Discovering Saint Pierre Han | Part 4 Muhteşem Kot

Mavi Boncuk | Among the highlights of the inn's memory is that it hosts the Bank-ı Osmani-i Şahane, which was established in 1863 as one of the official banks of the Ottoman state. Signs of these names are still in place in the building, which was used as an office by important architects of the period such as Antoine N. Perpignani, Hovsep Aznavur, Marco G. Langas, Edoardo Carlo Vittorio De Nori and Giulio Mongeri, who created the monumental structures of Istanbul in the years after the bank. The "Muhteşem Kot" workshop, which was recorded as the first "jeans" workshop in Istanbul, is also mentioned with St. Pierre Han/Pierre Han.

Reşat Ekrem Koçu, while explaining the article "Blue Jeans" in the Dictionary of Turkish Clothing and Ornamentation (1967), included the pictures of "apprentice boy" and "woman working in the office" and wrote as follows; “the freaky sons well-off families prefer the freaky sons and rabble.” “Hali vakti yerinde ailelerin garabet düşkünü oğulları ve ayaktakımı tercih eder.”

The building was built in 1772 on the old bank street, which is one of the streets parallel to the banks street. The building covers the left side of the street from Karaköy to Şişhane. Although there are five gates numbered 7, 9, 11, 15, 17, this building is actually the French ambassador st. A single building built by the priest. It is said that the French poet Chenier was born in 1762 in another building where this building is located. 

We do not know to what extent it served the French literature before, but today, it is a building that is at the service the tradesmen shops. 

no : 17 izol bobinaj / no : 15 zafer pompa / no : 11 topkapı elektrik / no : 9 akım elektrik / no : 7 akkor neon

Constructed by the French Ambassador Comte de Saint Priest in 1770-1775, the structure consists of several buildings connected to each other. There are Genoese crests on the facade of the building.

İşte kot pantolonun mucidi

https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/iste-kot-pantolonun-mucidi-132684

“ My father, Muhteşem Kot, is of Albanian origin. When he was 3 years old, his family migrated to Turkey from Gossiva and settled in Edremit. Since his family was very poor, he barely studied until secondary school, and they apprenticed him to a tailor. By the way, before my grandfather passed away, he gave my father 8 gold coins, this is all his capital. My father, who is determined to be a good tailor, puts these gold coins in his pocket and goes to Paris at that age. After a few months, the gold runs out, he stays there hungry, miserable, and lies on the streets. In the meantime, he learns French, and there is no job that he does not work. Finally, he managed to enter a tailoring school called Institut Ladeveze-Darroux and studied for 2 years, and years later I graduated from there. On his return to Turkey, he met my mother and got married, meanwhile he started tailoring in Istanbul.

He becomes a very famous tailor in a short time, and gets into contracting business with Raif Dinçkök and Bal Mahmut. Etibank, gendarmerie or something, military sewing houses did not exist back then. In our workshop in Sen Piyer Han on Bankalar Caddesi, hooded calico raincoats, which were sewn for Etibank, were dipped in linseed oil, which had a foul odor, so that they would not be waterproof… When my father went to France in the late 1940s, he got a Levi's jeans. It's a rock solid trousers, with extraordinary seams. He learns that these are worn by cowboys and workers in America. My father decides to do the same for work pants in Turkey. He immediately returns to Istanbul and gets to work, but he sees that there is no machine to sew it, so he goes to Singer and orders it right away. That's ok too, but this time there is no jeans fabric. He visits all the factories in Kazlıçeşme, one by one, and has some samples made. And in the end, he managed to do it under those conditions and sold me the first blue jeans he had made for me for 5 cents.” Aytaç Kot

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Muhteşem Kot, was a merchant tailor who produced for the tenders opened in the 1950s to meet the needs of public workers for collective uniforms. He learned about Levi's on a European trip. According to the text shared in the "One and Many" exhibition opened in Salt Galata, when Magnificent Jeans learned that this brand and fabric is preferred by cowboys and farmers in the USA, it decided to produce a similar type of trousers for workers and peasants in Turkey.

Of course, his intention was not to contribute to the struggle of the working class, which is experiencing difficulties due to weak fabrics. It would highlight the durability of the fabric, it would cost cheaply and win from the lot. "Kot" was registered as a trademark in 1960, 2 years after the death of its founder, Magnificent Kot. As stated in the text in Salt Galata, these trousers became popular with the influence of American cinema among young people. In the Özal years, when foreign origin products entered the market, “Jeans” lost its power over time. Production under the brand "Kot" ended in 1992. “Jean” had knocked down the jeans. But even though he left, his name remained a relic.

SOURCE: https://hakangungor.org/2016/11/30/muhtesem-kot-dikti-mina-urgan-ve-cemal-sureya-ovdu-demokratik-kotlarin-kaba-ve-dayanikli-mazisi/

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Beyoğlu, Bereketzade Mahallesi Sen Piyer Han'daki mülk Bay Karotenuto tarafından Muhteşem Kot'a tüccar terzi olarak kullanılmak üzere kiralanmıştır.