“Success is Possible in Kazakhstan”: An Interview with Fashion Brand Qazaq Republic
Qazaq Republic has become a popular brand among young people in Kazakhstan. The brand has become a success story for entrepreneurship within Kazakhstan and Central Asia. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Yermek Kazym, co-founder and CEO, to learn more about the brand, its message, and how it achieved its success. TCA: Qazaq Republic celebrates Kazakhstan’s heritage through fashion. What inspired the brand's creation, and what is its story? When the founder of Qazaq Republic, Saken Joldas, was studying in the US, he would always bring gifts from Kazakhstan for his friends. But the available options were always uninspiring. This led him to dream about creating something more appealing to showcase modern Kazakhstan's vibrant youth culture and style. In 2016, when the mayor of Almaty announced a competition to design a new city logo, Saken shared his designs with the public. He created digital versions of the design to print on mugs and t-shirts and posted them on Facebook. The response from the community was incredible—people loved the concept and showed great interest in purchasing the items. That’s how the idea for the brand began to take form, starting right in his kitchen. The first big order came from the Duty-Free store at Almaty Airport. They requested around 30 t-shirts to sell. As the business grew, Qazaq Republic was given space at the biggest toy and bookstore in Almaty, Meloman. With the rise in sales, we decided to open QR’s very first store. When designing it, we even considered adding a coffee shop in case the store didn’t work out. QR’s first store opened in November 2019 on 47 Mametova street, but then the pandemic hit. While malls were closing, our store had the advantage of being a standalone store. To help people feel better during difficult times, we created unique cotton masks with the phrase “Bari jaqsy bolady” (Everything will be alright). Instead of selling them, we gave them free of charge with orders over 5,000 tenge. Customers started placing smaller orders just to get these masks, giving us a strong sense of support and confidence that we were on the right track. TCA: Could you walk us through the creative process of designing a typical Qazaq Republic collection? We’ve built a solid foundation now. People used to think we were just buying ready-made items and putting our logo on them, but that's not the case. Like global brands such as Nike and Ikea, we design our products in Kazakhstan while outsourcing production and manufacturing to trusted partner factories in Turkey and China. We oversee every detail, from creating labels and designs to developing patterns, ensuring complete control over the process. This approach allows us to concentrate more on perfecting our products. The brand's uniqueness lies in creating products that make everyday life comfortable and functional while staying modern and high-quality. TCA: Who is the target audience for Qazaq Republic, and how has it evolved since the brand’s inception? When we first launched our brand, we assumed it...
