Clothing the Owners of Sears Tower

It catches the eye so intensely that you cannot lift your head up from the advertisements that decorate your every single step!

Taji is one of the many luxurious stores lining the street. The store is relatively small, but it is the excessive number of employees that attract your attention. It's said that sometimes, if customers couldn't find the employees they were used to/the employees they knew, they would feel uncomfortable with shopping. This is an experienced reality.  

The store owner is Tacettin Seker, an austere man around 35 years old who, due to his job, attaches much importance to his mode of dressing. You can’t help wondering how the heck he is encouraging all those customers with such a tough look. But looks can be deceiving. As soon as he opens his mouth the austerity loosens its grip on him. Meticulously decorated with shirts, ties and suits, the store is a charming place. The story of Tacettin Seker, or Taji as everybody calls him, began in a 90 feet square store in Beyoglu in 1998.

He is an assertive and trained-from-the-cradle tailor in custom shirts. He collects the highest quality materials from all around the world to dress his special customers. The store acts literally as the display window. For instance, he imports the fabrics of the shirts from Egypt since the highest quality cotton is produced there. The buttons, yarns, everything is of exceptional quality.

BILLIONAIRE CUSTOMERS
Taji's adventure in tailoring, which began in Turkey, has now traveled beyond the borders of his native country and reached the United States. The suit which he tailored or Selim, son of Erol Tezman, Chairman of Board of Directors of Tezman Holding, represents the beginning of his American journey. Seker, private tailor of the Tezman family, first goes to a bank in New York with a few samples where Selim Tezman works. While Tezman browses through the samples, Seker finds himself surrounded by other bank employees. And he returns to Turkey with the orders of other employees. 

After this first business trip to New York, his fame travels by the way of the grapevine and he commences his United States tour. He reaches as far as Washington D.C. through another businessman and he starts to travel more often. Later on, he establishes a company titled "Taji Clothing."

And his customers, then rich Turkish people, are now rich American people. He manages to dress some of the richest men in the world, such as Charles A. Gargano, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Empire State Development; the famous CBS television news announcer Charles Osgood; and Joseph Chetrit, the king of real estate, who owns numerous buildings including the Sears Tower in Chicago. Seker claims that he has never received a complaint from the customers he serves once a year and adds, "I am paid for my services and not my products. In our business, it is very important to do the best job, offer the highest quality and flawlessly serve it."

2000 CUSTOMERS
Taji prepares the attire of its customers, among which there are well-known real estate agents, bankers and hotel owners, in his workshop located in Istanbul. His Turkish portfolio includes well-known faces of Turkey such as Faruk Suren, Yilmaz Ulusoy, Ali Koc and Ahmet Pekin. The prices of Seker's products vary according to their qualities. Shirts manufactured using the highest quality fabrics of the world range from $100 to $300. Seker claims, "In New York, you must pay at least $600 to buy anything of this quality,” and adds, "Price is more important for billionaires."

Seker, who wants to open another store on Baghdat Avenue in Istanbul, has customers all around U.S., including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Florida and California. He claims that the number of customers he dressed between 2003 and 2005 is around 2000.  

(August 2005, 18th Issue)