İhsan Ateş / DeFacto – CEO

As DeFacto, when we stepped into the retail and fashion sector nearly 20 years ago with the vision of “accessible fashion,” we set our guiding star as growing globally, adding value to society and the environment, and making our customers fall in love with our brand. Today, we take pride in being positioned to lead the sector in every country where we operate across five continents. On this journey, we have witnessed many changes.

ADAPTING VERY QUICKLY

With the power of our agile and entrepreneurial organizational structure of 15,000 people and our advanced technological capabilities, we adapted very quickly to these winds of change. During turbulent times, we stayed on course and pushed boundaries both physically and digitally. As pioneers of many innovations that revolutionized our customers’ shopping experience, we continued to change the rules of the game.

Through the technologies we develop in-house, we introduced the fashion world to the concept of the “Phygital Store,” which bridges the gap between physical and digital shopping, laying out the vision for the future of retail. With our omnichannel strategy, we focus on identifying our customers’ needs—often before they even recognize them—and surprising them with innovations every time they interact with our brand.

CIRCULARITY AND TRACEABILITY

From Germany to Morocco, and Egypt to Kazakhstan, while touching people’s lives in various geographies, we prioritize and care about the future of our planet just as much as our business goals. With this perspective, accelerating our efforts toward circularity and traceability, from raw materials to finished products, remains a key priority on DeFacto’s agenda.

CLIMATE POSITIVE BY 2050

With the steps we are taking, we aim to ensure that 90% of our collections are sustainable by 2030, reduce the water impact of our supply chain by 25%, and source 100% of the electricity used in our operations from renewable resources. The next milestone on our sustainability journey is to become a “climate positive” brand by 2050 by eliminating emissions. Undoubtedly, taking responsibility in this area is of great importance for all our stakeholders and the future of our planet.

FOLLOWING THE GUIDING STAR

I extend my gratitude to INBUSINESS magazine for creating a platform that shares inspiring stories from the business world and highlights transformations from diverse perspectives. I also congratulate the magazine on its anniversary. As we enter the second century of our Republic, we will continue to move forward without losing sight of our guiding star, aiming to add value to every individual and the planet we touch, and to be one of our country’s leading representatives on the global stage.

Source:https://www.inbusiness.com.tr/in-business/2022/12/21/ihsan-ates-gazdan-ayagimizi-cekmedik