Beltepà: All About the Evolution of the Brand
Beltepà is the name of a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where in 2015, in a humble home, some Italians met with Nigora, the brand’s first seamstress, for the first time. From that neighborhood the brand took its name, proposing innovative and precious garments and accessories in Italy and other parts of the Western world. There in Beltepà, together with Nigora — a woman with hands and a heart of gold, who has since passed away — the production of the pieces of the fashion line began in 2016. The trademark was registered a year later with the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture of Turin, and in 2018 the sole proprietorship “Beltepà di Alotto Antonella” was established.
In 2020 the brand opened its first small showroom in the prestigious Palazzo Graneri della Roccia in Turin. It was later closed due to difficulties in complying with COVID-19-related regulations and replaced by a new space in Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Today, the brand’s garments are available in boutiques in five Italian cities as well as in London, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Hudson (NY), San Francisco, and many other international cities.
Beltepà Concept
Beltepà’s line of garments and accessories is based on the union of Uzbek fabrics made on wooden looms and hand-assembled by skilled and talented artisans/embroiderers, with Italian pattern-making, design, and creativity. The selection of Ikat patterns does not focus on overly ethnic motifs, as these could overpower the Italian design and the artistic painting applied to the finished piece. All garments are unique pieces.
There are four protagonists in the brand’s story. Antonella, Beltepà’s artistic director, who is also responsible for researching fabrics and embroidery and for managing collaborative and support relationships with Uzbek women. Andrea, who served as Rector of the Tashkent campus from 2014 to 2017, identifies development strategies and oversees commercial and economic aspects. Giulia handles public relations and communication on social media channels. Finally, Cecilia, Beltepà’s fashion designer, is responsible for the designs and artistic painting.
Brand Strategy
Beltepà’s strategy follows three basic principles:
- Focus on the quality of fabrics, highlighting the art of Uzbek women, and on design and craftsmanship, enhancing Italian traditions, harmonizing these two aspects so that each increases the value of the other;
- Use eco-friendly materials and processes, never compromising on quality in order to reduce costs;
- Target a market segment sensitive to quality, beauty, uniqueness, and craftsmanship, while cutting out as many intermediaries as possible.
I asked Antonella Alotto and her daughter Cecilia De Marchi, the brand’s talented designer, in an interview, to tell me more in depth about this wonderful adventure in the world of fashion.
Materials are a founding element of Beltepà’s products. What did you feel when you examined them for the first time, and how did they influence and inspire the creation of the collection?
Antonella: «For me, “love” was born from discovering their quality and craftsmanship. What struck me in particular was the sustainability of the entire production process, starting from the silkworm and throughout the entire supply chain: a tradition that, unfortunately, we are losing in Italy».
Cecilia: «As for the design of the silks, what fascinated me was also the fact that the patterns reproduced on them are based on an archive created during the Soviet period in order to keep track of an ancient tradition, at a time when fabric production had been halted for economic reasons, favoring the adoption of synthetics in the area. The process of making these fabrics is in fact very costly, and even today, unfortunately, synthetic fabrics still hold primacy in the sector, also because they are easier to sell to tourists, who have increased significantly over the years, often unaware of the differences».
«Those same tourists are now also a target for Beltepà – Antonella explains – because we are confident that, once informed of the difference, they are perfectly capable of understanding and willingly accepting the higher cost of our products».
The fabrics featured in the collection include silk, cotton, atlas, adras, bakhmal, bekasab, velvet, and wool. In particular, we use Uzbek adras (ikat silk) and bakhmal (silk velvet), as well as suzani fabrics, typical embroidered tapestries. Uzbekistan is the most populous country in Central Asia and produces the majority of Ikat fabrics.
In the past, these fabrics have occasionally been used in the West by various haute couture maisons for their more extravagant collections, but in a very fleeting way.
Antonella: «That’s true, and this is certainly also due to the fact that the Ikat technique is a craft process that is difficult to convert into industrial production, as it consists of a high number of operations, many of which, especially those related to dyeing the yarn before weaving using the ‘resist’ method, must necessarily be carried out by hand».
Cecilia: «Another reason is the limited availability of the fabrics, which is not suitable for large-scale distribution. The width of the fabrics made on looms is also limited and does not allow for mass production».
Given these technical considerations, how many garments are you able to produce each year?
Antonella: «At the moment, Beltepà’s production does not reach 150 coats per year, and in the best-case scenario, forecasts for the next three years could see us producing up to 500 per year. The typical length of a full bolt of silk velvet is between 60 and 80 meters, which means that no more than eight pieces can be obtained with the same colorway».
Now a look at your collection: tell me about Beltepà’s main garments and accessories.
Cecilia: «Outerwear is the key element of the collection. The coats are lined with precious wools or Italian, Japanese, Indian, or silks from other distant countries, with the aim of creating an invisible thread that unites the beauty of the entire world. The other garments and accessories were created both to complement the collection and to use the leftover fabrics from the production of outerwear. So there are skirts, berets, bags, and a line of ceremonial dresses that has an entirely different construction process. Generally, the garments are inspired by nature and the world of art; one of the latest productions is inspired by the cherry blossom season in Japan. The clothes are all characterized by very soft shapes, particularly appreciated by women, but we are becoming increasingly cross-generational in terms of the average age of our target audience. We have also created some home décor items such as cushions and poufs. In addition, we have now developed a children’s clothing line, to be released shortly, which is very close to my heart. In this way, Beltepà can become a way of being, a choice of sustainability rather than just a fashion line».
Antonella: «I would say that Beltepà is the union of different worlds, a union of women who create beautiful things, with beauty as the common denominator. The brand is imbued with a strong connection to the past that serves as a springboard toward a better future».
Candy Valentino
