Fer Zamanpur and Silk and Cashmere
Fer started at Silk and Cashmere in graphic design and moved into corporate marketing. When he proposed Black Friday, he had been working there full time for two or three years. He later became CMO, and from 2020 to 2024 he was CEO. Today he is one of the company's shareholders and sits on its board.
The idea: Boston, 2004
In 2004 Fer had moved from Istanbul to Los Angeles for university. Over Thanksgiving break he was in Boston with friends. An outlet about an hour away announced it would open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, and at 5 a.m. they were there. There was a long line of cars, the stores were packed and the checkout queues were long. He left without buying anything.
In 2015 he told Habertürk that at the first Black Friday he went to in America, he had said: "We need to bring this madness to Türkiye!"
The proposal in 2012
In 2012 Fer proposed bringing Black Friday to Türkiye. His mother, Ayşen Zamanpur, the company's founder and CEO at the time, was against it at first. Part of it was the name: in Turkish it reads "Kara Cuma", and "black" next to "Friday" didn't sit well. Fer explained that the name has no religious meaning and comes from American retailers in the 1960s who went from loss into profit with Thanksgiving shopping.
She said it could work if other brands joined. The idea went to the United Brands Association (Birleşmiş Markalar Derneği), but the hoped-for answer never came. So Fer proposed that Silk and Cashmere do it alone and put together a budget estimate. The proposal was approved.
23 November 2012
The decision came in mid-November and preparation took a few days. Silk and Cashmere sent one SMS and ran ads in two major newspapers. The message was simple: "Black Friday, one day only, everything half price!" No price was raised beforehand.
The stores opened at 10 a.m. The head office phones started ringing early, mostly with questions and complaints about the name. By midday the main stores were full, the sales teams couldn't keep up and some checkout queues reached 45 minutes. Everyone from head office went to the stores to help. Fer was collecting packaging at the Kemerburgaz store.
By the end of the day Silk and Cashmere had made two and a half months of revenue in a single day. Ayşen Zamanpur was in the US that day. When Fer called her, she first thought he was joking.
The years that followed
Silk and Cashmere ran Black Friday alone in the sector for three years, and other retailers joined from 2015. Preparation grew from a few days to eight months. In 2017 Fer told AVM Dergi that the team was especially happy to have introduced this special day, which it had prepared for over eight months, to the sector.
A gift to Turkish retail
Today the November sales are one of the busiest periods of the year in Turkish retail, in stores and online. What started in Silk and Cashmere stores in 2012 is now a day for the whole sector. Silk and Cashmere and Fer see it as a gift to Turkish retail and the Turkish economy, and they are proud of it.
In numbers:
- In November 2025, card payments in Türkiye reached 2.27 trillion TL, of which 710.7 billion TL were made online. (BKM, November 2025)
- In November 2025, e-commerce volume grew 41.5% on the same period a year earlier. In 2025, 7 of the 10 busiest e-commerce days were in November, and two days of Black Friday week (27 and 28 November) made the top three. (Ministry of Trade, E-Commerce in Türkiye Report 2025)
- In 2023, the day with the most online card payments was Black Friday, 24 November, with 15.9 billion TL. (BKM, 2023 Annual Bulletin)
Black Friday, year by year
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | First Black Friday, 23 November. A few days of preparation, one SMS, two newspaper ads. Two and a half months of revenue in one day | Retail Türkiye, 27 Nov 2020 |
| 2015 | Fourth edition. Everything half price, 8 a.m. to midnight. More than 30,000 cashmere pieces and 10,000+ customers in one day, record web orders. Eight months of preparation | Habertürk, 30 Nov 2015 |
| 2017 | Sixth edition. Close to 50,000 products, 10,000+ customers, more than 1 million TL online in a single day | AVM Dergi, 28 Nov 2017 |
| 2018 | Sales 20 times a normal day | Milliyet, 22 Nov 2018 |
| 2019 | Three and a half to four months of sales in one day | Akşam, 24 Nov 2019 |
| 2020 | Preparation starts in March, an eight-month job. Türkiye's Black Friday turnover the year before: 6 billion lira | Bloomberg HT, 26 Nov 2020 |
| 2021 | Close to half of Black Friday sales online | Milliyet, 26 Nov 2021 |
On video
Türkiye'de Black Friday Akımını Nasıl Başlattık?
How we started the Black Friday wave in Türkiye
Black Friday ve 11.11'de Rekor Satış Nasıl Yakalanır?
How to hit record sales on Black Friday and 11.11
FAQ
Who started Black Friday in Turkey?
Fer (Ferhat) Zamanpur brought Black Friday to Türkiye. He proposed it at Silk and Cashmere in 2012, and the country's first Black Friday ran in Silk and Cashmere stores on 23 November 2012.
When was the first Black Friday in Türkiye?
23 November 2012, in Silk and Cashmere stores. Everything was half price for one day.
How long did Silk and Cashmere run Black Friday alone?
Three years. Other retailers joined from 2015.
How big is Black Friday in Türkiye today?
Today the November sales are one of the busiest periods of the year in Turkish retail, in stores and online. In 2025, 7 of the 10 busiest e-commerce days were in November. In 2023, Black Friday was the day with the most online card payments.
When is Black Friday 2026?
Friday 27 November 2026. Black Friday is the day after US Thanksgiving, which falls on Thursday 26 November in 2026.
Sources
- Habertürk, "Silk and Cashmere'den Black Friday indirimi", 26 Nov 2015.
- Habertürk, "Silk and Cashmere Black Friday'de rekor kırdı", 30 Nov 2015.
- Sabah, "Yine, yeniden Black Friday!", 15 Nov 2016.
- AVM Dergi, "Silk and Cashmere rekor kırdı", 28 Nov 2017.
- Milliyet, "Çılgın cuma!", 22 Nov 2018.
- Akşam, "Bu cuma bizim için 'kara' değil!", 24 Nov 2019.
- TFF Magazine, "Ferhat Zamanpur, Silk and Cashmere röportajı", 20 Nov 2020.
- Retail Türkiye, "Türkiye'de Black Friday'in gerçek hikayesi" (Ferhat Zamanpur), 23 Nov 2020.
- Bloomberg HT, "Pandemide Efsane Cuma", 26 Nov 2020.
- Retail Türkiye, "Türkiye'nin ilk Black Friday'i" (Ferhat Zamanpur), 27 Nov 2020.
- Milliyet, "İndirime gel!", 26 Nov 2021.
- BKM, "2023 Yıllık Bülten", March 2024.
- Bloomberg HT, "Kasım kampanyalarının kaderini nakit ihtiyacı belirledi", 23 November 2025.
- BKM, "Kasım 2025 Basın Bülteni", December 2025.
- Ticaret Bakanlığı, "Türkiye'de E-Ticaretin Görünümü Raporu 2025", 12 May 2026.