New Clothes on the Block
For Fayetteville men who tire of wearing Polo and North Face six days out of the week, there’s a new clothing store that brings something fresh to a town so proud of its style.
Brits and Turks is a recently opened clothing store on the corner of College Avenue and Maple Street. The hardwood floors, artsy photographs and trendy clothes invite customers to find just what they never knew they were looking for.
The mother and father of owner Barry Ozturk are British and Turkish, respectively, resulting in the curious name of this growing fashion hotspot.
Ozturk is no stranger to the Fayetteville scene. Although he grew up in England, he is a UA alumnus. His accent is long gone, but his fashion taste has remained with him.
“Brits and Turks is a lot less preppy than what you see recently,” Ozturk said. “We have more trendy clothes. There’s a more European style to what we carry.”
Slim fit jeans are designed in-house, with a new line of swimming trunks coming sometime toward the end of April. These “Turktrunks” are another step toward Ozturk’s ultimate goal.
“Business has been doing well since we opened, but the ultimate goal of the store is to have our own clothing line,” Ozturk said.
Brits and Turks boasts a casual line of clothes that are both trendy and versatile. “A lot of our shirts are crossovers, so you can wear them tucked in with dress pants, or hanging out with jeans,” Ozturk said.
While the jeans and shirts are the main attraction for customers, the store stocks its shelves with more than that. Shoes, hats, belts, bowties, suspenders and scarves all complement the fresh assortment of casual wear.
The age demographic ranges from college students to men in their fifties looking for something new to wear. However, men are not the only customers the store has seen.
“Girlfriends and wives come in all the time looking for something that their boyfriends or husbands can look good in,” Ozturk said. “We see it a lot, girls wanting their guys to look trendier.”
Since its opening in December, Brits and Turks has had positive feedback from the community as a whole. Despite is inviting atmosphere, the store is not a spur-of-the-moment shopping session. When customers shop there, they come with a purpose.
“We’re more of a destination store,” Ozturk said. “People come here on purpose, they don’t usually come in after a walk-by.”
The store’s Facebook photo albums feature the Brits and Turks clothing line, plus other products and sales promotions. The “Turktrunks” are a huge topic of conversation on the page, with photos of new fedoras, shirts and boots to add to the mix.
Ozturk hopes to incorporate the classic styles of McQueen, Redford and Newman with the modern-day Clooney, Cassell and Hamm. Smart men with a desire to be classically edgy will find their niche at Brits and Turks, looking both fresh and casual.
While Brits and Turks is relatively new, Ozturk has been an entrepreneur before this adventure. After several managing and directing jobs at Walmart and AT&T, he founded Imperial Doors, a company that builds high-end luxury iron doors for homeowners and architects. Ozturk set up a retail location for Imperial Doors in New York and manages that in addition to Brits and Turks. This testament to his business savvy is all the more impressive considering the state of the economy and the relative lack of opportunities for entreprenuers.
Brits and Turks is already well on its way to success in Fayetteville, establishing a niche that hasn’t been touched much in a town that values fashion so highly. Ozturk is very happy with progress so far.
“Community feedback has been great, and the clothing line is coming along well, and so is business,” he said.
