FAMILY HISTORY

Ileri Mensucat, known as Ileri

To get to know the Company, first of all, it is necessary to see a summary of the long history of the Yeniçeri family. The family, which has Circassian roots, migrated to Anatolia in the wake of the Russian attacks in 1864 and settled in the village of Kızılcabölük, which is located near Denizli and has thousands of years of weaving history, with the special permission of Sultan Abdulaziz.

This date is the same as the family's meeting with textile. There is no record of the occupations of the first family members living in Kızılcabölük. However, the person known to be a registered weaving and accepted as the 1st generation in the textile business is Hacı Osman. Born in 1885, Hacı Osman and his son Hacı Tahir spent their careers between the Balkan Wars, WWI and WWII disasters, and they were weaving activities in Kızılcabölük village without a brand or registered Company. Hacı Raşit, who was born as Tahir's first son in 1937, is the Company's real and legendary founding father.

Raşit, who has impressive math skills, gets into the textile business at a young age. Weaving with a handloom is a form of rest for him. His entrepreneurial spirit will not be able to keep him either in Kızılcabölük or in Denizli. His eyes are on Istanbul, Sultanhamam, where the heart of the textile trade has been beating for centuries. On 13.01.1967, he established and registered his Company named Ileri Mensucat. In these years, he produces yarn-dyed weaving and enters the yarn dyeing business. On the other hand, it also trades dyestuff chemicals.

His entrepreneurial spirit and courage know no bounds. The same year, he completed the negotiations to purchase a spinning machine with two Italians, Paolo Poccini and Signor Cocharini, at the Izmir Hilton Hotel. Not knowing any foreign language is not an obstacle. He used a Turkish villager as an interpreter who was captured by Italy in the Tripoli War and learned Italian during captivity. However, this yarn factory attempt was unsuccessful as the villagers of Kızılcabölük disagreed on where to establish the yarn factory.

Haci Raşit, loyal and faithful to his word; Thanks to his mild-mannered and solution-oriented nature, he has become a well-known and reputable person in Turkish textile in a short time. Haci Raşit's principles are the spirit of Ileri Mensucat. Although the Company has changed its stance under the management of the 4th and 5th Generations, it sincerely and firmly adheres to the principles of Koca Raşit.

During the period of Osman Yeniçeri, the only son of Hacı Raşit, the Company entered the factory phase, and the factory established its first factory facility by purchasing various machinery. During the period, exports were made to Germany, the Netherlands, America, and Belgium, first of all to Japan. Osman Yeniceri thinks that the biggest problem of Turkey's big family companies is family conflicts and disintegration. However, the fact that knowledge and experience cannot be transferred to the next generations is at least as important as these. For this reason, he takes his only son, Raşit, with him like a bag since he was illiterat

For Grandson Raşit, concepts such as summer and weekend vacations are out of the question. He grows in the Ileri Mensucat Headquarter. He attends all meetings but has no say. Over time, he begins to work at all levels of the Company. Next to Hasan Pay in all bank transactions. He wraps bales, sews sacks, keeps a daily cash book, bookkeeping, prepares waybills, prepares invoices, and learns accounting transactions with all details. He works as an operator on all machines owned by the Company, such as weaving looms, direct and sectional warping machines, and sizing machines. Controls the entire machine park belonging to the Company. Giving him dyehouse tracking responsibilty, sparks a passion for data collection and statistics that will later become an obsession. In the year he started high school, he now has the right to speak in meetings.

As a result of erroneous investment decisions taken in 2003, the Company lost its cash power. However, the real problem here is not the cash that melts and the money it loses. The Company's characteristic feature, founded in the early 60s, is to protect itself against inflation. It fails to realize early enough what it means for inflation to fall to normal. And it pays the price by deciding to cease its activities.

The 3rd and 4th generations liquidate a significant part of the Company and personal assets immediately, regardless of the actual price, and all suppliers are immediately paid under the principle of "not harming others." Then they decide to stop the activity. After this decision, taken by three generations at a table, the previous two generations said: "If we continue, we can set things right, but if we don't, we may not be able to pay our debts this time; if you want to continue, you will have a clean past and a respected name." These words and these days have revealed today's Raşit Yeniçeri.