Odak Strongly Rebuts Ethical Denim Council Findings

Angela Velasquez
·2 min read

Strange, manipulative and unfair are some of the ways Sener Bucuk, Odak Denim director, describes the Ethical Denim Council (EDC) and its process to determine unethical behavior in the denim industry.

Earlier this year, EDC held its first hearing and concluded that the Turkish denim importer was guilty of showing unethical behavior during the purchasing process for fabric from an unnamed mill.

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Despite initial agreements on price and quantities, the mill claimed Odak engaged in a series of unethical demands that ultimately led to the cancellation of orders, with 100,000 meters of fabric left unclaimed.

The council published its conclusion on the EDC website on June 19.

Bucuk is rebutting many of the mill’s claims and EDC’s suggestion that it engaged in unethical behavior.  Bucuk described EDC’s findings as “one-sided” and “not deeply investigated.”

He added that as a buyer and seller of denim fabric, Odak is aware of the unethical buying processes that plague the industry and would be the “first one” to stand up against unethical behaviors.

The orders in question were placed with the mill in June 2022. Bucuk reported that Odak asked the mill for a 7 percent discount for some of the confirmed orders due to an “extreme market situation.” He added that the company had several meetings with the mill’s agent in Turkey as business partners.

“We’ve paid and called off [the] majority of our confirmed orders,” Bucuk said, noting that the mill and the agent ended communication contrary to the EDC report that said Odak ended communication. He said the mill stop communication by December 2022. An email from EDC founder Andrew Olah regarding the case came in February 2024.

Odak is currently working with mills like Azgard9, Naveena, AFM and Mastertex. “We never had such issue with any of our business partners,” Bucuk said.

In his meeting with EDC, which he described as being “strange,” Bucuk said council members did not introduce themselves or share what their professions were. Olah was in the meeting but didn’t turn on his camera. “Why was he there? How did they get their finding? What was their proof that Odak Denim was behaving unethical?” he said.

Though Bucuk said he likes the idea of the EDC, he recommends it being an independent organization. “We all know the founders’ links with some of the manufacturers so how we are going to trust EDC’s fairness,” he said.

“[EDC] might be a good idea, but this council can easily be manipulated. EDC [needs] some professional legal adviser,” he said.

Established in 1999, Odak Denim is celebrating its 25th year in the industry. “We have been in the market with our ethical business practices for all those years and we will not let anyone try to manipulate it,” Bucuk said. “We recommend EDC to spend their valuable time for real ethical issues our industry going through.”