In less than a year, at least seven Turkish brands have left the domestic fashion retail market. However, the point is not in the country of origin, but in the effectiveness of a specific business model in the new conditions. RAU was looking into why Turkish retailers are closing stores in Ukraine.

Back in the fall of 2025, English Home closed all stores in Ukraine, and the FLO footwear chain reduced its presence to one point in the Fontan Sky SEC in Odessa. In April of this year, it became known about the closure of two stores of the Turkish clothing brand Koton. After eight years of operation, Koton was unable to scale the network to the declared 15 points. Also, according to Forbes.ua, since April 30, the Turkish retailer Aydınlı Grup is closing its only store in Ukraine of the American clothing brand U.S. Polo Assn. in Lavina Mall.

Since May 2026, the last two stores of the licensed Reebok brand in the capital’s Retroville and SkyMall shopping malls will cease to operate. The Reebok store chain in Ukraine has been controlled by the Turkish holding FLO Retailing since March 2022. Similarly, in March of this year, FLO Retailing closed the last InStreet sportswear store in the Respublika Park SEC.

And the international chain of multi-brand shoe stores SuperStep plans to close its last six offline and online stores during May-June.

Thus, in less than a year, at least seven Turkish brands have left the Ukrainian market. And each of them had their own reasons for doing so. For example, in the case of U.S. Polo Assn, we are talking about global changes in the brand management structure due to the change of owner Aydınlı Grup (since December 2025, it has belonged to the Turkish watch distributor Saat&Saat).

 

An unstable trend

It would seem that the exit of Turkish brands from Ukraine should indicate a certain trend. But the experts interviewed by RAU say otherwise. And there is an example of the rapid development of the LC Waikiki chain of stores, which plans to open and renovate at least 10 new stores this year. The opening of the first stores in Bila Tserkva in the Hermes SEC and in Boryspil in the Aeromall SEC is already planned for June.

As well as the opening of the first store in Ukraine of the world-famous Turkish jeans’ clothes brand Mavi in ​​the Chernihiv Hollywood Mall and the launch of the Turkish brand LTB store in the Kiev Lavina SEC in early May after its return to the Ukrainian market.

As noted by the director of UTG company, Evgenia Loktionova, this is the reaction of Turkish retailers to internal and external challenges. Among them:

The economic crisis in Turkey. High inflation and the devaluation of the lira are forcing Turkish holdings (such as FLO Retailing) to optimize costs and close unprofitable foreign units.

Financial losses in Ukraine. Many brands have demonstrated unsatisfactory results. For example, FLO’s losses in Ukraine in 2024 reached UAH 153.8 million. Koton’s revenue in 2025 fell by 20%.

Weak competition. Turkish operators are losing the fight to global leaders (Adidas, Puma) and aggressive Polish chains (LPP — Sinsay, Reserved), which are actively growing.

Unsuccessful scaling. Many brands were unable to expand their networks to the planned volumes (Koton opened only 2 stores instead of 15)

According to Artem Retin, Managing Partner of RetailPro Development, Deputy General Director for Business Development of Pharmacy 911, this can rather be called a selective cleansing of the market from weaker or less adapted models. “The closure of these companies is more likely individual business decisions related to the economics of specific formats and unwillingness to invest in long-term development, than a systemic trend of exiting the Ukrainian market,” the expert says.

 

Problematic business models

Most of these brands have a problem with insufficient scale, and some with weak recognition. “A small number of stores in the country is almost always a vulnerable model: there is insufficient operational efficiency, and accordingly, logistics, marketing and office maintenance are expensive,” explains Artem Retin.

At the same time, the rental rate, operating costs in popular SECs, as well as staff salaries remain quite high, which significantly puts pressure on the economy of the business and complicates its development.

“Often SECs are the last to learn about the exit of brands when they receive a message from the tenant about their desire to terminate cooperation. In the case of Turkish companies like English Home or InStreet, it cannot be said that they worked poorly. Although their revenue was less than other similar retail outlets,” says Yulia Shchaslyva, CEO of the Respublika Park SEC.

According to her, among Turkish retailers, the DeFacto store continues to operate in the Respublika Park SEC, although some stores have stopped operating in other locations. The performance indicators of this store are stable, without negative dynamics. The schedules for the delivery of new goods are being met.

Stores are closed by decision of the retailer’s head office, depending on the terms of the contract in a particular shopping center. This can be three months, six months, or even more. “For example, the last English Home store operated in the Respublika Park SEC until December 31, 2025, which was slightly longer than the possible term of termination of the contract. Because we have very high traffic and they brought goods from all stores to sell as much as possible during the season of increased demand,” adds Schaslyva.

