From Alzúarr to Business Fashion Academy: Zeynep Dag on fashion entrepreneurship

Modefabriek is more than just a place to do business; the trade fair also invites other (future) fashion professionals to gain inspiration and network. To inspire the audience, the organisation put together a Talks programme, where knowledge is shared about trends, social media and entrepreneurship. FashionUnited attends the latter and listens to the inspiring story of shoe designer and entrepreneur Zeynep Dag. Because, the fashion world looks glamorous, but what about the reality behind the scenes?

Entrepreneurship is in Dag's blood. Her fire was ignited in 2012 when she was laid off as an art history teacher. She didn't have enough experience, was the verdict. So she switched gears. Dag went into shoe design, something she had always wanted to do as a designer. After eight months of applying for jobs, she didn't get anywhere. Dag had heard before that she wouldn't be a good shoe designer. She didn't believe it and decided to make her own dream come true: in 2017, Dag launched her own shoe brand, Alzúarr.

Alzúarr wasn't even two weeks old when Dag received her most iconic order. She looked at the sender and immediately got goosebumps: Rihanna's assistant. "And when Rihanna wears your shoes, other celebrity stylists are soon eager to get their hands on a pair, for Beyoncé for example."

Alzúarr quickly became a household name in America and at its peak was sold online in 84 countries, with her orchid heels clearly the favourite in all markets. In 2023, the time came for Dag to sell her company.

"At some point, I was doing more business than designing. I tried to change that by focusing on designing and taking on the position of creative director. The business side was to be handled by another party." That didn't work. "I no longer had the final say in decisions and that made me nervous, I couldn't let go." Dag decided, after a good offer, to sell her company.

It didn't stop with founding her own shoe brand. In 2019, she founded her own Business Fashion Academy in Eindhoven, which is now also located in Utrecht. Three years later, she wrote the book "Strijder op hakken" (Warrior in Heels) with the tagline "How I became the woman I wanted to be", in which she gives a deep insight into her eventful entrepreneurial journey.

The lessons Zeynep Dag learned about the fashion industry

"Doing business as a Turkish woman with a Brabantian accent is anything but easy," Dag shares with the audience. "Try being taken seriously as a woman in heels in a business world. It's a men's world. You wouldn't immediately think that when we talk about fashion, but men are often the ones behind investments and quickly underestimate women."

Let’s go back to the beginning. Dag founded Alzúarr with her own money. At the time, she had saved up around 6,000 euros to create her first shoes. When designing her first pair, she already looked at the markets she wanted to do business in. For example, she designed a special pair for the American market and one for the Middle East. "I simply didn't have the money to design an entire collection, so I made sure my design fit the market I wanted to appeal to. That was more than one, so I made different designs for different markets."

Then the marketing could begin. Dag did this on social media. Instagram was hot and happening in 2017 and she took advantage of that. "The algorithm was really good back then." Dag paid fan pages of celebrities, with a focus on the American market, to place an ad on their page, tagged celebrity stylists and sent celebrities DMs. Within no time, sales went through the roof. "That explosive growth was bizarre, I have no other words for it."

When a brand grows so fast, at some point Alzúarr also needs to be restructured. Building costs money, so Dag explored options for raising capital. She went to the bank, but quickly realised that she wasn't getting very far there. Yes, she could get a loan, but not the amount she wanted. So Dag went looking for an investor. "I was looking for an investment of 8 million euros and I spent three years trying to find it. That's a very long time." Dag sold 60 percent of her company to the investor. In retrospect, that was a stupid choice, she thinks. "By selling more than half of your company, you no longer have control over your own company. My tip: Never sell more than 49.9 percent, that way you keep a majority stake and you make the final call on important decisions." Dag remained creative director at Alzúarr for another year at the time, but quickly realised that the collaboration wasn't working. She eventually decided to sell her company to a large international fashion group.

Business lessons from the fashion world by Zeynep Dag

What is Dag doing now? "I'm not going to continue as a designer for a few years. I'm not feeling it right now. Coco Chanel stopped designing for a while too, so I thought: why don't I do that too?" For now, an expansion of the Business Fashion Academy is on the agenda. The school is now located in Eindhoven and Utrecht. "Eindhoven has two classrooms, but that will be four or five next school year." Dag says she wants to make a difference with Business Fashion Academy, whose educational vision is 'knowledge, strength and love'.

For all starting entrepreneurs or people with entrepreneurial dreams, Dag gives a number of tips: Don't underestimate LinkedIn - "it's the best source for getting in touch with the people you need". Networking is important - "ten years ago I was the most unsocial person I know. I had two friends. Networking is a skill, you have to build it up. Start small, sign up for business events and visit lots of trade fairs." Keep in mind that not all events will yield results. "Nine out of ten events you'll go home empty-handed, but that one can really make a difference," says Dag.

Last but not least, perhaps the most important tip according to Dag: keep smiling and stay positive. "Problems don't exist. There are things that need to be solved, that you learn from," she stresses. "Entrepreneurship is hard work, even in the fashion industry. But hard work is always rewarded." The fashion world is all about glitter and glamour, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This article was originally published on FashionUnited.NL. Translation and edit from Dutch into English by Veerle Versteeg.