THE GAME CHANGERS: Evren Ozka and Berna Subasi

L’Officiel Arabia: You have been able to achieve a lot very early in your life, tell us how and when did your journey start as a businessman.

Evren Ozka: From a young age I knew I wanted to either play professional sports or be a businessman. When I was 18, I was signed to a professional basketball team but injuries ended my career early, so I jumped straight into the business world. I started working with my family’s textile design and manufacturing companies and went on to run my own division of the firm. Although I loved working with my family at was very successful at it, I always had the urge to create and build my own brands and companies.

 

L'O A: Tell us about your various business ventures, especially Mallet London.

EO: Since starting the brand in 2015, Mallet London has been my main focus. When building a successful brand you need a number of different elements to be present and if just one if missing it doesn’t work, no matter how hard you work at it.

From day one the focus of the brand was to create the best and most quality shoes and make them as accessible as possible, and the strategy seems to have worked! We were able to secure luxury stores like Harrods and Selfridges early on and they remain key partners to this day. It’s really important to understand the consumer, the brand is undergoing worldwide expansion and so we must focus on localising certain aspects of our offering while remaining true to our core values.

 

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“When building a successful brand

you need a number of different elements

to be present and if just oneif missing it doesn’t work,

no matter how hard you work at it.” - EVREN OZKA

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L'O A: Mallet London has been expanding in the United States of America since last year and now in the UAE, tell us more about your plans for the Middle East markets.

EO: We had been trying to crack America since we started and last year that finally became a reality. We kicked off our distribution with Saks Fifth Avenue and the sale throughs have been strong, our product seems to resonate in that region as it has in Europe.

We have been present in the Middle east for several years now. Level Shoes were our first stockist and are still the focal point of our distribution here, we are now also stocked in other luxury department stores across the Middle East including newly opened Printemps in Doha which I visited recently.

 

L’O A: You have been residing in the UAE lately, how has been your experience staying in the UAE?

EO: Our boys Buzul Leo and Boreas have just turned 4 and 3 respectively, and so the main factor that pulled us to Dubai was the great schools here. They have adapted really well to their new environment and really love their school (even though it starts a bit early then what they are used to!). They start at 7.30am so for me that means waking up everyday at 4am so I can run and train before I drop them off and then start my workday.

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“We like to add a personal touch

to most of our items and our customer

really seems to love that.”

- BERNA SUBASI

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L'O A: Berna, tell us more about your business ventures.

Berna Subasi: I have been doing private and business consulting for many years and have some important clients here in the Middle East too.

These days I’ve been focusing on buying and building Home and Kids brands. Most recently I bought Nilue, a premium Kids accessories brand, we are already stocked in Beymen, Harvey Nichols, Lafayette and I’m now taking steps to bring them to the UAE and surrounding territories. Last year I also purchased LeMaranj which has really resonated well with the Arabian consumer. We handcraft pieces for our clients, mainly luxury placemats, tablecloths, coasters and bedding. We like to add a personal touch to most of our items and our customer really seems to love that.

L'O A: What's next for Evren and Berna?

For us it’s all about building the best possible future for our boys and be able to offer them a bright future, we want them to have as many choices and possibilities as possible so they can find their own true passions.

We have been acquiring other brands from several sectors to add to our portfolio, as well as some other projects that we are starting from scratch.

We’ll be continuing to grow our business interests in the Middle East with various investors and partners and have some exciting announcements to make in early 2023!