Where does the name 10AM come from?

Throughout my entire career, I started work at 10:00. As many people working in the art market or in the creative world know, this was not a working hour, it was our way of life. And from the first day I started planning the brand, I wanted the brand to be worn by people who think like me, who have adopted this lifestyle or want to be in it. And I think 10:AM defines this very well.

10:AM is a very new brand. How did your fashion journey begin?

I have had a plan to establish a brand that would reflect my own aesthetic perception for a very long time. Since I am a fine arts graduate and have been working professionally in the Contemporary Art world for over 10 years, I wanted to somehow reflect my aesthetic eye and share it with more people. Fashion is not a field that I am very close to, but I thought my aesthetic eye and entrepreneurial spirit would be enough for a start. I can say that I have started to reflect this in small amounts in comfortable daily use products.

Have comfortable and sporty designs been a result of the period we are in? What was your motivation for establishing such a brand?

Since we launched the brand in 2020; consumer habits, marketing methods and sales channels have changed drastically in a year. We have encountered many obstacles to overcome, not just related to corona.

So instead of traditional strategies, we adopted guerrilla marketing strategies, which basically meant that we had to be even more creative. And in the process, our casual and sports products got a lot of attention and the first collection sold out.

My three biggest motivations are; freedom of speech-action-content, conscious and fair pricing policy and of course Sude Alkış.

10:What details and features make AM designs stand out?

I don’t see 10AM as a fashion designer brand, but rather as a fashion activism brand. 10AM is a brand that aims to go beyond the act of buying symbolic, fashionable products, pushing ethical consumerism and trying to be more conscious and responsible. We wanted to be a brand that produces designer products that are accessible to everyone, not a brand that only privileged people can access. That’s why we try to move forward with a conscious pricing policy and sell independently from our own website.

I would like to give an example from my own discipline for our priorities in terms of products. When we were preparing an exhibition or examining works of art, we would not look at how beautiful they were; we would look at what they made us feel, what they were trying to say, how good the technique was, how controlled or consciously uncontrolled the technique was. Of course, I do not intend to attribute this much meaning to a sweatshirt or a t-shirt, but I look at any product in textiles in the same way as I do in every work. The pattern, fabric, stitching, collar depth, what they say, what they make us feel, and their designs; all of these are a whole and essential for me.

What kind of collection did you prepare for the spring/summer season?

Our first two launches were also in the mini collection format. In the following process, we saw that the 10AM spirit was evolving into a more dynamic direction. From now on, we want to continue more frequently and with a single product. Next month, we are launching a hat for the first time, which will be the continuation of the most popular ''This is My Game'' design from the first collection. Our new t-shirts in different patterns are coming in the summer months. I think we will continue to see sweatshirts and t-shirts at 10AM for a while. We really want to add different products after we reach the perfection we want in this area.

How does your personal style reflect on your designs?

I am a very plain woman with a tough temperament. And I like to combine all the simplicity with small, bold pieces. In all this simplicity, my most indispensable thing is comfort, even in a white shirt. 10AM certainly reflects Seçil Alkış with its tough lines and basic patterns, but we can say that it is more colorful and fun.

Social media is an area that you know and use very well. How much do you think fashion and social media are related?

Yes, we all know how important social media is today. However, social media is just a marketing tool for us. Since Instagram is more popular right now, we all prefer this platform and produce content there, but what is important is what content we produce and what we say. For brands like us that adopt guerrilla marketing, it is certainly an opportunity not to be missed and the strategies that can be applied are endless. In these days when we have difficulty defining freedom, Instagram provides us with a lot of space and is of course an indispensable marketing platform for fashion, as it is for every field.

For example; one of the most critical issues in the fashion world is excess stock both locally and globally. We know that the remaining products of some big brands are burned and for this reason, they are offered for sale by adding 20% ​​to the unit price of the products. We prepared a campaign at 10AM that would provide an advantage for both ourselves and our members. The aim was to quickly sell the products, provide affordable products to our members and, frankly, create a sensation.

With this very small-scale campaign we carried out on Instagram in December, all our products were sold out in just 16 minutes. With this campaign, which brought us closer to the world of 10:00AM's own members, we managed to get feedback from our non-member customers and created an "object of desire" in a short time. In fact, that's exactly what we wanted to do! We will continue to design similar projects on Instagram (So don't forget to become a member of 10:00AM). In this story that we have just started, we will have many surprises especially for our members.

What are your plans or dreams for the future?

By creating spaces for content freedom; 10AM will continue to be conscious, transparent, fair and sustainable. We believe that it will be a brand that embraces its members and carries out special projects for them; first locally, then globally, creating a community and becoming stronger with its members.