Aslı Filinta is an internationally acclaimed designer and sustainability advocate who established two decades of highly influential clothing brand with her name ‘Aslı Filinta.’ The beating heart of her brand is centered around social conscience and is profoundly inspired by Anatolian arts and culture.
Born and raised in Turkey, Aslı Filinta launched her fashion line’ Aslı Filinta’ and showed her first collection in New York in March 2009. Since then, her collections have been exhibited at international runway shows and exhibitions, such as Turkish Designers Runway, New York, 2020; Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Istanbul, 2018; and Joyce Gallery, Palais Royal in Paris. Over the years, the brand has been available in stores in 18 countries alongside notable brands such as Chanel, Dior, Loewe, Celine, and Martin Margiela, and the brand has been carried by Joyce, Hong Kong next to brands like Sacai and Pleats Please Issey Miyake. Aslı Filinta has been featured in major fashion media, including Vogue US, Monocle, WWD, and Vogue Nippon.
Over the years, the brand has been available in stores in 18 countries alongside notable brands such as Chanel, Dior, Loewe, Celine, and Martin Margiela. Her creative designs have extended beyond the fashion world through collaborations with major global brands and organizations, such as Coca-Cola, Redbull, Skinceuticals L’oreal, Vestel, and more. The designer has also received significant recognition from leading experts in her field and substantial press attention from the BBC, The Telegraph, WWD, Forward, and CNN Turk, among many others.
One of her first collections, inspired by the historical Grand Bazaar ceiling motifs, defined the designer’s path in transforming Ottoman and Turkish stories into clothing. Throughout her designs, Aslı Filinta has embodied diverse love stories from Ottoman and Turkish history, among which one can find Nazım Hikmet’s love for life, Mimar Sinan’s love for Mihrimah Sultan, Rumi’s Parrot’s love for freedom or Leyla Gencer’s love for singing. Nikki Bedi from BBC outlines the brand as ‘unusual and original,’ and she says,
‘…To see somebody designing really beautiful hand-made clothes that are Western silhouettes but carry a Turkish story, that’s very unusual, that’s attractive...Aslı weaves people and stories from Turkey’s past into modern contemporary designs…a designer who revels in Turkey’s history, stories, myths, and motifs.
In another article, the designer talks about her designer identity,
“I have traveled to various parts of the world…In my opinion, to belong to a country, you need to know and adopt the culture and history of that country. While living abroad, people ask you questions about your country, and maybe you are even more connected to your country and doing research. Over time, this has become an important part of my designer identity. Researching my history, culture, and roots has become a great passion.”
Desiring to tell the stories that inspired her through clothes, the designer elevated storytelling by combining exceptional materials, forms, and patterns. 74’Escape has described the Aslı Filinta clothing line as unique, timeless, innovative, and colorful. The brand is characterized by unexpected material combinations and its exquisite balance of light and delicate fabrics like tulle, silk, and cotton. The descriptions continue as follows;
‘Aslı Filinta’s techniques based on reinterpretations of garment patterns transform the pieces into unexpected shapes and silhouettes. To Filinta, who is influenced by observing her own culture and history, the Aslı Filinta collection has a distinctive elegance based on renderings and transformations of essential and funky items. The result is a collection of items that can transition easily between various occasions and are not only reserved for unique opportunities.’
In 2016, the designer raised awareness of sustainability after becoming a mother. The same year, the designer launched the Upcycling Service, offering to extend a garment’s lifecycle through design. Amidst the fashion world’s endless haste, Aslı Filinta stepped off the hamster wheel and exited the endless production cycle of fashion. Leftover fabrics turned into shopping bags, clothes were designed with ‘one-size-fits-all,’ and season sales were off the table.
Believing firmly in an individual’s power of choice, Filinta has continually encouraged her audience to consume more consciously, upcycle on their own means, and wear all fashion items repeatedly. A radical upstanding to the luxury and fast-fashion industry, Filinta inspires people to be more creative with their style and exit the unreasonable and destructive fashion trends and demands. In 2017, Aslı Filinta stopped designing new collections or catching up with the buying seasons and started to limit her production by remaining fabric stocks. In her speech at UNEP, the designer said,
‘…and the real, sustainable impact came when we shifted our business model into fair trade by local production with women’s cooperation as together we carried out our mission of bringing Anatolian cultural heritage to contemporary designs. This way, our brand’s sustainability approach has found a deeper meaning, providing a strong ground for us to continue.’
In 2018, the designer embarked on a woman empowerment agenda to support disadvantaged women by including them in the production of garments, including hand-embroidered work on clothing and accessories. As the brand’s collaborative production grew, working with local women-led cooperatives contributed to Filinta’s vision of including Anatolian arts and crafts in her designs. Traditional weaving techniques and designs were incorporated throughout the production, making the brand ever more rooted in the Anatolian understanding of collectivity through creation.
In 2021, Aslı Filinta’s dedication to sustainability was recognized with several prestigious awards. In 2022, the Elle Style Awards honored her as the ‘Sustainability Fashion Designer of the Year.’ Her innovative ‘upcycling service’ also earned her honors, including the ‘Women Who Make a Difference’ award by Mediacat Magazine and the ‘Sustainability Designer of the Year Award’ by the Art of Living by Istanbul Medipol University in 2022. In 2023, the designer received the prestigious Fashion Designer of the Year title at the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards.
Aslı Filinta continues to take part as a guest lecturer at major industry events, universities, and professional conferences. Through her many lectures and talks, the designer shares her business and creative experience, endorsing sustainability in fashion without compromising artistic expression. Her latest talk occurred in a seminar organized by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEP) and Arizona State University, Beyond Fast Fashion, 2024.
Following her innate desire to make a positive change in the world, the designer has focused more on raising awareness for working with and for people and the earth. Utilizing her neurodivergent creativity, the designer put her design and business skills to work, creating opportunities to work with diverse and disadvantaged communities and groups. Committed to her cause, Aslı Filinta’s creative projects embody Anatolian culture’s core value: collaborating for the common good, where serving others is also a form of self-service.
‘As a designer born and raised in Anatolia, I was always amazed by its stories, wisdom, and culture, inherited through the works of great minds who once lived here. Over the years, our brand’s purpose grew into its goal today: transforming Anatolian cultural heritage through design aligning with today’s needs, for and with the collective consciousness. We are committed to women’s empowerment, fair trade, and sustainability in this journey.’