Upgrading in the Global Clothing Industry: Mavi Jeans and the Transformation of a Turkish Firm from Full-Package to Brand-Name Manufacturing and Retailing

Since 1984, Erak Clothing, a Turkish contractor, has manufactured jeans as a full-package producer for international brands, such as Calvin Klein, Guess, and Esprit. Following the creation of its own brand, Mavi Jeans, in 1991, the firm has been transforming itself into an original brand-name manufacturer and retailer. Mavi Jeans are now sold worldwide at more than 3,000 sales points, including Nordstrom, Macy’s, and Bloomingdale’s department stores, and five directly owned and operated flagship stores in Vancouver, New York, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Montreal. In this article, the authors tell the exceptional story of the firm’s transformation from a full-package manufacturer into an original brand-name manufacturer and retailer. They discuss how a peripheral manufacturing firm has managed to achieve a high value-added competitive advantage by gaining access to global networks of production, consumption, and information in the clothing industry: a buyer-driven industry in which the world’s largest retailers, branded marketers, and manufacturers without factories are the dominant players with asymmetrical influence and power. The case study supports the theoretical position that individual firms have some room for autonomous action and that power relationships have some fragility that can be exploited by firms with strategic intent.