Ficici explains how in Turkey, towels are an important part of their culture.
“When I came to Canada two things really disappointed me, the number one was meat ... and the second thing was towels,” he said.
Ficici said even washing your towels in detergent can make them less absorbent.
He explained how his products are different from other towels in the market since they’re made from Bulgan cotton, which is an organic bamboo cotton from Turkey that’s made to be absorbent over time.
“The towel gets better over time, after two months, three months, four months my towel will be amazing. After two years, three years they will be way better than anything you see,” he explained.
All of the towels are hand woven on a 150-year-old shuttle loom in Ficici’s family workshop. The Premium Hand Loomed Towels, like the blue Rainbow Towel, take longer to make and only four to seven are produced in a day, while 200 Natural Towels can be produced in 10 to 14 days.
For Ficici, it’s his wife Hirna Raniga who’s been his biggest supporter, helping with the administration of the business. Chic Towels is an “adventure for the both of us,” said Ficici.
“She’s one of the main reasons why I don’t stop, she keeps supporting me,” he said.
Ficici’s sister Ahsen, who’s a fashion designer, also helped him design the towels. While their mother Farma is “the main brains” of the production process.
“The more I become successful, the more they become successful, that’s really important for me because for Turkish people, family is literally everything,” he said. “Instead of doing some other business here, I rather support my family.”
Ficici and Ahsen designed the towels to combine the traditional Turkish towel with contemporary designs to make them more marketable to Canadians. As a communications major Ficici said, in Canada, it’s been a struggle to market them because locals aren’t educated about the benefits of a Turkish towel.
He’s excited to take part at the Fall For Local Market to be able to share a part of his culture with North Shore locals.
Chic Towels’ products can be purchased on their website at chictowels.com and on Etsy under the account CHICTowel. Prices range from $40 to $70 per towel.
Other North Shore businesses that will be featured at the Fall For Local Market are Silk Road Kitchen, Molly &Frankie, kyth+ kyn, North Shore Candy, Kapow Now! and Novel Supply Co.