Many market participants say about the termination of a special Turkish state program that compensated exporters for some of the costs of doing business abroad. And this could additionally have influenced the adoption of relevant decisions to close stores.

“I can neither confirm nor deny this information, since the LC Waikiki brand has not received and does not receive such support,” says Oleksiy Grishko, CEO of LC Waikiki Ukraine, who also believes that the exit of some Turkish brands from Ukraine cannot be called a trend.
Instead, in his opinion, those companies that left the Ukrainian market have internal problems with ordering goods, restructuring, etc. Therefore, the decision to leave concerns not only Ukraine, but also other markets. Especially when it comes to not very successful stores. “For example, the DeFacto company is still working in some shopping centers and, apparently, is not going to leave. But we do not follow these events very much, because the share of LC Waikiki in the market in both Turkey and Ukraine is tens of times higher than their share, even in total,” explains Oleksiy Grishko.

 

Who is at risk

Artem Retin believes that the currently at risk are operators who have not opened new stores, updated formats, invested in marketing over the past year or two and are actually working “on residual inertia”. In the event of a deterioration in the economy, such brands may be the first to reconsider their presence in Ukraine.

“I would not like to offend anyone, and even more so to jinx it, but if I were forced to make a mandatory bet, I would say that one of the potential candidates for exit could be Colin’s. Although it is a brand with a fairly high level of recognition, it has been operating for a long time without an obvious update of the format, without a clear competitive advantage and without active expansion, which, in conditions of increased competition and falling purchasing power, makes its position more vulnerable,” explains Artem Retin.

At the same time, players like LC Waikiki operate in the mass segment, have a critical mass of stores, a wide audience, and a strong price proposition, which allows them to effectively scale their business and even expand in the current environment.

 

Criteria for successful work in Ukraine

The LC Waikiki brand continues to actively develop in Ukraine despite the difficult working conditions that not all Turkish companies here could withstand. According to Oleksiy Grishko, the demand for clothing always exists, because it is one of the very first categories in the consumer pyramid.

“We clearly understand our segment in which we work. That is, there is an ultra-discount segment, a prominent representative of which is the Polish chain of clothing and home goods stores Pepco, there is high-fashion, and we are in the middle, in the affordable fashion segment. If you want, a kind of Turkish Inditex,” explains Oleksiy Grishko.

UTG company Director Evgenia Loktionova adds that vertical integration (LC Waikiki has its own production in Turkey) allows the retailer to flexibly manage costs and quickly update the assortment, not depending on third-party suppliers.

“In times of crisis, buyers switch from premium brands to budget ones, so the “mass market” segment is in demand, and the “Everyone deserves to dress well” strategy fits perfectly into the demand for savings,” adds Evgenia Loktionova.

In addition, huge turnover allows the company to keep prices low where smaller players are forced to raise them in order to survive. “Large chains also often rent the best locations “as a package”, receiving huge discounts from shopping centers that are unavailable to small brands,” explains the expert.

In fact, during the period when Turkish retailers massively entered the Ukrainian market, it was the democratic prices that were one of the main reasons for the sudden outbreak of love among Ukrainian consumers for clothes and shoes made in Turkey.

“I think that this year will be difficult for the fashion segment – ​​the client has become much more rational, price-sensitive and cautious. This is definitely not about growth “in breadth”, but more about redistribution and competition for the buyer, where those who have scale, a clear price offer, a strong brand and the ability to quickly adapt to new, more pragmatic consumer behavior win,” Artem Retin concludes.

As for formats, value fashion, family concepts and multi-brand formats will remain the most popular. That is why players such as LC Waikiki, Sinsay or HalfPrice look stronger than the classic middle segment, which will continue to lose ground without clear differentiation.

 

Prospects for the fashion market in Ukraine in 2026

During 2025–2026, a number of foreign brands have already entered Ukraine, which, according to Evgenia Loktionova, indicates a gradual renewal of interest in international retail and good market prospects. For example, among the new brands is Barbour (Great Britain), which opened its first mono-brand boutique in Kyiv in April 2026. A year earlier, Karl Lagerfeld Jeans (France) began operating in the capital. The list of new players on the market was also joined by World Box (Poland), Captain Candy (Czech Republic) and Mavi (Turkey). “And among Ukrainian brands, the leaders in terms of sales remain local mass-market brands such as Solmar, Stimma, One By One and CHER’17,” concludes Loktionova.