How Conservative Fashions Made a Turkish Shepherd a Billionaire

At an LC Waikiki store alongside a six-lane highway in central Istanbul, throngs of customers peruse the racks, weaving among mannequins sporting full-length evening dresses, sweatpants, and belted trenchcoats. Unlike most shoppers at nearby Zara and H&M outlets, many women at Waikiki are wearing headscarves and tunics that skim the floor. The retailer “has a great range for covered women,” says Semiha Kocaturk, a 53-year-old from a nearby working-class neighborhood who’s buying trousers for her granddaughter. “I can find the kind of blouses and cardigans I like very easily here, and that’s just not the case in every store.”

Waikiki has built Turkey’s most successful fashion brand by selling styles that appeal to observant Muslims without alienating secular buyers. The chain’s lineup is “very appropriate for the sensibility of conservative customers,” says Maria Comfort, Waikiki’s head of merchandising and a veteran of U.S. brands Wet Seal and Hot Topic. “We are unique in targeting the wardrobe needs of a broad range of people.”