Effortless Style
Founded in Izmir in 1995, Lufian brings together modern and sophisticated designs, quality workmanship and timeless elegance. In this interview, RLI converses with Mehmet Emin Gümüştepe, Chairman of the Board of Directors to discuss the international expansion of the brand and how it continues to combine its experience with exceptional quality.
Prioritising comfort and aesthetics, Lufian offers original collections in men’s and women’s wear and their vision is to become a globally recognised brand by reaching different markets with their ever-expanding retail network. In doing this, they continue to produce innovative, high-quality and original designs that adapt to the changing expectations of their customers.
The company operates a wide-ranging retail network that features almost 200 stores, with around 150 sites in Türkiye and more than 50 points of sale in 20 different countries internationally. While Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and North Macedonia are among the international markets in which they mainly operate, they maintain their presence in a wide geography extending from Venezuela to Mongolia.
Their newest flagship store has opened on one of Munich’s busiest streets and has a sales area of approximately 450sq m. This store is an important step in Lufian’s international growth strategy. The store showcases the best of the men’s and women’s collections and features special areas such as the POLO Wall, Denim Wall, Active Wear and Footwear sections, offering customers a pleasant shopping experience.
Moving forward, the company aims to strengthen its presence in the international market by carrying their offline and online activities in Türkiye to Europe, especially Germany, England, France among many other countries. In addition to geographical expansion, their growth in active wear and footwear categories has also gained remarkable momentum. Whilst their outerwear collections are still among their most preferred products, they are constantly expanding their product range by closely following new trends.
“At Lufian, we believe that the shopping experience is not limited to product sales. We take care to offer the best service in our stores with organised and spacious areas, special collection sections and customer-oriented sales consultants,” explains Mehmet Emin Gümüştepe, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “In addition, we provide a personalised shopping experience by analysing customer preferences through technology investments. As well as our physical stores, we are in constant communication with our customers through digital platforms and social media interactions.”
Gümüştepe highlights that digitalisation is one of the cornerstones of Lufian’s growth strategy. They are constantly improving their e-commerce platform to offer customers a seamless shopping experience. He continues by saying social media has become an important channel to promote new collections, engage with customers and increase brand loyalty. By adding to their investments in artificial intelligence and automation, they plan to implement innovative solutions such as analysing customer preferences, inventory management and personalised shopping assistants.
Another major factor in their operations is sustainability and they are currently working to reduce their carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency in their store designs and make their production processes environmentally friendly. They are constantly reviewing this element of their business and developing their strategies to take more concrete steps in this area.
As our conversation moves onto the main drivers of the company’s achievements to date, Gümüştepe comments that one of the most important features that distinguish Lufian is that it offers high quality at accessible prices.
“While most brands are positioned either in the luxury segment or in fast fashion, we are one of the rare brands that offer fashion with premium quality at an affordable price,” says Gümüştepe. “Our timeless designs, wide range of customers and continuously innovative perspective place us in a different position in the industry. Also, our strong franchise support system and global growth strategy is among the cornerstones of our success.”
The core values at the heart of Lufian are style, trust and accessibility. They believe that fashion should be a way for individuals to express themselves so they create their designs with this understanding in mind. Sincerity, quality and diversity are among their top priorities.
As they look to the future, the business aims to expand into new markets and accelerate their global growth. However, global economic fluctuations, changing consumer habits and supply chain challenges remain and are among the challenges they face. They feel that they will continue to grow by overcoming these challenges and will do this through their flexible structure, technological investment and strong brand identity.
Before our time runs out, we ask Gümüştepe how he feels the retail sector will alter in the coming years.
“The retail industry is experiencing a major transformation around omni-channel experiences, sustainability and digitalisation. Consumers now expect online and physical store experiences to merge seamlessly. In addition, we think that ethical fashion and environmentally friendly practices will become one of the most important agenda items of the sector. At Lufian, we are already making preparations to keep up with this change.”
