Suwen

Suwen is a Turkish lingerie retail chain founded in Istanbul in 2003, selling bras, briefs, nightwear, loungewear and swimwear under its own name through its stores and its site, suwen.com.tr. By the end of 2023 it ran 174 stores across 49 Turkish provinces, and in April of that year its shares began trading on Borsa Istanbul.

Istanbul, 2003: a lingerie chain from scratch

The company's investor relations site describes the founders as a team that set out to do something new in the Turkish lingerie trade. It does not name a factory, and that is consistent with how Suwen works. Production is handled mainly through partnerships with local suppliers, while Suwen designs, brands and sells. Turkey has a large textile and garment industry, so a design-and-retail model with outside makers is a natural fit for an Istanbul company.

Growth came through retail rather than wholesale. In 2005 the brand gained its first presence in department stores. In 2007 it opened a flagship store, and the company dates its fast expansion from that point.

From bras to beachwear, 2012 to 2016

For its first decade Suwen was a lingerie seller. Between 2012 and 2016 it widened the range into home wear, beachwear, hosiery and accessories. Today the store menu runs from everyday and strapless bras to nursing and maternity lines, shapewear, pajamas, robes, plus sizes and swimsuits. Its site carries an online bra fitting test, a sensible tool for a chain whose core product depends on size.

That breadth matters for how the brand should be read. Suwen is a mass-market specialist, closer in model to Tezenis or Hunkemöller than to a couture house. The value it offers is reach and fit across a large size range, sold in malls in dozens of cities.

Taxim Capital and the 2023 listing

In 2017 Suwen took on Taxim Capital, an investment fund, as a strategic partner. The company credits that partnership with its corporate development, the sort of professionalizing that usually comes before a listing. E-commerce followed in 2019, and in 2023 the chain added cosmetics and perfume.

The shares were listed on Borsa Istanbul on April 21, 2023. Suwen also cites a 2021 Deloitte sector report that named it one of the fastest-growing lingerie chains. A public listing also means published, audited figures, which is useful to anyone studying the market.

Stores beyond Turkey

The store network passed outside the country in recent years. By 2022 Suwen counted 18 locations abroad: two stores in Cyprus, seven in Romania and nine run by distributors, for 192 points of sale in total. At home the count reached 174 stores in 49 provinces by December 31, 2023. Both figures come from the company's own reporting.

Suwen in figures

Year	Event
2003	Founded in Istanbul
2005	First department-store presence
2007	Flagship store opens
2012 to 2016	Home wear, beachwear, hosiery and accessories added
2017	Taxim Capital becomes a strategic partner
2019	Online store launches
2023	Listed on Borsa Istanbul on April 21; cosmetics and perfume added

A note on what the old entry said

An earlier description in our database called Suwen a brand of modest lingerie aimed at Turkish and Middle Eastern shoppers. We found no company source describing its range as modest or naming the Middle East as a target. The verifiable markets are Turkey, Cyprus and Romania. The range itself, with push-up bras, shapewear and bikinis, reads as standard high-street lingerie.

Suwen today sells through stores, its own app and site, and wholesale distribution, and it reports to the market as a listed company.

Last updated October 7, 2026